Hagey chosen for Kossen Faculty Excellence Award
Dr. Travis Hagey, associate professor of biology, was announced as the Kossen Faculty Excellence Award recipient at the Spring Commencement Ceremony Friday, May 8.
“Dr. Hagey has been an incredible asset to our department, university and community, in all the areas the Kossen Award for Faculty Excellence wants to recognize – teaching, scholarly achievement and service,” said Dr. Ross Whitwam, chair of the Department of Sciences and Mathematics. “I can think of no more worthy recipient of this award.”
The Kossen Award recipient must be a meritorious tenured faculty member of The W who has exhibited excellence in teaching, scholarly or artistic achievement and service, preferably on campus and in communities, throughout The W’s service area.
“It’s super exciting to be recognized for all the hard work,” Hagey said “The students are great, and it makes it really easy to work with them. I’m honored.”
Drs. Connie (’64) and Tom Kossen established the Kossen Faculty Excellence Award endowment. Every year, the endowment funds a $6,000 award to recognize an outstanding faculty member.
Hagey joined The W as a faculty member in 2018. At the university, he has served in multiple capacities, including faculty mentor and interim coordinator for the Office of Undergraduate Research.
He has mentored three graduate, one high school and 38 undergraduate researchers.
Hagey has secured many grant funding opportunities for the University, most notable the National Science Foundation CAREER awards, totaling $1.1 million.
His primary area of research is Geckos, specifically their toe pads and the potential engineering implications of understanding their adhesion to surfaces.
He has had much of his individual as well as joint research published. Some of these include: “Constraint in limb length allometry across lizards,” “Analysis of Morphological Change during a Co‐invading Assemblage of Lizards in the Hawaiian Islands,” “Early Burst of Parallel Evolution Describes the Diversification of Gecko Toe Pads,” “Geometric morphometric assessment of toe shape in forest and urban lizards following hurricane disturbances” and “Geometric Morphometrics Reveal Shape Differences in the Toes of Urban Lizards.”
Additionally, Hagey has given many presentations including: “3D Imaging of Gecko Setae,” at a joint meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Science in 3D Symposium; “Gecko Toepad Diversification and Ecological Morphology,” at Mississippi State University’s biology departmental seminar; “Geckos! Evolution and Adaptation,” at The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science; “The Evolution and Mechanics of the Gecko Adhesive System,” at Southeastern Louisiana University; “Texture in Arboreal Lizard Habitat Use,” at evolutionary biomechanics symposium at Evolution conference; and “How Lizards Use Their Habitat: Rough vs Smooth,” at The W’s SM-100 seminar series.
He has been invited to speak at other universities including his alma mater, the University of Idaho and Trinity University.
Hagey earned his doctorate in biology from the University of Idaho.
The Kossen Faculty Excellence Award recognizes the achievements of individuals through many years of service to The W. Faculty, staff, students, alumni and members of the community can nominate candidates.