South Faculty Recognized in World's Top 2% Scientists List
Posted on September 24, 2025
Nearly a dozen University of South Alabama faculty have been featured in the World’s Top 2% Scientists List, a benchmark for academic research excellence produced by Stanford University. This annually updated ranking identifies the world’s top 2% of scientific researchers, by composite citation impact, across a diverse range of disciplines.
For the 2024 academic year, researchers represented six of South’s colleges. Dr. Joe F. Hair, distinguished professor of marketing and director of the Mitchell College of Business Ph.D. program, was ranked in the top 100 of influential researchers across the globe.
Other honorees include:
- Dr. Matt Howard, associate professor and chair of Marketing, Supply Chain Management and Analytics, Mitchell College of Business.
- Dr. Burke Johnson, professor emeritus, College of Education and Professional Studies.
- Dr. Sharon Fruh, professor and associate dean, College of Nursing.
- Dr. John W. Foster, professor emeritus; Dr. Mikhail Alexeyev, associate professor; Dr. Guillermo Herrera, professor and Locke Eminent Scholar Chair of Pathology; Dr. Troy Stevens, professor and Lenoir Louise Locke Chair of Physiology and Cell Biology; and Dr. Stephen Schaffer, professor emeritus; Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine.
- Dr. James H. Davis, professor of chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences.
- Dr. Kenneth Heck, professor, Stokes School of Marine and Environmental Sciences.
