Purdue HHS researchers named in 2025 list of world’s most-cited scientists, representing nearly 20% of current tenure-line faculty

Written by: Casey Dexter, casey38@purdue.edu

Purdue HHS data provided by: Casey Marks, lead strategic data manager, marks11@purdue.edu

In a database compiled by Stanford University in partnership with Elsevier, 37 scientists and scholars in the Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences (HHS) appear among the top 2% of the most-cited researchers across seven disciplines. Of the 172 tenured/tenure-track faculty members in HHS in 2024, 18% of current faculty members are listed among this group.* Inclusion in the database means the individual met a variety of metrics that placed them among the top 2% of researchers based on citations.

In addition to appearing on Elsevier’s list for 2025 citations, two HHS faculty members — Louis Tay, the William C. Byham Professor in Psychological Sciences, and Kevin So, C.B. Smith Endowed Professor in the White Lodging-J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management — also appeared on Clarivate’s 2025 Highly Cited Researchers list, which identifies scholars whose work has been cited most often in papers over the past decade. Those chosen for the 2025 list authored studies that rank in the top 1% of scholarly citations worldwide within their disciplines.

The following HHS researchers (in alphabetical order) appeared on Elsevier’s list of the top 2% of the world’s most-cited researchers:

Aaron Bowman, HHS dean and professor of health sciences

Liping Cai, professor of hospitality and tourism management

Wayne Campbell, professor of nutrition science

Jason Cannon, interim school head and professor of health sciences

Li-Shan Chou, department head and professor of health and kinesiology

Heather Eicher-Miller, professor of nutrition science

Dan Foti, professor of psychological sciences

Alexander Francis, HHS associate dean for undergraduate education and professor of speech, language, and hearing sciences

Jennifer Freeman, professor of health sciences

Elliot Friedman, William and Sally Berner Hanley Professor of Gerontology

Tim Gavin, professor of health and kinesiology

SooCheong (Shawn) Jang, professor of hospitality and tourism management

Qing Jiang, professor of nutrition science

Robert Kail, professor emeritus of psychological sciences

Jeffrey Karpicke, James V. Bradley Professor of Psychological Sciences

David Kemmerer, professor of speech, language, and hearing sciences

Ceridwyn King, White Lodging Services Head and professor of hospitality and tourism management

Ananthanarayan Krishnan, professor of speech, language, and hearing sciences

Xinran Lehto, professor of hospitality and tourism management

Laurence Leonard, Rachel E. Stark Distinguished Professor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences

Shuang Liu, professor of health sciences

Donald Lynam, distinguished professor of psychological sciences

Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, distinguished professor of human development and family science

Richard Mattes, distinguished professor of nutrition science

Catherine (Cammie) McBride, HHS associate dean for research and distinguished professor of human development and family science

Laura Murray-Kolb, department head and professor of nutrition science

James Nairne, professor emeritus of psychological sciences

Terry Powley, distinguished professor emeritus of psychological sciences

Robert Proctor, distinguished professor emeritus of psychological sciences**

David Purpura, professor of human development and family science

Thomas Redick, professor of psychological sciences

Douglas Samuel, professor of psychological sciences

Dennis Savaiano, Virginia Claypool Meredith Professor of Nutrition Policy

Anne Smith, professor emerita of speech, language, and hearing sciences

Kevin So, C.B. Smith Endowed Professor of Hospitality and Tourism Management

Jonathan Shannahan, HHS assistant dean for research development and innovation and professor of health sciences

Louis Tay, William C. Byham Professor in Psychological Sciences

Kipling Williams, distinguished professor emeritus of psychological sciences

Wei Zheng, professor emeritus of health sciences

* Because Li-Shan Chou arrived in HHS in July 2025, he is not included in this percentage.

**deceased

The database, updated August 2025, is available through the Elsevier Data Repository.

About the Standford-Elsevier list
Scientists are classified into 22 scientific fields and 174 subfields according to the standard Science-Metrix classification. The selection is based on the top 100,000 scientists by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above in the subfield. Learn more.