Ivis Garcia | Research Excellence | Best Researcher Award

Dr. Ivis Garcia | Research Excellence | Best Researcher Award

Dr. Ivis Garcia | Texas A&M University | United States

Dr. Ivis García, Ph.D., AICP, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University, with a distinguished record of scholarship, teaching, and community engagement in housing, urban policy, and social equity. Her research is grounded in the principles of community development, participatory planning, and social justice, with a particular emphasis on advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within urban systems. Dr. García’s work focuses on asset-based community development (ABCD) approaches that empower marginalized populations to build capacity and resilience through locally driven solutions. She explores the intersections of housing policy, disaster recovery, gentrification, and displacement, particularly within Latino and Puerto Rican communities in the United States and the Caribbean. Her doctoral dissertation, “The Puerto Rican Identity: Reconstructing Ownership in the Face of Change,” set the foundation for a research agenda that bridges cultural identity with community-based planning and equitable housing strategies. Through her collaborations with organizations such as the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, Texas Appleseed, and Foundation for Puerto Rico, Dr. García integrates academic research with real-world impact, informing equitable policy design and participatory decision-making. She has been a Ford Foundation Fellow, Emerging Poverty Scholar, and recipient of numerous professional awards, including theTexas APA Student Project Award and the  Curriculum Innovation Award from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Her research has contributed to national dialogues on resilient housing, participatory governance, and social vulnerability in urban environments, often linking theory to applied planning practice. By engaging communities directly in the research process, Dr. García exemplifies the model of a scholar-activist—translating knowledge into meaningful action that promotes inclusive, just, and sustainable urban futures. Her work continues to inspire transformative practices in housing equity and community resilience across diverse urban landscapes.

Profiles: Orcid

Featured Publications 

García, I. (2025). Earthship architecture as a pathway to post-hurricane resilience and energy independence: A case study analysis in Puerto Rico. Urban Science, 9(11), 446. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci9110446

Kim, M., García, I., Goetz, E., Hanlon, B., Monkkonen, P., Pendall, R., Pfeiffer, D., Reece, J., & Whittemore, A. (2025). Bring zoning back into the planning curricula. Journal of the American Planning Association. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2025.2455162

García, I. (2025). Residential green infrastructure: Unpacking motivations and obstacles to single-family-home tree planting in diverse, low-income urban neighborhoods. Sustainability, 17(16), 7412. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17167412

García, I. (2025). When the map does not tell the whole story: Integrating community voices into GIS gentrification analysis. Land, 14(8), 1510. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081510

García, I., Jackson, A., Lee, C. A., Chrisinger, B., & Greenlee, A. J. (2025). On the outside looking in: Latina/o/x and African American student perspectives on community-engaged courses. Journal of Planning Education and Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X251339979

García, I. (2025). The poorer the neighborhood, the harder it is to reach the park: A GIS equity analysis from Salt Lake City. Sustainability, 17(9), 3774. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17093774

Evangelos Kourdis | Research Excellence | Best Researcher Award

Prof. Dr. Evangelos Kourdis | Research Excellence | Best Researcher Award

Prof. Dr. Evangelos Kourdis | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki | Greece

Professor Evangelos Kourdis has established a distinguished academic presence in the interdisciplinary fields of translation semiotics, sociolinguistics, and cultural communication. He has authored 23 research documents, each contributing to the advancement of semiotic and translation theory. His works have been cited by 70 international publications, underscoring their scholarly reach and recognition. According to Scopus, his current h-index is 4, reflecting consistent and high-quality research output. His studies integrate semiotic methodologies with translation theory, bridging conceptual gaps between linguistic and cultural analysis. These contributions have positioned him as a key figure in modern semiotic scholarship. His publications in reputed journals such as Semiotica, Social Semiotics, and Signs and Society highlight his academic excellence. By fostering collaboration among European semiotic schools, he enriches global dialogue in meaning-making and communication. His research output reflects both depth in theoretical innovation and breadth in application. The increasing citations across major indexing platforms indicate international trust in his frameworks. Professor Kourdis’s scholarship demonstrates an enduring commitment to advancing semiotic research in translation and intercultural studies. These metrics collectively affirm his role as a globally recognized and influential scholar in his field.

