Judit Puskas received 2024 Distinguished University Professor Award at Thursday university Board of Trustees meeting

The university Board of Trustees awarded Judit Puskas with the title of 2024 Distinguished University Professor at its public session Thursday.

As a professor in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State’s Wooster Campus, Puskas was selected for her work in polymer science — a field of material science that centers on the study of polymers — within the medical field. With Puskas’ newly awarded title, she will receive a one-time grant of $30,000 to support her academic work and become a member of the President and Provost’s Advisory Committee.

Karla Zadnik, interim university executive vice president and provost, spoke at the board meeting to help introduce Puskas’ award and recognize her professional accomplishments, work experience and achievements across her time at Ohio State.

“From her groundbreaking medical inventions and innovative cancer research, her extensive research output and her interdisciplinary impact, Puskas’ research and world-renowned expertise in polymer science have made impactful contributions to her field, her students, our college, the university and so very many people,” Zadnik said.

After applause from the board and public audience, Puskas shared more about her joy of being a professor, the gratitude she holds for those who support her and her lifelong journey from Hungary to Ohio State.

Puskas went on to share her three greatest motivators and support systems, saying there is a Hungarian expression that “if you want to speak the truth, you have to say three things.”

“The first is that I wouldn’t be here without the support of my husband,” Puskas said. “The second thing is really the American dream. And then the third one is really Ohio State. It’s really the opportunities that I have had here; they are unmatched. So I could not have achieved this, what I have achieved, without your support.”

In addition to her $30,000 grant, Zadnik said Ohio State received $26 million in federal funding to support the creation of the Transformation of American Rubber through Domestic Innovation for Supply Security Engineering Research Center — or TARDISS ERC —  which Puskas will help lead.

“Dr. Puskas will serve as principal investigator on that grant, which, through collaboration with academic partners and the support of industry stakeholders, will lead to, in her words, ‘a Silicon Valley of domestic natural rubber production,'” Zadnik said.

The first round of federal funding will span five years, according to an Aug. 21 Ohio State News article . Moreover, there will be an opportunity for Ohio State to renew the funding and receive an additional $26 million over five more years, the article states.