MANHATTAN- Three Kansas State University professors have been named 2018 university distinguished professors, a lifetime title that is the highest honor the university bestows on its faculty members.
The professors receiving the distinction include Mary Beth Kirkham, professor of agronomy; David Poole, professor of kinesiology, and anatomy and physiology; and James Sherow, professor of history.
“Our newest university distinguished professors are exceptional in their fields and have demonstrated the highest levels of scholarship,” said April Mason, university provost and senior vice president. “With such scholars leading the way, we continue toward our goal of becoming a Top 50 public research university by 2025.”
The distinguished professors are appointed following a university wide nomination and evaluation process conducted by the provost. All three faculty members will receive a personalized plaque and medallion at the university’s fall 2018 commencement ceremonies.
Poole’s discoveries have helped define how oxygen is transported from the lungs to be used by tissue mitochondria. Using innovative models, including humans, racehorses, dogs, elephants and rodents at rest and during exercise, he has identified key sites of metabolic control in health and disease. These observations have driven a paradigm shift in the understanding of how capillaries function and advanced novel therapeutics for heart failure.
Poole earned his bachelor’s degree in sports science/applied physiology from Liverpool Polytechnic, England, and his master’s degree and doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles, with postdoctoral training in medicine at the University of California, San Diego. He was the first recipient of the higher Doctor of Science in Physiology from John Moores University in Liverpool in 2000.
Poole believes that outstanding teaching and research go hand in hand. He has taught more than 5,000 undergraduate and 2,000 graduate/professional students at Kansas State University and has mentored more than 50 master’s students and 16 doctoral students as co-director of the university’s Clarenburg Cardiorespiratory Laboratory.
Poole has authored more than 300 research publications, reviews and three books. He has been editor/associate editor for four scientific journals and currently serves on nine editorial boards. Poole has won top college awards at the university for research and teaching in the College of Human Ecology and the College of Veterinary Medicine. He was honored by the British first lady, Cherie Booth Blair, in 2000 and the Danish National Academy of Sciences in 2010. He is the 2018 Edward F. Adolph Distinguished Lecturer from the Environmental and Exercise Physiology section of the American Physiological Society. Poole is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, past president for the Central States American College of Sports Medicine from 2001-2002 and incoming councillor for the Exercise and Environmental Physiology section of the American Physiological Society.
Poole has been awarded more than $5 million as principal investigator and $17.9 million as co-investigator in research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the American Heart Association. His h-Index is 65 with more than 15,000 citations.
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