Profile: Scopus | OrcidGoogle Scholar

Featured Publications

Kourdis, E. (2025). Multimodal, polysemiotic, multisemiotic: A necessary demarcation for semiotics and translation studies. Social Semiotics. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2025.2562390

Kourdis, E. (2024). Les orientations disciplinaires de la sémiotique: L’état de la question. Degres, 53(197–198), c1–c21.

Kourdis, E. (2024, December 30). Kristeva’s impact on translation and the interplay of intertextuality, transposition and intersemiosis. Acta Nova Humanistica: A Journal of Humanities Published by New Bulgarian University, 24(1), Article 9. https://doi.org/10.33919/anhnbu.24.1.9

Kourdis, E. (2024, December 2). Intersemiotic translations of Greek popular films in the film industry and media. Signs and Media, 2590(0323), Article 12340032. https://doi.org/10.1163/25900323-12340032

Yoka, L., & Kourdis, E. (2023). Introduction: Signs of Europe: Discourses, mythologies, politics of representation. In L. Yoka & E. Kourdis (Eds.), Signs of Europe: Discourses, mythologies, politics of representation (pp. 9–19). Thessaloniki: Hellenic Semiotic Society. https://doi.org/10.26262/FTMV-XR69

Alexander Migdal | Scientific Breakthroughs | Best Researcher Award

Prof. Alexander Migdal | Scientific Breakthroughs | Best Researcher Award 

Prof. Alexander Migdal | Institute for Advanced Study | United States

Alexander A. Migdal is a renowned theoretical physicist with a lifetime of pioneering contributions to mathematical and theoretical physics. Currently a Member of the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, he has advanced key areas of physics including quantum field theory, gauge theory, turbulence, and quantum gravity. Educated at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Migdal has held leading academic positions at prestigious institutions such as Princeton University and New York University. His groundbreaking work includes the Migdal–Kadanoff recursion equations, the Makeenko–Migdal loop equations in large-N QCD, the matrix model solution of two-dimensional quantum gravity, and recent advances in the exact solution of turbulence. Internationally recognized for his achievements, he has received distinguished honors such as the Landau–Weizmann Award and has delivered invited lectures across the globe, continuing to shape modern physics and inspire new generations of researchers.

Profile: OrcidGoogle Scholar

Featured Publications

Migdal, A. (2025). Spontaneous quantization of the Yang–Mills gradient flow. Nuclear Physics B. Advance online publication.

Migdal, A. (2025). Duality of Navier–Stokes to a one-dimensional system. International Journal of Modern Physics A. Advance online publication.

Migdal, A. (2024, December 23). Fluid dynamics duality and solution of decaying turbulence. Preprints.

Migdal, A. (2024, November 12). Duality of the Navier–Stokes dynamics and lack of finite-time explosion (Version 2). Preprints.

Migdal, A. (2024, November 5). Duality of the Navier–Stokes dynamics and lack of finite-time explosion (Version 1). Preprints.

Migdal, A. (2024). Quantum solution of classical turbulence: Decaying energy spectrum. Physics of Fluids, 36(9), 095117.

Migdal, A. (2024, August 4). Quantum solution of classical turbulence: Decaying energy spectrum (Version 3). Qeios.

Migdal, A. (2024, July 9). Quantum solution of classical turbulence: Decaying energy spectrum (Version 14). Preprints.

Migdal, A. (2024, July 9). Quantum solution of classical turbulence: Decaying energy spectrum (Version 2). Qeios.

Migdal, A. (2024, July 3). Quantum solution of classical turbulence: Decaying energy spectrum. Qeios.

Migdal, A. (2024, June 3). Quantum solution of classical turbulence: Decaying energy spectrum (Version 12). Preprints.

Migdal, A. (2024, May 6). Quantum solution of classical turbulence: Decaying energy spectrum (Version 11). Preprints.