The University of Tulsa is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 Outstanding Researcher Award. This lifetime distinction is received only once in an individual’s UTulsa career. It is intended to honor achievements that have been validated in the scholar’s professional fields. Candidates for the Outstanding Researcher Awards are nominated by deans from colleges across campus. Honorees are selected based on their research and scholarship achievements based on a single project or a cumulative contribution.
Eduardo Faingold, Professor of Spanish and Linguistics
Since coming to UTulsa in 1995, Eduardo Faingold has made significant contributions to the fields of language acquisition, language evolution, language policy, bilingualism, linguistic law and immigration and exile. He has published 10 monographs by prestigious academic presses, is the author of 35 refereed papers in tier-one linguistic journals and world-class presses, has produced 12 book reviews by invitation for major academic journals and has presented papers at more than 100 national and international conferences. Faingold was invited to speak at the United Nations regarding linguistic discrimination, interviewed and featured on numerous occasions by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and NPR regarding his research. He has been invited to referee grants, papers and books by more than two dozen prestigious academic institutions, journals and presses. He is the recipient of a dozen fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the DAAD, the German Science Foundation and the National Research Foundation of South Africa and has held visiting appointments at world-renowned research institutes and universities, such as UCLA, NYU, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Cape Town, the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.
“My research across various linguistics fields has been recognized for significant impact by well-known research and academic institutions, as well as the legal system in the United States, language experts at the U.N. and the media. Receiving the Outstanding Researcher Award from UTulsa is an immense honor, which I cherish because I was selected by my peers of the university faculty,” Faingold said.
Stephen Galoob, Professor of Law
Stephen Galoob is a fourth-generation Oklahoman and a first-generation Tulsan. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, the University of Virginia School of Law and the University of California, Berkeley, he is a legal scholar and philosopher. His philosophical work addresses topics in political, moral and legal philosophy, including the significance of injustice, the fundamentals of criminal law, the requirements of legitimate political authority and the nature of loyalty. Galoob’s legal scholarship and activism centers on criminal law. His publications explore the relationship between criminal law and criminal procedure, the essence of blackmail and the appropriate way to conceptualize coercion-based criminal defenses. He is co-author of the definitive treatise on Oklahoma criminal law, as well as a collaborator in an ongoing research project regarding criminal law in Indian country. Galoob worked with UTulsa law students in founding Project Commutation, which has led to reduced sentencing for hundreds of incarcerated people serving time for non-violent drug and property crimes in Oklahoma.
“Since arriving at The University of Tulsa in 2013, every piece of scholarship I have produced has been influenced by Oklahoma. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn about, write and work to change legal systems in the place where I am from. My accomplishments would not have been possible without the support I received as a junior scholar from then-Dean Janet Levit, the network of scholars and students who have collaborated in my research and indulged my whimsy and the criminal law activists and practitioners whose work inspires me to continue writing and fighting to make the world more fair and just,” Galoob said.
Evren M. Ozbayoglu, Jonathan Detwiler Endowed Chair, Professor of Petroleum Engineering
Evren M. Ozbayoglu is an internationally recognized scholar in drilling engineering and advanced well construction at The University of Tulsa, where he serves as director of UTulsa’s Drilling Research Projects. His research spans drilling optimization, multiphase and non‑Newtonian fluid flow, hole cleaning and cuttings transport, tubular mechanics, geomechanics and directional and horizontal drilling. His work holds a growing emphasis on data analytics, automation and machine-learning enabled decision support. Ozbayoglu has authored more than 230 journal articles and conference papers and contributed to major technical reference books. He is involved in one of the world’s longest-running and most respected industry-university research consortia, expanding UTulsa’s global impact in drilling and well construction research. Equally central to his work is mentorship. Ozbayoglu has supervised 44 master’s and 15 doctoral students to completion, many of whom now hold leadership positions across industry and academia. His research contributions have been widely recognized through professional honors, including Society of Petroleum Engineers Distinguished Member and multiple awards.
“My research has always been driven by a desire to connect fundamental engineering understanding with practical, field-ready solutions that improve drilling performance, efficiency and safety. Through TU Drilling Research Projects, we integrate large-scale experimentation, physics-based modeling and data-driven approaches to address industry-faceted challenges and train the next generation of engineers and researchers. Receiving this research award is deeply meaningful to me because it reflects not only my own efforts, but also the collective contributions of my students, colleagues, collaborators and industry partners over many years. It is a tremendous honor to have this work recognized by my peers at The University of Tulsa, and it reinforces our shared commitment to impactful, rigorous and relevant research,” Ozbayoglu said.