Four UCF Researchers Named as Highly Cited Researchers for 2021

Four University of Central Florida researchers have been named highly cited researchers in their field for 2021 by analytics company Clarivate, based on data from Web of Science.

The annual list identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Their names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index.

The UCF researchers earning the honor this year are:

• Demetrios N. Christodoulides in the field of physics. Christodoulides is the Cobb Family Endowed Chair and Pegasus Professor of Optics at UCF’s CREOL-the College of Optics and Photonics.
• Mohamed Abdel-Aty in the field of social sciences. Abdel-Aty is a Trustee Chair and Pegasus Professor and Chair of UCF’s Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering, part of UCF’s College of Engineering and Computer Science.
• Madhab Neupane in the field of physics. Neupane is an associate professor in UCF’s Department of Physics, part of UCF’s College of Sciences.
• Fevzi Okumus in the field of social sciences. Okumus is a Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association Preeminent Chair Professor in UCF’s Hospitality Services Department at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management.

Christodoulides and Abdel-Aty are also in the top 0.1% of citations for their fields based on data from Web of Science and Clarivate.

Three of the four UCF awardees are repeat winners.

Christodoulides, who has received the honor since 2014, gives much of the credit to his students and their scholarship.

“I’m honored, but also the honor goes to my graduate students that I have had over the years here at CREOL that made this possible,” Christodoulides says.

This is the second year in a row that Abdel-Aty has earned the honor, and he was also noted this month as one of the top 0.1% of scholars writing about Traffic Accidents over the past 10 years by online application Expertscape based on PubMed algorithms, which labeled him an expert in the field.

“UCF is recognized because of my efforts in safety among the top institutions in the world,” Abdel-Aty says. “It’s very rewarding generating research and applications that make a great difference in saving lives.”

Neupane, also calls the award an honor, and this marks the third year in a row that he has been on the list.

“This achievement would not have been possible without the hard work and efforts from my students, postdoctoral researchers at the Laboratory for Advanced Spectroscopic Characterization of Quantum Materials and collaborators from various parts of the world,” he says. “I am delighted to see that many researchers are finding our work very important and useful for their research, which further motivates us to do good quality work and set a benchmark in the years to come.”

Okumus also gives credit to his students.

“Being a highly cited researcher is indeed a great recognition but developing our students, mentoring junior faculty and working with our industry partners are as valuable as our research publications and citations,” Okumus says.

The methodology that determines the “who’s who” of influential researchers draws on the data and analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate. It also uses the tallies to identify the countries and research institutions where these citation elite are based.

“It is increasingly important for nations and institutions to recognize and support the exceptional researchers who are driving the expansion of the world’s knowledge,” says David Pendlebury, senior citation analyst at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate. “This list identifies and celebrates exceptional individual researchers at the University of Central Florida who are having a significant impact on the research community as evidenced by the rate at which their work is being cited by their peers. The research they have contributed is fueling the innovation, sustainability, health and security that is key for our society’s future.”

The full 2021 Highly Cited Researchers list and executive summary can be found online here.

Christodoulides received his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University and joined UCF in 2002.

Abdel-Aty received his doctorate in civil engineering from the University of California, Davis, and joined UCF in 1995.

Neupane received his doctorate in physics from Boston College and joined UCF in 2016.

Okumus received his doctorate in strategic hotel management from Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom and joined UCF in 2005.