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UO’s 100 most excellent faculty, ranked in a convenient spreadsheet

By uomatters on 09/03/2019

Last updated on 09/04/2019

The Board of Trustees is meeting this week, and Chairman Chuck Lillis is obsessed with the idea that UO’s faculty are overpaid deadwood. So I’ve prepared this helpful Spreadsheet of Excellence. As a bonus I added another 20 excellent faculty at the bottom to get it to 120, to offset the fact that some of our most cited researchers are post-docs, retired, have left UO but haven’t updated their profile, or are just plain dead – which, according to this new economics paper can be good for their field, at least in the life sciences.

Of course this list only includes those who’ve added their profile to google scholar, which is easy. As of 9/3/2019, here.

If you’re interested in what’s wrong with these numbers and their inevitable misuse by UO administrators check out the posts and discussion in the metrics tag below. This post on the new Faculty Tracking Software – not a joke, but an actual initiative from UO Vice Provost Ellen Herman that will go out for bids soon – is a good place to start.

Or just indulge yourself in a little gratuitous ranking voyeurism:

SPREADSHEET OF FACULTY EXCELLENCE:

Number: Name, rank, citations number
1 Paul Slovic
Decision Research and University of Oregon
Cited by 229411
2 Eric Torrence
University of Oregon
Cited by 206954
High Energy Physics Particle Physics Physics
3 David M Strom
Professor of Physics, University of Oregon
Cited by 181282
Particle Physics High Energy Physics
4
Prof Emeritus of psychology University of Oregon
Cited by 139751
attention
5 Mark Johnson
Professor of Philosophy, University of Oregon
Cited by 106280
cognitive science philosophy of language moral theory aesthetics American Philosophy
6 Raymond Frey
Department of Physics, University of Oregon
Cited by 103521
astrophysics high-energy physics
7 Jacob Searcy
University of Oregon
Cited by 101308
8
Professor of Physics, University of Oregon
Cited by 57854
atomic physics
9
Professor, University of Oregon; Professor Emeritus, Yale University
Cited by 42664
Neuroscience
10 John R Seeley
University of Oregon
Cited by 39491
Emotional and Behavioral Disorders Substance Abuse Suicide Prevention Mental Health Promotion
11
Professor of Biology, University of Oregon
Cited by 32410
Developmental biology molecular genetics genomics evolution of development
12
Postdoctoral Research Scholar, University of Oregon
Cited by 30843
13 Davison Soper
University of Oregon
Cited by 26527
14 Alan D. Meyer
Professor of Management, University of Oregon
Cited by 24930
Organization design change innovation technology
15
Professor of Geography, University of Oregon
Cited by 24194
geography physical geography climatology paleoclimatology paleoecology
16 Ellen Peters
University of Oregon
Cited by 23870
decision making risk perception affect/emotion numeracy communication
17 Andrew Kern
Evergreen Associate Professor of Biology, University of Oregon
Cited by 23703
Population Genetics Evolutionary biology Genetics Genomics Computational Biology
18
Professor of Sociology, University of Oregon
Cited by 23462
Political Economy Environmental Sociology Marxism
19
University of Oregon
Cited by 23258
20
University of Oregon
Cited by 22339
Physics General relativity interferometer calibration
21 Helen Neville
Professor, Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Oregon
Cited by 21807
22 cq doe
Univ Oregon
Cited by 21322
23 Joan Acker
Sociology, University of Oregon
Cited by 21169
sociology gender work organizations feminism
24 Don M. Tucker
University of Oregon
Cited by 20975
emotion psychopathology cognitive neuroscience EEG
25 Eric Selker
Professor of Biology, University of Oregon
Cited by 20883
epigenetics DNA methylation chromatin RIP heterochromatin
26
University of Oregon
Cited by 20860
27 Nicholas Allen
Ann Swindells Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon
Cited by 20045
Developmental Psychopathology Adolescence Brain Development Prevention Science Sleep
28 Linda Price
Professor of Marketing, University of Oregon
Cited by 19978
Marketing consumer identity family research consumer behavior
29 Jon Erlandson
Professor of Anthropology, Executive Director of the Museum of Natural & Cultural Historty …
Archaeology Anthropology Historical Ecology Human Migrations Seafaring and Maritime Adaptations
30
University of Oregon
Cited by 18343
Statistical physics Ecology Proteins Neuroscience River networks
31
Professor Emerita at the University of Oregon
32
Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon
Cited by 18087
Interpersonal perception Emotions Personality Development
33 Lynn Kahle
Professor of Marketing, University of Oregon
Cited by 17981
marketing sports values psychology attitudes
34
University of Oregon
Cited by 17575
geosciences paleontology paleopedology paleobotany paleoclimatology
35
