Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D., Receives Prestigious Provost’s Research and Scholarship Award

L to R: George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D., NSU president & CEO; Richard Dodge, Ph.D., Dean Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography; Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D., recipient of NSU’s 7th Annual Provost’s Research and Scholarship Award; and Ralph V. Rogers Jr., Ph.D., NSU Executive Vice President and Provost

Nova Southeastern University (NSU) Executive Vice President and Provost Ralph V. Rogers Jr., Ph.D., recently presented Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D., with the 7th Annual Provost’s Research and Scholarship Award.

The purpose of the award is to recognize a faculty member who has demonstrated significant achievement in support of NSU’s mission to foster scholarship, intellectual inquiry, and academic excellence. Research and scholarship are two of NSU’s eight core values, and excellence in these areas enhances education, patient care, public service, and develops superior scholarship.

‘We are proud of Dr. Shivji for exemplifying NSU’s Core Values through his groundbreaking research in the field of conservation biology, ecology, and genomics, with a focus on open ocean fishes and coral reef ecosystems,” said Rogers.

The announcement was made at the External Funding Recognition Reception, hosted by Gary S. Margules, Sc.D., vice president of NSU’s Office of Research and Technology Transfer. At this event, faculty members from all disciplines across the university are recognized for their commitment to advancing their fields of study.

Shivji has achieved international recognition for his research, including genomics research on sharks that is pioneering in the field and his lab is currently the global research leader in this arena. This genomics work is also revealing the genetic underpinnings of the remarkable properties of sharks, including rapid woundhealing, which is leading the research into cross-disciplinary avenues combining marine science and biomedical research.

Shivji is the director of the NSU Guy Harvey Research Institute and the NSU Save Our Seas Shark Research Center. He is a senior investigator at the NSU DEEP-END research program and the NSU National Coral Reef Institute. His work is multi-disciplinary in approach, ranging from laboratory-based genetics/genomics to fieldwork-based studies of animal migration patterns and interactions with fisheries. His work, especially pertaining to various facets of shark and ray biology and conservation, is internationally recognized and has brought considerable external visibility to NSU for over two decades.

Previous Provosts Research and Scholarship Award winners include*:

2016: Robert Speth, Ph.D., Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences, NSU’s College of Pharmacy

2015: Nancy Klimas, M.D., director of the NSU Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine, professor of medicine, and chair of the Department of Clinical Immunology at NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine

2014: Sam Purkis, Ph.D., M.B.A, associate professor at NSU’s Oceanographic Center

2013: Raymond Ownby, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., professor and chair of NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine

2012: Bernard Riegl, Ph.D., associate director of NSU’s National Coral Reef Institute and professor at the Oceanographic Center

2012: Steven Kurtz, Ph.D., co-director for NSU’s Center for Applied Research on Substance Use and Health Disparities and professor in the Division of Applied Interdisciplinary Studies

2011: Mark B. Sobell, Ph.D., ABPP, NSU’s Center for Psychological Studies

*Denotes titles and college names at the time the award was presented