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����ֱ�� State University has announced the recipients of the New Faculty Outstanding Research and Scholarship Award (New ORSA). These awards recognize the hard work and dedication of faculty who have been at ����ֱ�� State for 10 years or less and are sponsored by the University Research Council.

“This year’s New ORSA winners ideally represent the strength and breadth of research and scholarship at ����ֱ�� State University,” said Paul DiCorleto, vice president for research at ����ֱ�� State. “We are looking forward to the next great accomplishments of the awardees.”

This year’s New ORSA winners, Sara Bayramzadeh and Taryn McMahon, have contributed to the success and progression of the community and university through their countless hours of research and efforts in their fields of expertise.

Sara Bayramzadeh

Sara Bayramzadeh, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design and the Elliot Professor in the Elliot Program for Master of Healthcare Design (MHCD).

Bayramzadeh’s research project, “Toward a Model of Safety and Care for Trauma Room Design,” focuses on the improvement of patient safety through the redesign of level-one trauma rooms.

Bayramzadeh and her team of collaborators at ����ֱ�� State and Cleveland Clinic Akron General were awarded $2.4 million over a span of four years to create a safer area for patients to recover and a more efficient environment for medical staff to conduct their work.

Her nomination letter underscored Bayramzadeh’s ability to manage large multidisciplinary research teams, the opportunities that her research has provided to graduate and undergraduate research assistants, and the fact that this is the second largest federally funded research project in the field of healthcare design, interior design, and architecture nationally.

For more information on this project, visit www.kent.edu/research/news/kent-state-healthcare-design-researcher-receives-2-million-design-safer-and-more.

Taryn McMahon

Taryn McMahon is an associate professor and division coordinator in the School of Art. She focuses on print media, photography and studio art where she merges traditional printmaking with contemporary approaches to create visually complex landscapes through the use of human-made and naturally made resources.

McMahon’s recent project, “A Series of Entanglements,” is a collection of 20 large silkscreen prints that are highly layered and detailed to depict the current state of constant interaction between people and our environment. Further, the natural resources are locally sourced, coming from the shores of Lake Erie or the Cuyahoga River.

In her letter of nomination it was noted that McMahon’s focus on the human impact on ecologies and cultural preconceptions of nature dispenses with a romantic view of nature and grapples with global human impact. 

For more information about McMahon, visit