College of Education and Health Professions faculty members William F. McComas, Kevin Murach, Jonathan Wai and Gema Zamarro have been named among the top 2 percent of researchers in the world.

The prestigious Stanford University/Elsevier list recognizes leading researchers from a broad range of scientific fields whose work has had a significant global impact based on citations across their careers and during the past year. It uses metrics like h-index, co-authorship adjustments, and a composite citation score (c-score), which reflects a scientist's influence rather than just publication count.

"Advancing impactful research is a key priority in our college, and these four faculty members are helping us make huge strides in that area," said Dean Kate Mamiseishvili. "I'm extremely proud of their commitment to groundbreaking research that genuinely improves people's lives. It is so gratifying to see their hard work recognized on a global scale."

McComas is a professor of science education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and holds the Parks Family Endowed Professorship in Science Education. His articles, lectures and books have transformed science education. McComas' journey in life science education began as a high school biology and physical sciences teacher in suburban Philadelphia. He earned a doctoral degree in science education from the University of Iowa before heading to the University of Southern California as a professor. After a 14-year stint at USC, McComas arrived at the U of A in 2006. Since then, he has served in various leadership roles, won multiple national awards and taught a wide range of courses. He is best known for his work integrating the history and philosophy of science into science instruction.   

Murach is an assistant professor of exercise science in the Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation. His undergraduate degree is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned the Ronald Hyatt Scholarship in Exercise Science. Murach completed a master's degree in exercise physiology at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, then earned his Ph.D. in human bioenergetics from the Ball State Human Performance Laboratory in Muncie, Indiana. He spent six years as a post-doctoral fellow/scholar at the University of Kentucky Center for Muscle Biology in Lexington. During that time, he was supported by two National Institutes of Health grants. At the U of A, Murach's research focuses on understanding the molecular cues that drive exercise adaptations and aging, and the interaction between these two. He is currently funded by the NIH, the American Federation for Aging Research and the Nathan Shock Center, specifically focusing on skeletal muscle, exercise and aging. He leads a team in the M3R: Molecular Muscle Mass Regulation Lab.

Wai is an associate professor and Twenty-First Century Endowed Chair in Education Policy in the Department of Education Reform. He earned a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. Recently, one of his papers was recognized as the most cited in the history of the field of mathematical giftedness, another won an international Mensa research award, and he was named a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science for sustained contributions to the field of psychology. Wai's recent work was funded by Schmidt Futures and the U.S. Department of Education. He serves on the editorial boards of multiple publications, including Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Journal of Expertise, Gifted Child Quarterly, Journal for the Education of the Gifted, and Psychology, Public Policy, and Law.

Zamarro teaches empirical methods and education economics as it relates to teacher quality and teacher labor markets in the Department of Education Reform and is the Twenty-First Century Endowed Chair in Teacher Quality. She previously worked as a senior economist at the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research, as an economist at the RAND Corporation, as a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School of Public Policy, and as an assistant professor in the Department of Econometrics at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. Her research is motivated by policy-relevant questions and the use of rigorous methods to help inform policy, with a focus on education policy. She has studied the relationship between teacher quality and student performance, teacher recruitment and retention issues, the gender and educational effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of school closing policies on student outcomes, and the effect of dual-language immersion programs on student outcomes, among other topics. Her work has been featured numerous times in the American and Spanish media and has helped inform policy at the state, national and international levels. Zamarro holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Madrid, Spain), a master's in economics and finance from CEMFI (Madrid, Spain) and a Ph.D. in economics from CEMFI.

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About the College of Education and Health Professions: The College of Education and Health Professions' six departments prepare students for a wide range of careers in education and health, including teaching, nursing, counseling, educational leadership and policy, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, public health, exercise science, and many more. The college has approximately 360 faculty and staff members, serves more than 6,000 students and supports over 20 research and service units. Guided by the WE CARE strategic plan, the college strives to advance impactful research that improves people's lives, increase transformative learning opportunities for its students, engage in meaningful partnerships across Arkansas and beyond, and embrace a culture of caring that empowers people to thrive in all aspects of life.