Noteworthy: Research grants, awards and publications

ALBANY, N.Y. (March 30, 2023) — The latest developments on University at Albany faculty and staff who are receiving research grants, awards and other noteworthy attention.

• Victor Asal, professor of political science, received two awards earlier this month at the International Studies Association’s annual convention in Montreal. Asal won the ALIAS Distinguished Scholar Award for sustained excellence in the scholarship of teaching and learning as it pertains to international affairs, and the ENMISA Distinguished Scholar Award, given to senior scholars who have had an impact in ethnicity, nationalism and/or migration studies. Colleagues in the field held roundtables for both awards, discussing the significance of Asal’s work.
• Professor Marlene Belfort of the RNA Institute is the recipient of the RNA Society’s 2023 Lifetime Achievement in Science Award. The honor acknowledges her long history of innovative and foundational discoveries regarding intron biology as well as her leadership in building an RNA community at UAlbany and mentorship of younger scientists, and dedication to promoting diversity and inclusion in science.
• Bijan K. Dey of the RNA Institute has been awarded $378,547 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to fund his project, “N6-Methyladenosine Methylome in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.” Dey’s team is working on a novel epitranscriptomic mechanism to identify therapeutic targets for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a degenerative disease with no cure that affects young children, who often become restricted to a wheelchair by age 10 and die in their mid-20s.
• Kathryn Walat, a playwright and associate professor in UAlbany’s Theatre Program, had her Off-Broadway premiere earlier this month of Arden of Faversham, a true crime thriller from the Elizabethan era that she adapted with Jeffrey Hatcher into a two-act comedy-drama. Produced by Red Bull Theater, the play runs through April 1 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre at 121 Christopher St. in Manhattan’s West Village.