The University of Tulsa is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 Outstanding Researcher Award – a lifetime distinction that is received only once in an individual’s career. It is intended to honor achievements that have been validated in the scholar’s professional fields. Candidates for Outstanding Researcher are nominated by deans from colleges across campus. Nominees are selected for their recognition of outstanding research and scholarship achievements based on a single project or a cumulative contribution.
Akhtar Ali, Professor of Biological Science
Since joining the university in 2007, Akhtar Ali has made outstanding contributions in his research, teaching, and mentorship. Ali’s research primarily focuses on plant viruses affecting a wide range of crops, including field crops, vegetables, ornamentals, and fruits. His work has been supported by more than 30 external grants totaling over $1.4 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, private foundations, and commodity associations. A dedicated mentor, Ali has guided more than 183 individuals in his laboratory, including 11 doctoral students, 10 master’s students, 153 undergraduates, three postdoctoral fellows, two lab technicians, and four visiting scholars. He is currently supervising four doctoral students, one master’s student, and 12 undergraduates. Ali has authored over 105 scientific publications, with 80 published during his tenure at UTulsa. He has written two books, one of which serves as a textbook for his course Experimental Techniques in Molecular Biology, and contributed 12 book chapters. His excellence in research and education has been recognized internationally with numerous awards and fellowships. Ali also serves as editor for various international journals.
“For over three decades, my research has centered on understanding the role of harmful viruses in threatening our agricultural crops and food supply. In 2017, a Fulbright award opened a new chapter, allowing me to explore beneficial viruses, like mycoviruses, as potential biological controls against fungal diseases of agricultural crops. Since then, my research has embraced both the destructive and protective roles viruses can play in agriculture. In addition, this Outstanding Researcher Award from The University of Tulsa affirmed that years of dedication and hard work were recognized, and it stands as a proud milestone for me, my lab, and my students.”
Lars Engle, Roxana McFarlin Chapman Chair of English
Throughout his career, Lars Engle has been a prolific and active contributor to the field of literary criticism, even before he arrived at UTulsa in 1988. His research has focused primarily on Shakespeare and Renaissance drama and, more recently, Montaigne studies, but also medieval literature and contemporary South African literature. His book “Shakespearean Pragmatism” (1993) set Shakespeare in the context of contemporary philosophy, and Engle has collaborated on three other books and editions: “English Renaissance Drama: A Norton Anthology” (2002), “Studying Shakespeare’s Contemporaries” (2014) and, most recently, “Shakespeare and Montaigne” (2021). He has been published widely in journals and annuals from the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Korea, and South Africa, including the leading peer-reviewed journals in his field: Shakespeare Quarterly, Shakespeare Survey, and PMLA. Engle has also served on the editorial board for Shakespeare Quarterly and several other journals, has been a trustee of the Shakespeare Association of American, and is currently on the Renaissance Society of America’s book prize committee. He has lectured internationally, from Taiwan to Morocco, Korea to Canada, and throughout the U.S.
“The throughline of my research has been my interest in how modern human beings can come to love old texts and enhance themselves through them – the same interest I bring to my teaching. Most of my criticism sets Shakespeare and other Renaissance dramatists in the context of modern philosophy, and much of my recent work discusses how Shakespeare responds to the French essayist Montaigne, a near-contemporary whose attitudes approximate those of many moderns.”
Tyler Moore, Tandy Endowed Chair in Cyber Security and Information Assurance
As chair of the School of Cyber Studies and professor of computer science, Tyler Moore (B.S. ’04) engages with a wide range of topics within his research, with a particular focus on the economics of information security, the study of electronic crime, and the development of policy for strengthening security, as well as digital currencies and critical infrastructure protection. At UTulsa, Moore also directs the Security Economics Lab and, prior to UTulsa, was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Research on Computation and Society at Harvard University, a visiting assistant professor at Wellesley College, and an assistant professor at Southern Methodist University. Moore is an editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cybersecurity, a publication of Oxford University Press. From 2011 to 2014, he served as a director and vice president of the International Financial Cryptography Association. The recipient of numerous fellowships during his career, he has written or contributed chapters to 10 books, as well publishing and presenting over 100 journal and conference papers.
“My research seeks to improve cybersecurity through better measurement. I have gathered and analyzed data on a wide range of cybercrimes, from phishing to cryptocurrency price manipulation. I study the effectiveness of firm-level cyber defenses and how their incentives drive security investments. My research has integrated computer science, economics, and psychology to help explain what works and doesn’t in cybersecurity practice today. Receiving the Outstanding Researcher Award is a huge honor because I was selected by my peers in the faculty at TU. It’s a testament to the outstanding contributions of my research students, from the undergraduate to Ph.D. levels. And it underscores the value of a TU education, as I learned to do research here as an undergraduate more than two decades ago.”