Jacob A. Lutz III Eminent Scholars Award Winners

Joseph Eska

Professor of English
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences

Eska is a historical linguist, specifically Celtic historical linguistics, who studies how and why human languages change over time. He co-authored the monograph Historical Linguistics: Toward a Twenty-first Century Reintegration, demonstrating his ability to merge traditional historical linguistics with contemporary theoretical frameworks.

Most of Eska's work has focused on ancient and medieval Celtic languages, but he has also worked on Classical Latin and Greek, Germanic languages, and Native American languages. Drawing upon data from languages around the world, Eska has demonstrated that all of these features are regular internal developments.

Robert Gourdie

Heywood Fralin Endowed Professor
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute

Gourdie’s research has defined the role of connexins in cardiac morphogenesis to his revolutionary insights into the perinexus and the spark-like communication of what has become known as ephaptic coupling. His discoveries have been translated directly into real-world therapeutics through the peptide-based αCT1 technology, diabetic ulcers, and other tissue injuries including heart attack.

His start-up, the Tiny Cargo Company, is advancing a therapeutic medicine transported via cell components from a cow by developing medicines to mitigate radiation therapy’s tissue damage.

Zheng “Phil” Xiang

Professor and Head of the Howard Feiertag Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management
Pamplin College of Business

Xiang’s scholarship broadly focuses on the use of information technology and its impact on hospitality businesses and tourist destinations. His research has evolved from the early digital representation of tourism to a much more diverse and complex field, where technology plays a crucial role in understanding consumer behavior within a travel and service context. His work explores the emerging frontiers of the travel-related digital information space and provides new conceptual foundations for understanding the opportunities and challenges faced by hospitality and tourism businesses. 

John Rossmeisl

Associate Department Head and Dr. and Mrs. Dorsey Taylor Mahin Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences
Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine

Rossmeisl’s scholarship includes pioneering work to improve outcomes of patients-both human and animal-that have been diagnosed with malignant brain tumors. He also helped plan, design, and build the Animal Cancer Care and Research Center in Roanoke and was a member of the faculty design team for the Adaptive Brain and Behavior Destination Area.

Markus Breitschmid

Professor
Department of Architecture
College of Architecture, Arts, and Design

Breitschmid’s scholarship and research is in the field of architectural theory. His international impact in the discipline of architecture stems from a series of bestselling books and articles published in the world’s preeminent architecture journals in America, Asia, and Europe. He has also garnered many invitations from international architecture exhibition venues.