Dozens of UAlbany Researchers Among World’s Top 2% of Scientists

Assistant Professor Weilan Zhang holds up a crop used for research in his lab.
Assistant Professor Weilan Zhang of the Department of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering is among dozens of UAlbany faculty listed in the top 2 percent of scientists. (Photo by Patrick Dodson)

By Mike Nolan

ALBANY, N.Y. (Nov. 20, 2025) — Dozens of faculty from the University at Albany are ranked among the world’s top 2 percent of scientists, according to the latest Stanford University report published through Elsevier.

The annual report highlights top-cited researchers, creating a public database of about 200,000 scientists across 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields.

To produce the report, the authors examined the work of more than 6 million researchers worldwide and ranked them according to their overall career output and performance in a single year (as of 2024). The database includes standardized information on the number of publications and various citation metrics that measure the impact of a researcher’s work. 

In the single-year report, 55 current and emeritus faculty members at UAlbany were ranked across two dozen disciplines.

“Seeing so many of our faculty ranked among the top 2 percent of scientists highlights the extraordinary work happening at UAlbany,” said Thenkurussi Kesavadas, vice president for research and economic development. “This honor reflects not just individual research excellence, but a collective commitment to advancing discovery across many different fields. Our faculty are pushing boundaries, addressing global challenges and inspiring the next generation of scientists.”

Identified as UAlbany’s most influential researcher is Aiguo Dai, distinguished professor in the Department of Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences at the College of Arts and Sciences. He was ranked No. 3 in the field of Meteorology/Atmospheric Science and No. 365 of all scientists listed in the report.

Dai’s research focuses on Arctic climate change, natural climate variability, future climate change, the global water cycle, hydroclimate, drought, Asian monsoons and climate data analysis. He is the most cited scholar at UAlbany, according to Google Scholar, with a total of more than 70,000 citations, including 32,974 in the last five years. 

Another new report published by Clarivate listed Dai, along with Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences professor Liming Zhou, among its 2025 “Highly Cited Researchers.” The report celebrates individuals who have demonstrated considerable influence in their field through the publication of academic papers cited by a significant number of peers. Of the world’s population of scientists, highly cited researchers are 1 in 1,000. 

“Professors Dai and Zhou are to be commended for this important recognition of their scientific contributions,” said College of Arts and Sciences Dean Jeanette Altarriba. “The College of Arts and Sciences is proud of their achievements and notes that widely-cited works indicate that their research is of great significance to their respective fields.” 

See all of UAlbany’s active faculty members who made the top 2% list:

  • Jeanette Altarriba (College of Arts and Sciences/ Psychology)
  • Heidi L. Andrade (School of Education/ Educational & Counseling Psychology)
  • Victor Asal (Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy/ International Affairs)
  • James Boswell (College of Arts and Sciences/ Psychology)
  • Shawn Bushway (Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy/ Public Administration & Policy)
  • David O. Carpenter (College of Integrated Health Sciences/ Environmental Health Sciences)
  • Arun Richard Chandrasekaran (College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering/ Nanoscale Science and Engineering/ The RNA Institute)
  • Daniele Cherniak (Ion Beam Lab)
  • Aiguo Dai (College of Arts and Sciences/ Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences)
  • David Yun Dai (School of Education/ Educational & Counseling Psychology)
  • Joanna Dreby (College of Arts and Sciences/ Sociology)
  • Bryan Early (Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy/ Political Science & International Affairs)
  • Ashley M. Fox (Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy/ Public Administration & Policy)
  • Myrna L. Friedlander (School of Education/ Educational & Counseling Psychology)
  • Gordon Gallup (College of Arts and Sciences/ Psychology)
  • J. Ramon Gil-Garcia (Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy/ Public Administration & Policy/ Center for Technology in Government)
  • Alex Greer (College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity/ Emergency Management and Homeland Security)
  • Mila Gasco-Hernandez (Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy/ Public Administration & Policy/ Center for Technology in Government)
  • Youqin Huang (College of Arts and Sciences/ Geography, Planning, and Sustainability)
  • Alex Kumi–Yeboah (School of Education/ Educational Theory & Practice)
  • Hal Lawson (College of Integrated Health Sciences/ Social Welfare)
  • Igor Lednev (College of Arts and Sciences/ Chemistry/ The RNA Institute)
  • Shao Lin (College of Integrated Health Sciences/ Environmental Health Sciences)
  • Luis Felipe Luna-Reyes (Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy/ Public Administration & Policy)
  • Oleg Lunin (College of Arts and Sciences/ Physics)
  • Paul Morgan (College of Integrated Health Sciences/ Department of Health Policy, Management and Behavior/ Institute for Social and Health Equity)
  • Mark Muraven (College of Arts and Sciences/ Psychology)
  • Theresa A. Pardo (Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy/ Public Administration & Policy)
  • Justin Pickett (Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy/ Criminal Justice)
  • Greg Pogarsky (Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy/ Criminal Justice)
  • Carol Richardson Rodgers (School of Education/ Educational Theory & Practice)
  • Annalisa Scimemi (College of Arts and Sciences/ Biological Sciences
  • Peter Shea (School of Education/ Educational Theory & Practice)
  • Jeannette Sutton (College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity/ Emergency Management and Homeland Security)
  • Alex Valm (College of Arts and Sciences/ Biological Sciences/ The RNA Institute)
  • Mathias Vuille (College of Arts and Sciences/ Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences)
  • William Wales (Massry School of Business/ Entrepreneurship & Management)
  • Ing-Nang Wang (College of Arts and Sciences/ Biological Sciences/ The RNA Institute)
  • JoEllen Welsh (College of Integrated Health Sciences/ Biomedical Sciences)
  • Jonathan Wolpaw (College of Integrated Health Sciences/ Biomedical Sciences)
  • Zheng Yan (School of Education/ Educational & Counseling Psychology)
  • Fangqun Yu (Atmospheric Sciences Research Center)
  • Weilan Zhang (College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering/ Environmental & Sustainable Engineering)
  • Liming Zhou (College of Arts and Sciences/ Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences)