Awards and Recognition

The Institute of Child Development’s Sylia Wilson and psychology’s Scott Vrieze have received a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The grant will total $4.6 million over the course of five years in support of their research titled “Understanding the Links Between Parental and Adolescent Substance Use: Complementary Natural Experiments Using the Children of Twins Design.”  

Sarah Greising, assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Skeletal Muscle Plasticity and Regeneration Laboratory, along with Jarrod Call, University of Georgia, received a five-year, $2.3 million National Institutes of Health grant. The team will use the grant to expand its work investigating the mechanisms of rehabilitation response after orthopaedic extremity trauma. 

Tai Mendenhall is quoted in a KARE 11 story about educators and students struggling as they return to classrooms in-person; Julie Ernst is quoted in the Minnesota Public Radio story, "In Duluth, preschool moves from the classroom to the forest"; Audrey Dorélien is quoted in a Sahan Journal article about tips for staying cool with scant shade and spotty air conditioning; Deepak Ray writes in The Conversation about a shrinking fraction of the world's major crops going to feed the hungry; Traci Mann is quoted in the Star Tribune story, “Nostalgia is on the menu at Twin Cities restaurants”; Brenda Child is quoted in the Star Tribune about a federal report that lays out the historic effort to dismantle Indian families and culture; Jenifer McGuire is quoted in a PolitiFact story about what research says about gender and sexuality in schools; Nick Phelps gives an update on aquatic invasive species at WTIP Radio; Jerry Torrison and Victoria Hall are quoted in PBS NewsHour about the highly contagious strain of bird flu plaguing farmers across the U.S. 

Professor Jean M. O'Brien was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honor societies. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences honors those making preeminent contributions to their fields and the world. Members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs. Professor O'Brien joined the University of Minnesota in 1989. She is a faculty member in both the Department of History and the Department of American Indian Studies and has been awarded a McKnight Land-Grant Professorship, Distinguished McKnight University Professorship, and Northrop Professorship. 

Institute of Child Development Distinguished McKnight University Professor Stephanie Carlson and her team have received a grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant will total $2.5 million over the course of five years in support of research titled “Aligning Measurement of Personal Attributes for Predicting STEM Education Outcomes.” Carlson will be leading University of Minnesota data collection with a diverse cohort of fourth-grade and eighth-grade students, each followed for five years to track their achievements and interest in STEM careers. 

The President's Award for Outstanding Service is presented each year in the spring and recognizes exceptional service to the University, its schools, colleges, departments, and service units by any active or retired faculty or staff member. The following recipients for this year’s award have gone well beyond their regular duties and have demonstrated an unusual commitment to the University community.

• Lisa Erwin, vice chancellor for student life and dean of students, Division of Student Life, University of Minnesota Duluth
• John Finnegan Jr., professor and dean emeritus, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Christina Gallup, associate professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Swenson College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota Duluth
• Kat Hayes, associate professor, Department of Anthropology, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Duane Johnson, buyer, U Market Services, Auxiliary Services, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Joseph A. Konstan, professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and associate dean for research, College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Kathryn Pearson, associate professor, Department of Political Science, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Chuck Tomlinson, director of operations, Department of Chemistry, College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Kelsey Torgerson, STEM academic advisor, Student Success Center, University of Minnesota Crookston
• Keisha Varma, associate professor, Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Development, and associate vice provost, Office for Equity and Diversity, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• V. Paul Virtucio, service coordinator, Health Sciences Classroom Services, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Rolf T. Weberg, executive director, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth

Professor Alexandra Klass has been appointed to serve as Deputy General Counsel for Litigation, Regulation, and Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Klass, a Distinguished McKnight University Professor at Minnesota Law, teaches and writes in the fields of energy law, environmental law, and natural resources law. Her scholarly work has addressed regulatory challenges to integrating more renewable energy into the nation’s electric transmission grid, eminent domain issues surrounding interstate electric transmission lines and oil and gas pipelines, and applications of the public trust doctrine to modern environmental law challenges. 

Donald Wyse was profiled by the NY Times in “Growing a New Future for Farming”; Jordan Lewis and Manka Nkimbeng are quoted in a Sahan Journal story about a study that could lead to faster, cheaper tests for Alzheimer’s disease; Jill Hasday is quoted in a KSTP-TV story about how other cases could be affected if SCOTUS overturns Roe v. Wade; Rachel Hardeman and Sarah Cross spoke with Minnesota Public Radio about the state of childbirth under a pandemic and uncertainty over reproductive health care; Susan Kline is quoted in MinnPost about what eligible Minnesotans should consider in timing COVID-19 booster shots; Aaron Sojourner is quoted in Marketplace about what a dip in productivity tells us about the economy; Joe Redden is quoted in Forbes about whether it’s possible to save money on groceries when everything is more expensive; Ross Allanson, Linda Weingarten, and Shane Stennes are quoted in a Minnesota Daily story about the University’s undertaking of a campus vehicle electrification project; Eric Watkins is quoted at CBS 4 Minnesota about the purpose of the "No Mow May" movement.

Six new McKnight Presidential Fellows have been named. The McKnight Presidential Fellows Program gives three-year awards to exceptional faculty who have been newly granted tenure and promotion to associate professor, to recognize their excellence in research and scholarship, leadership, potential to build top-tier programs, and ability to advance University of Minnesota priorities.

• Valérie Bélair-Gagnon, Journalism and Mass Communication, College of Liberal Arts
• V.V. (Sugi) Ganeshananthan, English, College of Liberal Arts
• Carrie Henning-Smith, Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health
• Alexander Opitz, Biomedical Engineering, College of Science and Engineering
• Hyun Soo Park, Computer Science and Engineering, College of Science and Engineering
• Talvin Wilks, Theatre Arts and Dance, College of Liberal Arts

The University of Minnesota has taken a significant step in its efforts to highlight its impact nationally and globally, and fulfilling promises laid out in the MPact 2025 strategic plan, by participating in the fourth edition of the Times Higher Ed Impact Rankings (THE Impact Rankings), which in 2022 includes rankings from 1,406 institutions and 106 countries/regions. In its inaugural year, the U of M ranked #16 in the world and #5 in the U.S. for its work related to combating hunger, and #2 in the U.S., tied for #57 in the world, for its work related to promoting health and well-being. Learn more about the rankings and the U of M Sustainable Development Goals Initiative.