Vice President and Robert and Leona DeArmond Executive Director, Knight Campus …
Cited by 17311
Musculoskeletal regenerative medicine tissue engineering and biomechanics
36
Assoc. Prof. Chemistry, University of Oregon
Cited by 17178
37 Hill M. Walker
Professor Emeritus, University of Oregon
Cited by 17174
behavior disorders school safety bullying early intervention social skills
38
Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology, University of Oregon
Cited by 16654
39
University of Oregon
Cited by 14372
ecology evolution fisheries marine science
40 Jennifer Freyd
University of Oregon
Cited by 14271
Psychology of Trauma Psychology of Gender
41 William Cresko
University of Oregon
Cited by 13230
Evolution Genomics Quantitative Biology
42
Lokey-Harrington Chair in Chemistry, University of Oregon
Cited by 12882
Nanoscience molecular recognition surface chemistry green chemistry
43
Professor of Physics, Department of Physics and Oregon Center for Optics, University of …
Cited by 12472
Quantum optics Nonlinear optics Quantum information
44
Oregon Retina, Oregon Health Sciences University, University of Oregon, Mayo Clinic …
Cited by 12116
Ophthalmology Retinal diseases and surgery Macular and diabetic eye diseases Uveitis Ocular oncology
45 ulrich mayr
University of Oregon
Cited by 11835
cognitive control cognitive aging decision making
46 Phil Fisher
University of Oregon
Cited by 11746
stress neurobiology prevention science foster care adversity
47
University of Oregon
Cited by 11692
Microbial Ecology Biodiversity Science Architecture
48
Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon
Cited by 11528
cell division cell polarity cytoskeleton
49
Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon
Cited by 11093
50 Dare Baldwin
University of Oregon
Cited by 10889
event processing social cognition development
51
Richard M. & Patricia H. Noyes Professor of Chemistry, University of Oregon
Cited by 10827
52
Professor of Marketing, University of Oregon
Cited by 10822
Sponsorship Advertising Communications Marketing Health
53 Bruce Blonigen
University of Oregon
Cited by 10761
54
Professor of Human Physiology, University of Oregon
Cited by 10758
Cardiovascular Physiology Thermoregulation Sex Steroids
55 Nash Unsworth
University of Oregon
Cited by 9701
working memory memory attention individual differences
56
University of Oregon
Cited by 9652
57 Gerard Saucier
Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon
Cited by 9628
Personality Cultural Psychology Moral Psychology Political Psychology Psychology of Religion
58
University of Oregon
Cited by 9413
Biomechanics
59 Richard York
Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies, University of Oregon
Cited by 9335
environmental sociology ecological economics human ecology animal studies sociology of science
60 Craig M. Young
Professor of Biology, University of Oregon
Cited by 9304
subtidal and deep-sea ecology larval development invertebrate zoology
61
University of Oregon
Cited by 9283
Observational Cosmology Climate Change Energy Policy and Sustainability Data Science Complexity
62 Alice Barkan
University of Oregon
Cited by 9158
63 Graham Kribs
Professor of Physics, University of Oregon
Cited by 8948
64
Professor of Biology, Institute for Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon
Cited by 8856
Evolution Evolutionary Genetics Quantitative Genetics Genomics Behavior
65 Scott Bridgham
Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Oregon
ecosystem ecology wetlands climate change
66 alan l shanks
university of oregon
Cited by 8746
marine biology
67 Dennis Howard
Professor of Marketing, University of Oregon
economics of sport finance
68
Professor of Sociology, University of Oregon
Criminology Demography Quantitative Methods Sociology
69
Professor of Chemistry, University of Oregon
Cited by 8529
Materials Science Solid State Chemistry Electrochemistry
70
Department of Human Physiology, University of Oregon
Cited by 8426
Post-exercise hypotension Recovery from exercise
71
Lundquist Professor of Sustainable Management, University of Oregon
Cited by 8339
72 Reza Rejaie
Professor of Computer and Information Science, University of Oregon
Cited by 8290
Network Measurement Online Social Networks P2P Streaming P2P Networks Congestion Control
73 John Conery
Professor of Biology, University of Oregon
Cited by 8094
bioinformatics computational science high performance computing
74 Paul J. Wallace
University of Oregon
Cited by 7991
petrology geochemistry volcanology geology
75
RF Mikesell Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, University of Oregon
Cited by 7900
Environmental Economics Environmental Health Benefits Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Valuation of Ecosystem Benefit
76 Jean Stockard
University of Oregon
Cited by 7889
Sociology
77 Leslie Leve
University of Oregon
Cited by 7795
adoption foster care delinquency prevention science interventions
78 Stephen Fickas
Professor of Computer and Information Science University of Oregon
