Largest Cohort in LSU History: Six Distinguished Faculty Members Named Boyd Professors

September 05, 2025

The LSU Board of Supervisors unanimously voted on Sept. 5, to designate six LSU faculty members as Boyd Professors. The Boyd Professorship, established by the LSU Board of Supervisors in 1953, is the most distinguished and highest professorial rank awarded by LSU.

Named in honor of brothers Thomas and David Boyd, early presidents and faculty members of LSU, the Boyd Professorship recognizes faculty who bring honor and prestige to LSU through their national and, as appropriate, international recognition for outstanding achievements. Before today, only 79 faculty members from all of LSU’s campuses have ever achieved this distinguished rank.

The newest cohort of Boyd Professors represent a wide variety of disciplines and hail from three of LSU’s eight campuses: LSU A&M, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and LSU Shreveport. This group includes LSU Shreveport’s first-ever Boyd Professor, a landmark achievement for the campus and a testament to its academic distinction. As the largest group of Boyd Professors ever named at one time, this cohort underscores LSU’s rising reputation for research excellence across all of its campuses.

“This is a moment of real pride for LSU. Naming six new Boyd Professors is not only historic in scale, it's a clear reflection of the extraordinary strength and momentum of our academic enterprise,” said Interim LSU President Matt Lee. “These scholars are advancing knowledge in ways that reach far beyond our campuses, and their work is helping to define LSU’s place on the national and global stage. I am especially proud to see LSU Shreveport represented for the first time, a milestone that reflects the growing excellence across our campuses. This achievement is a powerful reminder of our commitment to advancing scholarship and shaping the future through research, education, and service.”

The newest Boyd Professors are:

  • Mette Gaarde, Les and Dot Broussard Alumni Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science, LSU A&M
  • John Maxwell Hamilton, Hopkins P. Breazeale LSU Foundation Professor, Manship School of Mass Communication, LSU A&M
  • Steven Heymsfield, Professor of Metabolism and Body Composition, Pennington Biomedical Research Center
  • Michael Khonsari, Dow Chemical Endowed Chair and Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, LSU A&M
  • Alexander Mikaberidze, Professor of History, Ruth Herring Noel Endowed Chair, College of Arts & Sciences, LSU Shreveport
  • R. Kelley Pace, Professor, Department of Finance, E. J. Ourso College of Business, LSU A&M

Dr. Mette Gaarde

Dr. Mette Gaarde

Dr. Mette Gaarde

Dr. Mette Gaarde is an internationally recognized leader in the field of physics and chemistry. A former PhD student and postdoctoral researcher under 2023 Nobel Laureate Anne L’Huillier, Dr. Gaarde has built an exceptional career at LSU since 2003, earning early promotion to Associate Professor in 2007 and Professor in 2012. She was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2011 for her groundbreaking contributions to the macroscopic theory of high harmonic generation and attosecond light formation. Her prolific research record includes more than 150 publications, more than 11,000 citations, and an H-index of 58, supported by significant external funding from the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, including an NSF CAREER Award. Gaarde has also served as Chair of the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics and contributed to the National Academy of Sciences’ Decadal Assessment on Atomic, Molecular and Optical Science, and is currently co-Chair of the Committee on AMO Sciences for the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. John Maxwell Hamilton

Dr. John Maxwell Hamilton

Dr. John Maxwell Hamilton

Dr. John Maxwell Hamilton is a nationally and internationally recognized scholar, journalist, and academic leader. A US Marine Corps veteran with deployments to Vietnam, he transitioned from a successful career in journalism and public policy to academia. His scholarship, informed by decades of professional experience, includes eight books—most authored solely—such as Main Street America and the Third World (co-authored with Peter Jennings) and Edgar Snow: A Biography, as well as the prize-winning Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda, which earned two “Book of the Year” honors and the 2023 Sidney Kobre Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism History. His service and recognition extend beyond LSU, including his role as a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, columnist for Real Clear Politics, and contributor to major juries and professional organizations.

