ACES recognizes promoted faculty, welcomes new scholars
This fall, the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign welcomes not only its 2026 freshman class, but also an outstanding cohort of new and newly promoted faculty. This year, the college promoted 22 faculty members and hired eight more. They join the hundreds of top-ranked experts in the College of ACES who deliver on the land-grant promise with every class, research project, outreach program, and more.
“Our faculty are at the heart of the college’s impact,” said ACES Dean Germán Bollero. “Promotions celebrate the achievements and leadership of our current faculty, while new hires bring new energy and ideas to our classrooms, laboratories, and communities. Together, they will help us continue delivering excellence in teaching, research, and Extension that benefits people across Illinois and beyond.”
Maria Regina Cattai de Godoy, part of the Department of Animal Sciences, and Carena van Riper, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, were recommended for special recognition based on the scope, quality, and impact of their scholarship, as well as their teaching and service. Alongside their promotions to professor, van Riper and Godoy are recipients of the 2026 Campus Distinguished Promotion Award and will receive a discretionary fund to support future scholarly activities.
Faculty Promotions
To the rank of professor (in order of department)
- Rabin Bhattarai — Agricultural and Biological Engineering
- Girish Chowdhary — Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Siebel School of Computing & Data Science
- Maria Librada Chu — Agricultural and Biological Engineering
- Paul Davidson — Agricultural and Biological Engineering
- Craig Lemoine, Clinical Professor — Agricultural and Consumer Economics
- Maria Regina Cattai de Godoy — Animal Sciences
- Alexander Lipka — Crop Sciences
- Andrew Margenot — Crop Sciences
- Nathan Schroeder — Crop Sciences
- Pratik Banerjee — Food Science and Human Nutrition
- Matthew Stasiewicz — Food Science and Human Nutrition
- Carena van Riper — Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences
To the rank of associate professor
- Salah Issa — Agricultural and Biological Engineering
- Mohammed Kamruzzaman — Agricultural and Biological Engineering
- Gopu Raveendran Nair, Teaching Associate Professor — Agricultural and Biological Engineering
- Rebecca Taylor — Agricultural and Consumer Economics
- Matthew Dean — Animal Sciences
- Derek T. Nolan, Teaching Associate Professor — Animal Sciences
- Juan Arbelaez Velez — Crop Sciences
- Yi-Cheng Wang — Food Science and Human Nutrition
- Chloe Wardropper — Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences
- Zhongjie Yu — Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences
New faculty members
- LeeAnn Moss, senior lecturer — Agricultural and Consumer Economics
- Amy Roady, instructor in Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications and director of the James F. Evans Global Center for Food and Agricultural Communications
- Su A Lee, assistant professor — Animal Sciences
- Alexandra Lundquist, instructor in Food Science and Human Nutrition and director of the Clinical & Community Nutrition Online Master’s program
- Kimberly Patton, teaching assistant professor in Human Development and Family Studies and director of the Illinois Neurodiversity Initiative
- Samantha Wilson, lecturer — Human Development and Family Studies