Cited by 7772
software engineering requirements engineering
79
Professor of Political Science, University of Oregon
Cited by 7760
International relations International environmental politics
80
University of Oregon
Cited by 7573
81
University of Oregon
Cited by 7276
parallel computing performance analysis
82 Ilya Bindeman
Professor of Geology, U of Oregon
Cited by 7055
Isotope geochemistry volcanology
83
Professor, University of Oregon
Cited by 7004
developmental social neuroscience adolescence self-evaluation emotion translational neuroscience
84 Marjorie Taylor
University of Oregon
Cited by 6906
85 Li-Shan Chou
University of Oregon
Cited by 6577
Human movement analysis balance control traumatic brain injury
86 Kim Sheehan
University of Oregon
Cited by 6432
Commmunication New Media Ethics Advertising
87 Hailin Wang
Professor, Department of Physics, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
Cited by 6422
Optical Physics Semiconductor Physics Quantum Information and Quantum …
88
Professor of Biology, University of Oregon
Cited by 6391
microbiota zebrafish symbiosis intestinal development Helicobacter
89 David Krinsley
Courtesy Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Oregon
Cited by 6300
Nanotechnology in Geology Rock varnish Rock varnish on Mars
90
Professor of Economics, University of Oregon
Cited by 6249
econ sophisticated brain imaging bodily fluids & the odd survey
91 CJ Pascoe
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Oregon
Cited by 6211
sociology gender youth sexuality inequality
92 Ray Weldon
Professor of Geology, University of Oregon
Cited by 6168
neotectonics paleoseismology seismic hazards structural geology
93 Yuan Xu
Professor of Mathematics, University of Oregon
Cited by 6161
Approximation theory Orthogonal polynomials Harmonic analysis Special functions Numerical analysis
94 Laura Pulido
University of Oregon
Cited by 6129
95
Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of Oregon
Cited by 5994
Materials Modeling Boundary Pushing Coffee
96 Jane Squires
Early Intervention/Special Education, University of Oregon
Cited by 5827
developmental screening social emotional competence and testing
97 SJ van Enk
University of Oregon
Cited by 5774
Quantum Information Theory Quantum Optics
98 Josh Roering
Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oregon
Cited by 5757
Geomorphology Surface Processes Landscape Evolution Landslides
99 Dietrich Belitz
University of Oregon
Cited by 5612
Strongly Correlated Electrons Quantum Phase Transitions
100 Scott DeLancey
University of Oregon
Cited by 5530
linguistic typology Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Penutian grammaticalization
101
Head of Physics Department, University of Oregon
Cited by 5505
Nanoelectronics Fractals Retinal Implants Solar Energy
102 Seth C. Lewis
Shirley Papé Chair in Emerging Media, University of Oregon
Cited by 5392
Journalism Emerging Media Media Sociology Journalism Studies Digital Technologies
103 Michael Pluth
Associate Professor, University of Oregon
Cited by 5389
Organic Chemistry Chemical Biology Bioinorganic Chemistry
104 Daniel G. Gavin
Professor, Department of Geography, University of Oregon
Cited by 5292
paleoecology climate change biogeography forest ecology refugia
105
University of Oregon
Cited by 5251
biology cell biology developmental biology invertebrate biology
106 Holly Arrow
Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon
Cited by 5236
Group Dynamics Psychology of War Complexity Theory
107
Professor, Counseling Psychology, University of Oregon
Cited by 5047
prevention science intervention family parenting
108
University of Oregon
Cited by 5027
Earth sciences marine geophysics mid-ocean ridges hotspots subduction zones
109 Jeremy Piger
Professor of Economics, University of Oregon
Cited by 4819
Macroeconomics Time-Series Econometrics Bayesian Econometrics
110 Ken Prehoda
Professor of Chemistry, University of Oregon
Cited by 4782
Cell biology stem cells protein structure and function
111
Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oregon
Cited by 4688
Bioinorganic chemistry nucleic acids RNA spectroscopy
112
University of Oregon
Cited by 4616
Teacher-Student Relationships Transition Among Students with Disabilities
113
The University of Oregon, Department of Physics
Cited by 4569
Biophysics Microscopy Microbiology Membranes Gut microbiota
114 Lynn Stephen
University of Oregon
Cited by 4539
Indigenous Communities in the Americas Race Gender Social Movements Transborder migration
115
University of Oregon
Cited by 4534
116 Kent McIntosh
Verified email at uoregon.edu
Cited by 4475
117 Kryn Stankunas
Associate Professor of Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon
Cited by 4440
118
Director, Performance Research Laboratory, University of Oregon and President, ParaTools …
Cited by 4424
Performance Evaluation Tools Instrumentation Measurement Runtime Systems
120 Hans C. Dreyer
University of Oregon
Cited by 4380

