Zubairi, Lee join SUNY Distinguished ranks
Fredonia President Stephen Kolison Jr. congratulates the university’s newest SUNY Distinguished faculty members, Distinguished Professor Junaid Zubairi (left) and Distinguished Teaching Professor Ted Lee.
The State University of New York has conferred prestigious honors on two faculty members at the State University of New York at Fredonia: Dr. Ted Lee, as Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Dr. Junaid Zubairi, as Distinguished Professor.
Department of Biology Professor Lee and Department of Computer and Information Sciences Professor Zubairi, who have 46 years of combined teaching service in SUNY Fredonia’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences – having both arrived in 1999 – are the 48th and 49th faculty members of the university to be promoted to the Distinguished ranks by SUNY.
“These awards are among the highest recognitions that can be conferred on a faculty member in the SUNY system. Please join me in extending congratulations to Drs. Lee and Zubairi for this achievement and for their contribution to the prestige of SUNY Fredonia,” said President Stephen Kolison Jr.
Dr. Lee has become an integral part of the Department of Biology through his passion for science, teaching and giving opportunities for students to grow. He is dedicated to providing meaningful and high-quality learning experiences for students. Lee has designed several courses for majors and non-majors, including Honors courses, and has taught introductory and upper-level courses in biology, genetics and the history of medicine, and also developed instructional manuals for laboratories.
Lee has been a driving force in the advancement of the Health Professions Advising Program and also developed a study abroad program in Honduras that consists of two courses that prepare students to serve on medical brigades in the Central American country during the J-Term. He has taken the initiative to develop meaningful research projects for students and obtain funding for those projects. Lee has also been a principal investigator or co-investigator on research grants totaling over $350,000 for SUNY Fredonia.
Leadership positions held by Lee include chair of the Department of Biology, from 2005-2008 and 2020 to present, and chair of the Health Professions Advising Committee, since 2008.
Lee has served on many departmental committees and as advisor to the Biology Club, Health Professions Advisory Program and Fredonia for Global Health student clubs, and has been a member of more than 20 university committees.
Awards received by Lee include the President’s Award for Excellence at SUNY Fredonia, 2014; the Doctoral Prize at Syracuse University, 1992; and the Goerovitch Memorial Award for outstanding research in the Department of Biology at Syracuse University, 1991. Aquatic microbiology, pedagogy in molecular biology and biochemistry, pre-health education and health care in Latin America are among Lee’s scholarly interests.
Lee has a Ph.D. from Syracuse University and a B.S. from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He conducted postdoctoral research at The Ohio State University and Duke University Medical Center.
Dr. Zubairi has demonstrated exceptional scholarship through achievements and research made while carrying a substantial teaching load and providing substantial institutional and professional service. His contributions to the fields of flight data tracking, network traffic engineering, emergency medical data transmission and disaster management, along with assistance in smart city planning, have the potential to make a global impact.
His work on the flight data tracker earned a U.S. non-provisional patent that recognizes it as a useful invention. Zubairi’s team was awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation I-Corps grant to continue the work on the flight data tracker.
As chair of the Department of Computer and Information Sciences since 2019, Zubairi planned and coordinated its relocation to Houghton Hall with six new labs. He established strong links with industry and worked to establish a graduate level Advanced Certificate for Cyber Security that will be launched in the Fall 2022 semester.
Zubairi also chaired the department’s assessment committee and administrative committee and was the ABET coordinator at SUNY Fredonia. Zubairi served as a department senator and was a member of the graduate and research committee and the programs and awards committee of the Senate.
Numerous awards Zubairi has received since arriving at SUNY Fredonia include: being named the Robert M. Kasling Memorial Lecturer in 2019; State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, 2018; High Achievement Award, WNY Muslims, 2017; and the Presidential Award for Exceptional Academic Service, American University of Ras al Khaimah, UAE, 2015, while on leave from SUNY Fredonia.
Zubairi has held leading roles in over 54 conferences and served as a reviewer for 21 professional journals. He supervised over 100 term projects by undergraduate and graduate students and master’s thesis research for four students and examined 18 Ph.D. dissertations and 11 master’s theses.
Zubairi is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, a member of the Association of Computing Machinery and the advising boards of DiscoverSTEM, TEKNOLOGIX journal, Indus Journal of Management & Social Sciences and the Asian Journal of Engineering, Sciences and Technology, ICOM’01. He is a member of the Alpha Sigma chapter of Phi Beta Delta, the honor society for international scholars.
Zubairi has a Ph.D. and M.S., both in Computer Engineering at Syracuse University, and a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from NED University, Pakistan.
