Regents Professors

Alcock first came to ASU in 1972. He was a scholar of evolutionary biology in the School of Life Sciences and devoted his more than 40-year career to studying how animals adapted to living in the natural world and then teaching others the wonders he discovered. Early in his ASU career, he authored a widely used and engaging textbook: "Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach."

Altheide was on the faculty of justice and social inquiry in the School of Social Transformation, where he taught for 37 years. His work has focused on the role of mass media and information technology in social control.

Arntzen is a pioneer in the development of plant-based vaccines for human disease prevention. His research interests are in plant molecular biology and protein engineering, and in using plant biotechnology to enhance food quality and value and to overcome health and agricultural constraints in the developing world.

Bate is a Foundation Professor of Environmental Humanities and an expert in sustainability as well as in Shakespeare and Renaissance literature, Romanticism, biography and life-writing, contemporary poetry, visual culture and theater history. He is a Distinguished Global Futures Scholar. He has written 20 books, including “Mad about Shakespeare: Life Lessons from the Bard” in 2022. He was knighted for services to literary scholarship in 2015.

Bell is a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration, director of ASU’s NewSpace Initiative, and chief scientist of MILO Space Science Institute. He has played key roles in such NASA missions as Mars Pathfinder, NEAR, Mars Odyssey and the Mars Science Laboratory. Bell led the development of the Panoramic camera (Pancam) on the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and he’s a co-investigator on Psyche, the first ASU-led deep-space NASA mission. Bell has been a key communicator in bridging the gap between space exploration and public understanding.

Brewis is a cultural and medical anthropologist and President’s Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change. She researches the intersections of culture, health, environment and well-being. She focuses on how low social position and resource insecurity interact with daily experiences and emotions to exacerbate the stresses that worsen physical and mental health. She is currently focusing on the topics of obesity, water security and climate change.

For nearly 60 years, Buseck and his research group have been recognized for their pioneering work in the nanomineralogy of meteorites and interplanetary dust particles. The Center for Meteorite Studies, founded in 1961, was recently named in Buseck's honor, now known as the Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies.

Choi is a supply-chain management expert, the AT&T Professor and co-director of the Complex Adaptive Supply Networks Research Accelerator, an international research group of scholars. He researches the upstream side of supply chains, in which a buying company interacts with many suppliers that are organized in various networks, and his publication record makes him among the most prolific scholars in supply chain management in the world.

Cialdini, thought leader in the field of Influence, has spent his entire career conducting, testing, analyzing and publishing peer-reviewed scientific research on what causes people to say “Yes” to requests. The results of his research, his ensuing articles, and his New York Times bestselling books have earned him an acclaimed reputation as a respected scientist and engaging storyteller.

Cook dedicated more than 40 years (1959-2003) of his life to architecture and education. Coming to Arizona from northeastern Canada, he brought a passion for bioclimatic design to the Southwest. His work at ASU took him all over the globe, sharing his insight and expertise with students, scholars, scientists, artists and community leaders.

In 1970, the same year that atoms were first observed directly by electron microscope, Cowley joined ASU’s Department of Physics. An internationally recognized authority in electron microscopy, Cowley established a world-leading school of EM and it’s been said that his scientific leadership had a significant impact on establishing ASU as a Research I university.

Eisenberg’s research interests include emotion-related regulation, moral and emotional development, empathy, altruism and developmental psychopathology. Many undergraduate students work in the Eisenberg laboratory on longitudinal studies of social, emotional, psychological and moral development in children, including children at risk for problems.

Eyring was recruited to ASU in 1961 as the chairman of the then Chemistry Department, where he founded the LeRoy Eyring Center for Solid State Science. Eyring is recognized as the authority on rare earth oxides, a collection of chemical elements, including scandium, yttrium and lanthanide series, materials now used in metallurgy, electronics, ceramics, lasers and more.