Published in Uncategorized

uomatters

16 Comments

  1. Dog 09/03/2019

    Once again no one needs to believe dogs – but there is discussion about this out there. In February 2018 – I suddently noticed a drop of about 4000 in my Google Scholars Citation (and yes I can prove
    there is an error in what databases GS can access) – among the journals I know about for sure are Physical Review Letters

    from one of the discussion boards on this:

    My citation count dropped by nearly 3000 citations. All of my Physical Review Letters dissappeared from GS sometime around mid February. I was fortunate to have an open window of GS with data before the decrease. My hypothesis is that American Physical Societry Journals, particularly Phys. Rev. Lett. have modified access to APS journals leading to massive undercounts on GS for those who typically publish in APS journals. Many of my colleagues experienced similar undercounts on GS. Recommended Action: write to the Editor in Chief of APS Journals and complain that GS is being blocked from counting your citations

    The Astronomical Journal
    The Journal of Chemical Physics

    also seemed to drop citations by the hundreds

    again you don’t have to believe me but others are saying similar things

    I haven notified all the professional societies that I am part of and
    their response was “yeah, that seems to be problem” but
    “we ain’t doing anything about it”

    so its very unfortunate that lists (and yes I am on it) are even
    published, they mean very little.

    Reply
  2. gs problem 09/03/2019

    The most pernicious problem with citation metrics like Google Scholar is the failure to discount for co-authorship or publication quality. It leads to ever-expanding groups doing ever-incremental research. Research metrics that incentivized major contributions to higher quality projects would lead to deeper thinking and better science, event if it led to a third of the journal articles.

    Reply
    • ScienceDuck 09/04/2019

      It does inflate the citation counts for anyone working in large teams, which is why Physics is so well represented at the top. But those large team endeavors in physics are not a product of gaming the citation metrics, they are just the way that kind of physics is done.

      I totally agree that the citation count is a poor proxy for excellence. It would be cool to see a list of papers from researchers at Oregon where they are the corresponding author to see how many highly-cited papers are generated by the research environment here.

      Reply
  3. Deplorable Duck 09/03/2019

    Looks very weak. Would anyone care to guess a correlation coefficient between these metrics and actual excellence? 0.2?

    Reply
    • CSN 09/04/2019

      First define “actual excellence” :-)

      Reply
      • Deplorable Duck 09/05/2019

        There are many dimensions of excellence, of course, but regardless, like Doc Potter, I know it when I see it.

        I will say that the best professor I ever had was very excellent indeed. In demeanor he was like a cross of Johnny Carson and Mr. Rogers. Incredibly (to me now), his lecture was conducted entirely with the aid of just an old-fashioned overhead projector. He would place blank sheets of plastic and draw out each slide as he talked, perhaps with two or three colors. The subject was quite dry–lambda calculus–but he made it effortless and entertaining. I might liken it to watching Christopher Walken dance. You couldn’t stop watching, and you didn’t even want to.

        No idea how to measure this, though.

        There were quite a few other professors in that department with international research reputations, names you’d know, but the classes I had with them were pretty useless and uninspiring.

        Reply
  4. Publius 09/04/2019

    I hope U of O Matters is being sarcastic in identifying this sort of thing with faculty excellence. Oregon could have the greatest classicist in the world–this generations MI Findley or Moses Hadas–but it would never show up on a metric like this because # of citations has a one-to-one relation with the size of the field and its citation practices. The most cited law professor in America, Lucian Bebchuk, has 4,411 citations–compared with Slovics 206,000. [https://today.law.harvard.edu/hls-faculty-maintain-top-position-ssrn-citation-rankings/] What does this tell us? The only figure from humanities on this list is Mark Johnson, and this is due entirely to his having been the junior author of a book with George Lakoff, a psychologist. Saul Kripke, universally regarded as the most important living philosopher, would not crack the U of Os top twenty by this metric.

    Reply
    • anon 09/05/2019

      Saul kripke would rank #11, at 33,000. https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=MRCc_ugAAAAJ

      But its stupid to consider the list as comparing particle physicists with economists with philosophers with…; everyone knows comparisons only mean something within disciplines..at best.

      But notice that Professor Kripke considers it worthwhile to be on Google Scholar.

