The Wayne State University School of Medicine's Vaibhav Diwadkar, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences and co-director of the Brain Imaging Research Division, was named to the inaugural class of the Office of the Provost Fellows and to the 29th group of the Office of the President Charles H. Gershenson Distinguished Faculty Fellows.

He is one of only five WSU faculty members named a Provost Fellow through April 2016, selected by a committee led by WSU Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Margaret Winters. As part of the award, fellows are charged with improving Wayne State's graduation and retention rates through targeted initiatives and engagement with faculty and students. Full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty, clinical faculty and lecturers were eligible to apply. Each fellow is granted one course release annually, a month of summer salary and support for travel to an educational conference.

The Office of the President's Distinguished Faculty Fellow award recognizes and provides support for faculty members whose achievements and activities in scholarship, research and/or artistic performance and creativity continue to hold national distinction. It includes two stipends of $6,500 given July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2016, to support the recipient's research. Dr. Diwadkar received the award at the annual Academic Recognition Ceremony, held April 30 at WSU's McGregor Memorial Conference Center.

"While these awards name me, they implicitly recognize a context of support, learning and excellence in our department and division, and the support that we have received from the School of Medicine," Dr. Diwadkar said. "I have worked intensely with undergraduates over the last several years, mentoring them to substantive levels of research success. As the President and the Provost's offices are interested in enhancing student retention and success, they seek to involve more faculty in planning activities that ensure this."

The Bloomfield Township resident has established a vigorous record for mentoring undergraduates, with students joining his laboratory become involved in projects on complex neuroimaging analyses. He helps them assess and interpret the data, and then present the results in both local and international forums.

"I can think of no better recipient of these honors and awards than Dr. Diwadkar. In addition to being a scholar, he is a great mentor and teacher. His students' accomplishments have been nothing short of extraordinary, due in large part to his ability to excite and motivate the next generation of researchers and teachers," said department Chair David Rosenberg, M.D. "He is a wonderful ambassador and representative for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, the School of Medicine and Wayne State University. He is an internationally recognized leading expert in cognitive neuroscience and is widely sought out by institutions from all over the world, including Italy and Germany, as well as across this country and in Canada."

Faculty from the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences were also selected as Provost Fellows. "This program will enable faculty who have already successfully engaged students to promote their best practices across the university and inspire colleagues and, ultimately, students," Winters said. "I look forward to working with our first cohort of fellows, who bring a wealth of experience and passion to this important project."

Provost Fellows also will serve as ambassadors for programs and initiatives to the wider academic community, act as liaisons to the Student Senate leadership and participate in a fall 2015 student success summit on campus.