Three excellent college members have been chosen because the 2025-26 Benedum Distinguished Scholars in recognition of their distinctive analysis and scholarly exercise.
Honorees embrace the next:
• Brian Boone, affiliate professor of surgical oncology within the School of Medicine.
• Donald Adjeroh, professor and affiliate chair of pc science within the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.
• Chris Scheitle, professor of sociology within the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
The Benedum Distinguished Scholars Awards, funded by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, are awarded yearly to college engaged in “creative research” in as many as 4 classes: behavioral and social sciences, biosciences and well being sciences, humanities and the humanities, and bodily sciences and know-how.
This yr, distinctive students had been recognized in three of the 4 classes.
“Each year, I continue to be impressed by the caliber of our faculty and their research,” Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Paul Kreider mentioned. “This year’s Benedum Distinguished Scholars Award recipients reflect the very highest ideals of scholarship, discovery and service. Their dedication to advancing knowledge and creating meaningful impact inspires our students, colleagues and the world beyond campus.”
Boone is the recipient of the 2025-26 Benedum Distinguished Scholar in Biosciences and Health Sciences for his work targeted on pancreatic most cancers.
Difficult to deal with, pancreatic most cancers tumors typically create a strongly immunosuppressive atmosphere, stopping the physique’s immune system and lots of immunotherapies from working successfully. Over the previous eight years, Boone has led analysis to higher perceive how the immune system contributes to pancreatic most cancers progress and resistance to therapy, whereas additionally creating new therapeutic methods.
A key focus of his work is on neutrophil extracellular traps, that are web-like constructions launched by immune cells. Boone’s analysis confirmed that NETs actively promote most cancers development by suppressing immune responses, growing fibrosis, enhancing blood clotting, and aiding metastasis. This discovery helped clarify why pancreatic most cancers resists immunotherapy and recognized NET-related pathways as promising therapy targets.
More just lately, Boone has collaborated with Slawomir Lukomski, professor within the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology, to discover how micro organism and the microbiome can be utilized to counteract immune suppression. Their staff discovered that sure bacterial proteins, corresponding to one derived from streptococcus, can block dangerous NET formation and scale back tumor progress in animal fashions. They additionally developed safer approaches to therapy utilizing engineered micro organism to ship these useful proteins and minimally invasive robotic surgical procedure.
Boone’s work has been printed in main peer-reviewed journals, and he has had sustained success in securing aggressive analysis funding. He has progressed from early-career help to main nationwide awards, together with serving as co-principal investigator on a $2.25 million greenback grant from the Lustgarten Foundation. His funding portfolio additionally consists of help from the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society, demonstrating each the energy and continued progress of his analysis program.
Adjeroh is honored because the 2025-26 Benedum Distinguished Scholar in Physical Sciences and Technology for his affect on the event of synthetic intelligence and its use in well being care.
Adjeroh’s early analysis was influential in creating right now’s AI techniques, together with applied sciences behind instruments like ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot. A key half of his work has targeted on machine studying, particularly how fashions can be taught helpful patterns from information and apply what they be taught to new issues. Adjeroh made necessary contributions to switch studying, which permits AI techniques educated in a single space to be tailored to a different. Later in his profession, he developed superior strategies for producing higher information representations, together with work on adversarial autoencoders. These concepts at the moment are extensively utilized in trendy generative AI techniques, together with those who create or rework photos and different content material.
Beyond core AI principle, Adjeroh’s work has additionally had a powerful real-world affect on digital well being. He developed new methods to measure well being and growing old utilizing easy physique measurements, which had been extensively adopted and superior to older strategies like physique mass index. Adjeroh has additionally contributed to areas corresponding to drug security and medical picture evaluation by adapting machine studying to well being care.
Widely acknowledged by the worldwide analysis neighborhood, Adjeroh’s work has been printed in prime scientific venues and has been cited over 4,000 instances since 2021. His analysis has funding from main nationwide businesses, securing thousands and thousands of {dollars} in aggressive analysis grants and producing over $11 million as a principal or co-principal investigator. He has additionally mentored new students, graduating 14 doctoral and 41 grasp’s college students whereas at WVU.
Scheitle is acknowledged because the 2025-26 Benedum Distinguished Scholar in Behavioral and Social Sciences for his analysis that examines the social constructions and dynamics of faith and science in trendy American society.
He has printed extensively on subjects investigating how the general public understands the connection between faith and science, how non secular beliefs affect attitudes towards science and scientists’ views on faith and navigating their very own religion and scientific work.
Scheitle has additionally pioneered the examine of non secular discrimination and victimization. His work on this matter started with a National Science Foundation–funded examine that surveyed locations of worship about crime and hate-motivated assaults, together with how they put together for and reply to those occasions. His analysis illustrated the stress between non secular congregations’ want for safety and their have to welcome new members to their communities. He has since expanded his work to check people’ private experiences with non secular bias and hurt.
He has acquired 9 main analysis grants totaling greater than $3.6 million, together with a number of awards from the National Science Foundation. He has printed over 100 peer-reviewed articles in main sociology and social science journals and has written 5 educational books printed by main college presses. Scheitle’s analysis is extensively cited by different students, with practically 5,000 citations, and he’s ranked within the prime one p.c of social scientists for productiveness.
Beyond academia, Scheitle’s work has been widely known in public discussions, particularly following incidents of violence at locations of worship. His work has reached giant public audiences by way of media protection and writing for shops like The Conversation, NPR, Nature, Harper’s Magazine and USA Today.
Each Benedum Distinguished Scholar will obtain a $5,000 skilled improvement honorarium. The students will probably be acknowledged throughout a school and workers awards reception at Blaney House in April.