Oleg Komogortsev, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Computer Science, and Susan Morey, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Texas State University, have been named Regents’ Professors by the Texas State University System Board of Regents.
The board approved the honors during its quarterly meeting Nov. 20 in Huntsville.
The Regents’ Professor designation honors outstanding members of the system’s professoriate who have achieved excellence in teaching, research, publication and community service, while demonstrating an unwavering dedication to their students and university. Komogortsev and Morey are the 27th and 28th TSUS Regents’ Professors to be honored at Texas State.
The Board of Regents bestows the designation upon tenured full professors who have been acknowledged as exceptional by their peers and students. The TSUS Foundation Board of Directors, the chancellor and the university president must all recommend the honor.
Oleg Komogortsev, Ph.D.
Komogortsev came to TXST in 2007 and has held concurrent visiting associate professor roles at Lund University, the University of Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins University. He earned both his Ph.D. and master’s in computer science from Kent State University and his B.S. in applied mathematics from Volgograd State University in Russia.
Since his arrival at TXST, Komogortsev has proven himself an impactful scientist who has pioneered seminal research in eye-tracking with applications in cybersecurity, biometrics and health assessment and virtual and mixed reality platforms. He has secured more than $4 million in grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Institutes of Health as well as the technology industry through Meta, Facebook and Google where he works concurrently with his faculty appointment. His work has led to five patents in biometrics and health assessment. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles with more than 5,000 citations, earning him an exceptionally high citation index.
Komogortsev has been internationally recognized by being awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers bestowed by President Barak Obama. His research has been featured on NBC News, Discovery and Live Science. His work is recognized nationally and internationally with the Google Virtual Reality Research Award in 2016 and 2017, the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program Award in 2012; and the Presidential Excellence Award in Scholarly/Creative Activities at TXST in 2013. Since 2022, he has been the recipient of the Denise M. Trauth Endowed Presidential Research Professorship.
His impactful service to the profession extends to serving on multiple college and university committees and high-profile national and international journals where he has served as reviewer for more than 30 journals to include Journal of Vision Research; Behavior Research Methods Journal; and International Journal of Biometrics. He has presented at over 50 top-tier conferences and was the keynote speaker at the Association for Computing Machinery Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity international conference on biometrics, which are prestigious conferences in two different research fields.
Komogortsev's award-winning, innovative teaching includes instructing nine different graduate to undergraduate courses in computer science such as Advanced Human Computer Interaction and Algorithm and Design. He has mentored three undergraduate students who received prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. He has also taught more than 30 independent studies and research courses and mentored 13 doctoral and master's students by chairing their dissertation and thesis committees. His teaching philosophy statement says, in part, “It is challenging and rewarding to engage students full of apathy in discussions, capturing their interests and guiding them in their learning process.”
Susan Morey, Ph.D.
Morey came to TXST in 1997 from the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Ph.D. in mathematics from Rutgers State University, New Brunswick, and her B.S. in mathematics from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has served as the chair for the Department of Mathematics since 2015. Her research focuses on abstract algebra and mathematics education.
Morey has been responsible for more than $2 million in grants since joining the university and was the first at TXST to be recognized as a fellow in the Association for Women in Mathematics in 2021. She has published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles with more than 1,000 citations earning her an exceptionally high citation index. Since joining TXST, Morey has given presentations including plenary sessions at regional, national and international conferences including Brazil, Canada, Vietnam, Iran, India and Nepal. She has served as a reviewer for over 25 different journals and for NSF grant proposals. She has published in many top journals in her field to include Research in Mathematical Sciences, Journal of Algebra, Algebraic Combinatorics, and Collectanea Mathematica. Morey has served as a project fellow for New Experiences in Teaching, a program sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America that provides a network of peers to assist new math faculty members.
Morey's award-winning, innovative teaching includes delivering courses ranging from developmental to doctoral. Her awards include the Everette Swinney-Faculty Senate Excellence Teaching Award; the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching four times; the Presidential Award for Excellence in Service three times; and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activities.
She has mentored the research of many master’s and doctoral students to successfully defend their thesis and dissertations. Her leadership was key in the new Ph.D. in mathematics program that was recently approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Her former dean describes her as “the best department chair in the university,” and said, “her leadership and service to the university is noteworthy for being recognized by faculty, students and upper administration as fair and respectful.”