Dr. Steven Heymsfield

Dr. Steven Heymsfield

Dr. Steven Heymsfield

Dr. Steven Heymsfield is one of the world’s foremost experts in obesity research and a preeminent leader in the fields of human phenotyping, body composition, and energy balance. Over a career spanning more than five decades, he has pioneered groundbreaking advances in clinical nutrition, imaging technologies, metabolic modeling, and obesity therapeutics, with innovations that are now standard practice worldwide. His prolific scholarship includes over 1,300 publications—453 since joining Pennington in 2010, garnering nearly 79,000 citations and an H-index of 140, placing him among the top 500 most cited researchers globally.  His transformative work ranges from developing flexible feeding tubes that revolutionized enteral nutrition, to creating advanced imaging and body composition methods using CT, DXA, and 3D optical scanning, to building physiologically grounded energy metabolism models that have reshaped obesity science.

Dr. Michael Khonsari

Dr. Michael Khonsari

Dr. Michael Khonsari

Dr. Michael Khonsari is an internationally recognized leader in applied tribology and mechanical failure, whose groundbreaking research, patents, and scholarly contributions have brought significant honor and prestige to the university. Over his 24-year career at LSU, he has authored 388 journal articles, five books—including the widely used Applied Tribology: Lubrication and Bearing Design, now in its third edition—and more than 55 book chapters or special publications, amassing 18,696 citations and an H-index of 70. His prolific output, averaging over 20 publications annually since 2015, is complemented by his extensive editorial leadership and service. Khonsari is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and holds 16 patents and 18 technology licenses. His research has attracted more than $142 million in external funding, including as PI of the NSF IUCRC Center for Innovations in Structural Integrity Assurance at LSU.

Dr. Alexander Mikaberidze

Dr. Alexander Mikaberidze

Dr. Alexander Mikaberidze

Dr. Alexander Mikaberidze is a world-renowned historian whose scholarship has profoundly shaped the study of Napoleonic and military history. He has authored an extraordinary body of work, including The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History, which won the prestigious Gilder Lehrman Prize and the Distinguished Book Award from the Society for Military History. His subsequent work, Kutuzov: A Life in War and Peace, earned him a second Distinguished Book Award, placing him in a rare echelon of scholars recognized multiple times for groundbreaking research. His three-volume series on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, extensive translations of Russian memoirs, and co-editorship of The Cambridge History of the Napoleonic Wars further attest to the global impact and enduring significance of his contributions to the field. His works, published in multiple languages, are cited as indispensable by leading historians worldwide.

Dr. R. Kelley Pace

Dr. R. Kelley Pace

Dr. R. Kelley Pace

Dr. R. Kelley Pace is an internationally recognized scholar in spatial econometrics and real estate dynamics whose pioneering research and mentorship have brought significant honor to the university. With more than 17,000 citations and an H-index of 43, he has made influential contributions at the intersection of finance, climate change, mortgage risk, and insurance markets. His co-authored book, Introduction to Spatial Econometrics, has been cited more than 9,100 times and is widely regarded as a foundational reference in the field. Over nearly 27 years at LSU, he has published 105 scholarly articles—87 since joining the university, in top-tier journals across finance, economics, and interdisciplinary areas such as natural disasters, forestry, and flooding, with multiple works exceeding 400 citations.  He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics and sits on the editorial board of Property Research, underscoring his leadership in shaping the discipline.

 

Nominations for the Boyd Professorship are initiated in the college, routed for review and support at the campus level, then considered by the LSU Boyd Professorship Review Committee, which seeks confidential evaluations from dozens of distinguished scholars in the candidate’s field of expertise. Once endorsed by the review committee, the nomination is forwarded to the LSU President and Board of Supervisors for consideration.

With this distinction, a Boyd Professor’s compensation is elevated to reflect the stature of LSU’s most distinguished faculty, with a salary set at no less than the 95th percentile of full professors in comparable disciplines at peer public institutions across the southeastern United States. They also receive an annual stipend to further support their research and scholarly pursuits.

Please join us in congratulating these faculty on this outstanding accomplishment.

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