Awards and Recognition

Executive Vice President and Provost Rachel T. A. Croson has announced the awardees of the Imagine Fund, which was established in 2007 through a generous grant from the McKnight Foundation to support research and scholarship in the arts, design, and humanities at the University of Minnesota. Since its inception, the Imagine Fund has provided not only critical funding support for innovative scholarship but also valuable opportunities for faculty to learn about research and opportunities for collaborations across the system. Learn more about the Imagine Fund awardees and their projects.

Professor Dmitriy Bilyk and collaborators were recently honored with the 2024 Alexanderson Award from the American Institute of Mathematics. Bilyk and his co-authors – Alexey Glazyrin, Ryan Matzke, Josiah Park, and Oleksandr Vlasiuk – received the award for their paper “Energy on spheres and discreteness of minimizing measures” published in the Journal of Functional Analysis in 2021.

McKnight Presidential Professor Svitlana Mayboroda has been elected as a Fellow of the Mathematics Division of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc). EurASc is a nonprofit independent organization of the most distinguished scholars and engineers performing forefront research and the development of advanced technologies.

Mayboroda conducts pioneering research in the field of analysis, with a focus on partial differential equations, harmonic analysis, and geometric measure theory. Her prolific research career has yielded numerous groundbreaking results, including work that earned her the 2023 Blavatnik Award and the Inaugural 2024 Elias M. Stein Prize for New Perspectives in Analysis. Mayboroda has been a member of the University of Minnesota faculty since 2011, and in 2020, was honored with the title of McKnight Presidential Professor. She is also the director of the Simons Collaboration on Localization of Waves, a specialized center of international collaborators working to develop a unified understanding of wave localization.

Keri Risic is quoted in the Star Tribune about the effect of the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling on Minnesota college enrollment; Benjamin Toff is interviewed at MPR News about whether moderators should fact-check debates; Michelle Phelps is quoted in the Star Tribune story “Crime is down, by the data, but comfort levels are not up;” Tyler Winkelman, Paul Drawz, and Cecilia Bloomquist are quoted in the Minnesota Daily story “State officials consider changes to telehealth following statewide study;” Lee Frelich is interviewed in an MPR News story about Minnesota trees in turmoil due to drastic seasonal changes; Jeff Boissoneault is featured in the Star Tribune story “Does booze relieve pain? U researchers test inebriated Minnesota State Fair patrons to find out;” Andrew Gallia is interviewed about how the months of the year got their names at CBS News; Carrie Rowell is interviewed in the Star Tribune about a cemetery alternative in Minnesota forests—part of growing green-burial trend; Jenny Thull is interviewed at MPR News about heavy rainfall making this year’s pumpkin harvest ‘one of the hardest’; Cally Hunt and Eric Singsaas are quoted in the MPR News story “How biochar—the ‘Swiss Army Knife of climate tools’—is growing in Minnesota.”

The University of Minnesota launched 25 startup companies in fiscal 2024, surpassing its previous record for the fourth year in a row. The announcement coincides with the launch of a new initiative to scale up the University’s commercialization work called Discover, Advance, Impact.

Since the 2006 founding of the Venture Center, which is a division of University of Minnesota Technology Commercialization, the University has launched more than 260 startup companies, with a long term success rate of 68%. Additionally, 73% of these companies have located in Minnesota. In fiscal 2024, a record 88% of new University startups—22 out of 25—located in-state. The 25 startups also meet the University’s goal to spin out “25 by 2025” under MPact 2025, the University’s systemwide strategic plan. Within overall measures of technology transfer, the University is “No. 1  in the Heartland” and ranks among the top 15 U.S. public universities for key technology commercialization metrics, including deals, disclosures, and startups.

Graduate programs vary widely in the way they recruit graduate students and connect them with faculty advisors. Kelly Lane, an assistant professor in the College of Biological Sciences Department of Biology Teaching and Learning (BTL), wants to know if how that process unfolds matters for student outcomes. Lane wants answers to foundational questions about the practices embedded in the vast majority of graduate programs. A five-year, nearly $1M National Science Foundation Innovations of Graduate Education grant will jumpstart her efforts. Associate Professor Anita Shuchardt and Ariel Steele, a postdoc in Lane’s research group, are co-PIs for the project.

Bic Ngo, Rodney S. Wallace Professor for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction's culture and teaching program, was awarded $3.25 million across five years for Project EngagED, designed to increase well-prepared teachers from underrepresented backgrounds. The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Program. Jana Lo Bello Miller and Abby Rombalski are co-investigators.

The 2024 Award for Global Engagement has been awarded to Andres Perez, professor of Veterinary Population Medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Twin Cities. The all-University award is given to faculty and staff members in recognition of outstanding contributions to global education and international programs at the University or in their field or discipline.

Building on a record of recent accolades in both research and education, the University of Minnesota has retained its strong position in the 2025 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings. The U of M’s consistent placement among America’s leading universities illustrates the hard work and successes of faculty and staff to live out the University’s mission of providing world-class education, advancing research innovation and discovery, and collaborating with communities throughout Minnesota and beyond.

Among the 2025 rankings:

The Crookston campus was ranked No. 3 in Top Public Schools - Regional Colleges (Midwest). It has remained in the top four in this category for over 25 years. Crookston was also recognized in Regional Colleges (Midwest) at No. 27 and Social Mobility - Regional Colleges (Midwest) at No. 23.

The Duluth campus moved up one spot to No. 20 in the Regional Universities (Midwest), continuing its strong climb in the past three years. Duluth also attained No. 4 in Top Public Schools - Regional Universities (Midwest) and No. 8 in Best Colleges for Veterans - Regional Universities (Midwest).

The Morris campus advanced one place to No. 7 in the Top Public Schools - National Liberal Arts Colleges category.

The Twin Cities campus maintained its overall ranking of No. 23 in Top Public National Universities for the third consecutive year. Additionally, a number of programs on the Twin Cities campus were singled out for excellence within their fields. The University’s Rochester campus is accredited with the Twin Cities campus. 

Marti DeLiema is quoted in the Time magazine story “Welcome to the Golden Age of Scams;” Joseph Bump is quoted in MinnPost about understanding the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund on the Minnesota ballot; Jacob Cogan is quoted in a CNN story about a study showing that nearly 1 in 3 U.S. adults may have an iron deficiency; Patrick Warfield is featured in the Star Tribune story “U School of Music director wants more collaborations for students;” Larry Jacobs is quoted in a U.S. News & World Report story about whether this vice presidential debate will matter; Samuel Myers is quoted in the Star Tribune’s “To solve the Minnesota Paradox, we must wake up—and shake up our approaches;” Rachel Hardeman is interviewed in The Guardian about U.S. abortion bans and maternal mortality; Hye-Young Kim is quoted in the Star Tribune story “Are Twin Cities malls having yet another resurgence?;” Elise Bernstein is quoted in the KARE 11 story “Are there more bees buzzing around this year?”