When Farris joined ASU in 1958, the then College of Business Administration had only recently been formed. An economist, Farris was interested in transportation, distribution and logistics. His first textbook “Domestic Transportation: Practice, Theory and Policy” expanded the scope of transportation to include planning, labor relations, management and marketing as well as traditional economics.

Ferry served 35 years in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering. He authored or co-authored more than 950 research papers, wrote or co-wrote 20 textbooks, 34 chapters in science books and edited eight other books. Collectively those writings have spanned a broad range of the many facets of electrical engineering, electronics and related physics and mathematics.

Foster joined ASU in 1966. He helped build the Spanish and Portuguese programs in the School of International Letters and Cultures. He was a trailblazer who published groundbreaking research in the larger fields of Latin American studies and LGBTQ studies. Among his publications are more than 50 book-length, single-authored critical studies, bibliographies and anthologies.

Gee is a linguist who has worked on syntactic theory, the philosophy of language, psycholinguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, language learning, education, literacy and video games and learning. He joined ASU in 2007. His current work focuses on how sense-making is founded in sensation and how this can inform design and media for deep learning.

Stearns joined ASU in 1981 as a professor of physics, coming from Ford Motor Company, where she served as principal scientist for more than 20 years. Stearns' work on gamma-ray scattering led her to study the energy levels of iron atoms, and this in turn led her to nuclear magnetic resonance studies of magnetic ions, and to theoretical work on the quantum structure of these materials.

Grimm is a scientist who has had an international impact in the environmental sciences and is a pioneer in desert stream ecosystems. Her collaborations across the disciplines of earth, life and social sciences, as well as engineering, helped create the subdiscipline of urban ecology.

Hickman is considered one of the world’s pre-eminent trumpet virtuosos and has performed more than 2,000 solo appearances around the world as a recitalist or guest soloist with more than 500 different orchestras. He has released 19 solo albums encompassing a wide variety of repertoire. Hickman is founder and president of the acclaimed Summit Brass.

Kaye’s research focuses on the law of evidence, on the use of science and statistics in litigation, and on genetics and the law. In 1985, he was appointed the first director of the ASU Center for the Study of Law, Science and Technology. He has served on committees or advisory panels for the National Academy of Sciences and the National Commission on Forensic Science, among others.

In his 34-year-career at ASU, Keller taught Spanish and Chicano studies, led the Hispanic Research Center and served as founder and editor of ASU’s Bilingual Press. His many roles and projects at the university captured his passion and driving force: to champion minority voices and culture and help students reach their full academic potential.

Kieffer was with ASU from 1990 to 1993. She studies geological fluid dynamics, including volcanoes and geysers on Earth and other planets, thermodynamics and shock waves in volcanic eruptions and meteorite impacts and hydraulic jumps in river flows.

Klett is a photographer whose background includes working as a geologist before turning to art practice. His interests include making new works that responds to historic images; creating projects that explore relationships between time, change and perception; and exploring the language of photographic media through technology.

Kulhavy was a professor in the Department of Psychology in Education for 33 years. His primary areas of study were cognitive psychology, mathematics education, levels-of-processing effect, programmed instruction and academic achievement, which was interdisciplinary in nature.

Landers joined ASU in 1981. His research in the Exercise and Health Psychology Laboratory is directed toward an analysis of exercise effects on selected mental health variables. His recent research emphases include examination of the effects of exercise on mood, including anxiety and depression, coping abilities, sleep and cognitive functioning.

A Foundation Professor of Law and Leadership, Leeds is considered one of the most important figures in the world of Indian law and policy and has served on the judiciaries of 10 tribal nations. Leeds' accomplishments include publication of books and articles, development of new courses, connections to the Native American community, grants and mentoring of Indigenous students.

Lin was a world-renowned theoretical chemist. He joined ASU in 1965 and his research over a long and productive career created impacts over a broad range of subjects, including transition state theory, radiationless transitions, multiphoton transitions, vibrational energy relaxation and transfer and femtosecond chemistry.