      Reply
      • Publius 09/05/2019

        Stand corrected on Kripke. What is especially impressive about Kripke is he works in very technical areas (modal logic, theory of reference), with nothing like the broader interest of work in, say, political philosophy (Rawls has 185,000 citations because he speaks to so many audiences.) But note how misleading citations are even within the same field (philosophy). Mark Johnson ranks above Kripke by a multiple of 3.

        FYI–I would endorse the RAE approach in the UK: “The assessment process for the RAE focuses on quality of research outputs (which usually means papers published in academic journals and conference proceedings), research environment, and indicators of esteem. Each subject panel determines precise rules within general guidance. For RAE 2008, institutions are invited to submit four research outputs, published between January 2001 and December 2007, for each full-time member of staff selected for inclusion.“ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Assessment_Exercise

        Reply
    • anon 09/05/2019

      Also notice that ~105,000 of Slovics claimed citations belong to other authors; the first 2, most cited pubs!
      One has to wonder how such claims get into one’s list.

      Reply
      • Anonymous 09/05/2019

        Not everyone checks their google scholar account…it populates stuff automatically and makes mistakes…he is a beloved figure across the board so don’t make idiotic statements like this without any info

        Reply
        • uomatters Post author | 09/05/2019

          Agreed, although unlike Brad Shelton’s $100K Academic Analytics software you do have to give it permission to list you as UO faculty using a university email address, and it does let you see your own data and edit it.

          Reply
  5. ODA 09/04/2019

    I assume there is sarcasm on the part of UOM in regards to the list, but this does lead me to a question:

    * How should one prove excellence(1) in Academia?
    (1) replace buzz word excellence with whatever metric you want. IE: value, output, productivity, active, merit, worth, etc.

    The comments here have as usual started working their way down the most obvious and oft cited problems; no doubt if this thread continues the rest of the tropes will be added. All of these are ]real problems with trying to measure academia and I believe most everyone agrees. Instead of just regurgitating the ordered list yet again, can we please hear if anyone has an idea of how to measure excellence in academia?

    Not being all that smart (or just lazy) I cannot think of any good way, and the core of the multi-dimensional nature of academia–education, research, and scholarship–leads me to wonder if there really is any useful and efficient way to measure any part, much less the whole.

    In the end it seems that customers (students), suppliers (professors), and institutions (the university (administration:) ) determine value based on their own internal bias and emotions to support their own desired outcome… and the wheel just keeps going round and round.

    Reply
    • Outsider 09/04/2019

      Well, ODA, consider the University of California system. COLAs are distributed across the board annually (we hope!) at the announced percentage, but reviews for promotion, tenure and regular merit increases according to UC’s increasingly quaint step system are conducted on a regular basis: every two years for assistant and associate professors, every three years for full professors. This is a faculty-run system initiated by the home department and supervised by (on my campus) the Council on Academic Personnel, among the most powerful arm of the Academic Senate. The divisional dean and vice chancellor must sign off on the final decision and (now that the formal salary scale has been shot to hell and reduced to a set of minimums) the final salary, but the criteria for advancement and the evaluation of those criteria in research, teaching, and service are determined by the faculty. This is done by careful assembly and reading of a full promotion dossier and, for major promotions at all ranks, the solicitation of outside letters. The basic principle is that individual disciplines and within those disciplines individual departments are the best judges of professional distinction. (That means, among other things, that you can claim 1,000+ citations in a year, but we your peers will actually read through the articles mentioned, and if they are seen to be fluff, they won’t do you much good. Nor do we need some outside agency to tell us the “impact factor” of journals in our field or, for that matter, to define who is doing work of real significance.) And yes, departments are subject to review, too, notionally every eight years in a process also overseen by committees of the Academic Senate that are conducted in an analogous way. It is a system of shared governance predicated upon mutually agreed upon goals, mutual respect, trust, transparency, and accountability.

      Does it work? Publius mentions classicists, not the example I would have chosen but ok: UC Berkeley and UCLA have Classics departments of international reputation, with more than one member of each department probably to be seen (in retrospect) in a class with Moses Finley. Irvine and Santa Barbara are significant players on the national scene and not to be sneezed at either. So, yes, I’d say it works. The wheel may be going round and round, but the machine keeps moving forward.

      Reply
  6. anon 09/05/2019

    for Publicus

    The National Research Council of the US National Academies has methodology for ranking Doctoral programs, which is done once a decade.
    The latest is here: http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/Resdoc/

    As I recall citation counts were the strongest univariate predictor. Well, not google scholar, but web-of-science.

    I think AAU uses the same ‘indicators of excellence’ as NRC; indeed AAU got them from NRC.

    Reply

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