The College of Science congratulates University Distinguished Research Professor and biology department chair Dr. Jyoti Shah for receiving the 2024 Decker Scholar Award from the UNT Foundation and Faculty Success! This annual award is bestowed upon a tenure-track or tenured faculty member who has demonstrated research excellence in the field of natural sciences, computational sciences, or technology.

"I am honored to have been chosen for the Decker Scholar Award," said Dr. Shah, who has been at the University of North Texas since 2007. "Credit for this goes to all the graduate, undergraduate, and high school students, postdocs, technicians, and visiting scholars who have contributed to research in the lab over the years. A big thanks also to all my collaborators across the globe. This has been a wonderful and exciting journey that would not have been possible without their contributions."

Dr. Shah's research is focused on immunity in plants. He has published internationally acclaimed discoveries in plant defense signaling and the role of lipids in stress response and has applied these discoveries to develop strategies for enhancing resistance in wheat to the Fusarium head blight disease. His lab has also pioneered useful tools to develop a model system for studying plant defense against aphids.

Over his career, Dr. Shah has contributed to more than a hundred publications that have over 15,000 citations. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Agriculture, and the US Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative.

Dr. Shah was honored at UNT's Salute to Faculty Excellence event which took place on April 26, 2024. This event is hosted each spring by Faculty Success and the UNT Foundation. For more information about the Faculty Excellence Awards and the 2024 winners, please visit https://vpaa.unt.edu/fs/recognition/SFE-winners-24