Liu is widely regarded as a pioneer in AI research. He focuses on developing computational methods for data mining, machine learning and social computing. His contributions in big data include development of AI models that can impact health care, social media and mis/disinformation, algorithmic solutions for socially responsible AI and, in collaboration with the Army Corps of Engineers, improving our nation's water sustainability.

Lynch is the director of the Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution. He has been hailed as the world's leading quantitative geneticist with research that focuses on uncovering the mechanisms driving evolution at the genomic, cellular and organismic levels. His impactful work in the field of evolutionary biology has been funded from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of the Army.

Meyerson came to ASU in 1961 in the Department of Psychology. He was an early pioneer in the field of rehabilitation psychology and dedicated to improving the lives of children with disabilities. He was recognized for his scholarly excellence and dedicated mentoring of students.

Miller was one of the foremost authorities on American voting behavior. He joined ASU’s then Political Science Department in 1982. His research focused on individual voter behavior and participation in national politics, reception of and reaction to communications concerning political events, and the representation process linking constituents and their elected officials.

Moore was in the School of Molecular Sciences and the School of Earth and Space Exploration. He was a pioneering researcher in the field of meteorite studies, founding director of the ASU Center for Meteorite Studies and credited with being the first scientist to detect the different types of carbon in lunar samples. A mineral, carletonmooreite was named for him in 2021.

Navrotsky is the director of the Navrotsky Eyring Center for the Materials of the Universe. She has been described as the world's leading scientist in the field of thermochemistry of minerals and related solid-state materials. Her discoveries have been of fundamental importance in solid-state chemistry, geochemistry, materials science and engineering, exoplanetary chemistry and materials for space exploration.

Palumbo was a prominent political scientist and professor of justice studies. He was the director of the Morrison Institute for Public Policy from 1983-1986 and became acting director for the then School of Justice Studies at ASU from 1988 to 1989. Among his publications are "Statistics in Political and Behavioral Science" (1969) and "Public Policy in America: Government in Action" (1988).

During his 55-year career at Arizona State University, Pettit founded and directed the Cancer Research Institute and was the Dalton Professor of Cancer Research and Medicinal Chemistry. He was a pioneer and a major presence in the field of natural products chemistry and was deeply involved and successful in the discovery and development of cancer chemotherapy agents.

Saks' research interests focus on empirical studies of law and the legal system, especially decision-making in the legal process, evidence law, the law's use of science, the behavior of the litigation system and legal policy affecting medical patient safety.

Wadhwa is a planetary scientist, Foundation Professor and director of the School of Earth and Space Exploration. She is also the principal scientist for the Mars Sample Return mission. Wadhwa researches the processes that form the planetary bodies in the solar system. Her group has developed novel approaches for using highly precise isotope analyses to measure the time scales involved in the formation of planetary bodies and study the origins of water in the solar system.

J. Bruce Wagner, Jr. was a distinguished chemistry professor and researcher at Arizona State University’s School of Molecular Sciences. He published more than 100 technical papers and he was an active member of the Electrochemical Society for more than 40 years, and served as its president from 1983-1984.

Wutich, a world-renowned expert on water insecurity, directs the Global Ethnohydrology Study, a cross-cultural study of water knowledge and management in more than 20 countries. She leads Action for Water Equity, which develops water solutions with water-insecure communities in the United States. She is also the director of the Center for Global Health, a President’s Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, and a 2023 MacArthur Fellow. Her work in socio-hydrology and household water insecurity literally defined those fields.

Yan is the director of the Biodesign Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics and the Milton D. Glick Distinguished Professor in the School of Molecular Sciences. He is a leading figure in the fields of DNA nanotechnology, biomimetics and DNA origami engineering. For more than two decades, he has created novel DNA-based structures and devices that have advanced understanding and application of molecular assembly for diagnosing diseases, enhancing computing and innovating materials science and established ASU as a global leader in molecular design and biomimetics.