George Allen, Wenjing Lou, Georgia Hodes, Linsey Marr, Lina Quan, Walid Saad, Wujin Sun, and Viswanath Venkatesh have been named to Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list for demonstrating significant influence in their fields or across multiple fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade.
They represent about 1 in 1,000 of the scientists and social scientists in the world, according to Clarivate, the global company that maintains the Web of Science.
Citations — other scientists referencing a researcher’s findings in their own academic papers — are not only an acknowledgment of excellent work, but an indicator that work is playing a significant role in moving the researcher’s field forward.
Get to know the researchers
George Allen, associate professor of hydrology and remote sensing
Joined Virginia Tech in 2022
Research focus: Allen uses satellites to study Earth’s freshwater resources, often at the global scale, applying a variety of remote sensing data (multispectral, hyperspectral, thermal, radar, lidar) to understand how water and other materials move through rivers, lakes, and wetlands.
Academic accomplishments: NASA Early Career Investigator Award, Universities Council on Water Resources Early Career Award for Applied Research, and a National Science Foundation CAREER award
Has been named highly cited for the first time
Most cited work: “MERIT Hydro: A high‐resolution global hydrography map based on latest topography dataset”
Georgia E. Hodes, assistant professor of neuroscience
Joined Virginia Tech in 2016
Research interests: Hodes focuses on identifying how the immune system interacts with the brain to functionally contribute to stress susceptibility, particularly how sex differences in the brain and body lead to the higher occurrence of mood disorders in females.
Academic accomplishments: Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator award and National Endowment for the Arts and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research award
Has been named a highly cited researcher two times
Most cited work: “Social stress induces neurovascular pathology promoting depression”
Wenjing Lou, the W.C. English Professor of Computer Science
Joined Virginia Tech in 2011
Research interests: Lou’s studies include cybersecurity with a focus on blockchain, privacy protection in machine learning systems, mobile networks, and security and privacy problems in the Internet of Things systems
Academic accomplishments: Virginia Tech Alumni Award for Research Excellence and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Conference on Computer Communications Achievement award
Has been named a highly cited researcher seven times
Most cited work: “Achieving secure, scalable, and fine-grained data access control in cloud computing”
Linsey Marr, University Distinguished Professor and the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Joined Virginia Tech in 2003
Research interests: Marr’s focuses include transformation and fate of pollutants in the atmosphere, transmission of infectious disease via aerosols, viruses in the built environment, and environmental and health impacts of engineered nanoparticles
Academic accomplishments: Member of the National Academy of Engineering, MacArthur Fellow, and State Council of Higher Education of Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Award
Has been named a highly cited researcher for the third time
Most cited work: “It is Time to Address Airborne Transmission of COVID-19”
Lina Quan, assistant professor of chemistry (former)
Departed from Virginia Tech in July 2025
Research focuses: Now at the University of North Carolina, Quan studies the optical and electronic properties of emerging semiconductors such as perovskites for use in next-generation optoelectronic applications
Academic accomplishments: U.S. Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program award
Has been named a highly cited researcher seven times
Most cited work: “Perovskite Light-emitting Diodes with External Quantum Efficiency Exceeding 20 Percent”
Walid Saad, Rolls Royce Commonwealth Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Joined Virginia Tech in 2014
Research interests: As the Next-G wireless lead at the Institute for Advanced Computing, Saad’s work includes the intersection of wireless systems, artificial intelligence (AI), game theory, quantum technologies, and cyber-physical systems, including seminal contributions to emerging wireless systems such as 5G, 6G, and beyond as well as machine learning and AI/edge computing
Academic accomplishments: Twelve best conference paper awards at major Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) conferences, IEEE Fellow, IEEE Marconi Prize Paper Award, National Science CAREER award, and Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research
Has been named a highly cited researcher six times
Most cited work: “A Vision of 6G Wireless Systems: Applications, Trends, Technologies, and Open Research Problems”
Wujin Sun, assistant professor of biological systems engineering
Joined Virginia Tech in 2021
Research interests: Sun’s work is at the interface between cell engineering and biomaterial engineering, applying synthetic biology tools to engineer cells for therapeutic applications, and developing drug delivery systems, such as nano-formulations, wearable devices, and injectable drug-releasing depots
Academic Accomplishment: Royal Society of Chemistry’s Outstanding Reviewer for Biomaterials Science journal
Second time being named a highly cited researcher
Most cited work: “Microneedle-array patches loaded with hypoxia-sensitive vesicles provide fast glucose-responsive insulin delivery”
Viswanath Venkatesh, Verizon Professor of Business Information Technology
Joined Virginia Tech in 2021
Research interests: Venkatesh’s research focuses on understanding the diffusion of technologies in organizations and society
Academic Accomplishments: Best Paper and Ambassador awards for paper in the Academy of Management Journal, Emerald’s Citations of Excellence award, and Association for Information Systems Technology Legacy award
Has been named a highly cited researcher four times; Virginia Tech’s most-cited scholar, per Clarivate’s Web of Science with over 80,000 citations and more than 230,000 citations per Google Scholar, with 24 of papers being cited over 1,000 times
Most cited work: “User acceptance of information technology: Toward a unified view”
Original study: DOI: 10.1029/2019WR024873
Original study: DOI: 10.1038/s41593-017-0010-3
Orginial study: DOI: 10.1109/INFCOM.2010.5462174
Original study: DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciaa939
Original study: DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0575-3
Original study: DOI: 10.1109/MNET.001.1900287
Original study: DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1505405112
Original study: DOI: 10.2307/30036540