Awards and Recognition

Jerica Berge (Medical School), along with an interdisciplinary team of co-investigators including Alicia Kunin-Batson (Department of Pediatrics), Rachel Hardeman (School of Public Health), Angie Fertig (Humphrey School of Public Affairs), David Van Riper (Minnesota Population Center), and Allan Tate and Grace Bagwell Adams (University of Georgia), were awarded $3,249,455 under the R01 mechanism on behalf of the National Center for Complementary & Integrative Health for their grant entitled "Multi-level predictors of structural racism and discrimination and associations with health and well-being across the life course in diverse families."

The study will be one of the first to prospectively measure multiple levels of structural racism and discrimination using mixed-methods across two sites and associations with whole-person health across the life course in diverse families. Results of the study will inform the development of an intervention targeting multi-level structural racism and discrimination factors to promote health equity.

The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota has received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create a Coronavirus Vaccines Research and Development (R&D) Roadmap aimed at developing broadly protective vaccines against betacoronaviruses, which predominantly circulate in bats and rodents and can “spill over” to human populations.

Congratulations to the 2022 recipients of the President’s Student Leadership and Service Award, as well as the recipients of the Donald R. Zander Alumni Leadership Award and the Mary A. McEvoy Award for Leadership in Public Engagement.

Geida Cleveland is quoted in the Twin Cities Business magazine story, “Diversifying Minnesota Campuses”; Michael Reese is quoted in a Forbes story about a more climate friendly way to fertilize crops; Gabe Chan is quoted in a Minnesota Public Radio story about how Becker, MN, could be home to the state’s largest solar project; Alison Jing Xu is quoted in the CNN News story, “Ikea's restaurants were failing. Then it turned to Swedish meatballs”; Larry Jacobs writes in The Washington Post that instead of boosting democracy, primary elections are undermining it; Ravi Bapna is quoted in Quartz about Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter; Howard Lavine and Christopher Federico are quoted in the New York Times opinion piece, “The Politics of Fear Show No Sign of Abating”; Kirsten Delegard is quoted in The Philadelphia Inquirer story about housing discrimination; Phyllis Moen is quoted in the New York Times story, “Working 9 to 2, and Again After Dinner.”

Brenda Child, Northrop Professor of American Studies in the College of Liberal Arts on the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus, has been awarded a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Child’s selection comes after a rigorous application process, one in which just 180 individuals were selected from almost 2,500 applicants on the basis of outstanding achievement and exceptional promise. Child is a member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa in northern Minnesota where she served as a member of a committee writing a new constitution for the 15,000-member nation. She also previously served as a member of the board of trustees of the National Museum of the American Indian-Smithsonian and was president of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association.

Arshia Khan is interviewed in the New York Times story, “Can Robots Save Nursing Homes?”; Kumi Smith is quoted in a KARE 11 story about expectations for a rise in COVID cases; Jeffrey Strock is quoted in a Minnesota Public Radio story about the outlook for drought this year; Sylia Wilson is quoted in a Mpls. St. Paul Magazine about generations of maternal trauma; Luke Hoeppner is quoted in the Audacy story, “Researchers look to stop the negative effects of sunburn”; Elizabeth Davis and Christina Ewig are quoted in a Star Tribune story about the share of women who work in Minnesota; Rachel Hardeman is featured in the New York Times story, “Pulling Back the Curtain on Race and Health Care.” 

The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) has announced the recipients of its inaugural Innovation Impact Case Award, which recognizes University of Minnesota research that has led to significant impact outside of academia. The top prize of $10,000 went to two researchers/teams: Swati S. More and Robert Vince, Center for Drug Design, for a noninvasive, cost-effective eye imaging camera that can detect Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms are evident; and to Sayan Biswas, Department of Mechanical Engineering, for an inexpensive, plasma-based spark plug alternative that leaves no carbon footprint and improves fuel economy. Five other projects received honorable mentions.

The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) has announced recipients of IAS Research and Creative Collaboratives for 2022-23. These self-initiated groups represent some of the most innovative work at the University. Their work—be it the development of a performance piece, the exploration of a concept or research area through different disciplines, or the creation of a supportive intellectual community—exemplifies synergistic interdisciplinary activity, and transcends departmental structures. Learn more about IAS Research and Creative Collaborations.

Associate Professor Douglas Kearney's 2021 poetry collection Sho (Wave Books) has been named one of four finalists for the Griffin Poetry International Prize, the largest international English-language poetry prize in the world. The winner will be announced on June 15.

Carol Cardona is quoted in the Wired story, “A Brutal Wave of Bird Flu Spotlights the Need for a Poultry Vaccine”; V.V. Chari is quoted in a Star Tribune story about talk of recession and what to believe; Victoria Hall is mentioned in a Bring Me the News story about bird flu killing a great horned owl family of 5 and Hall cautions against bird feeders and bird baths amid avian flu outbreaks; Mark Bergen is interviewed in a KARE 11 story about learning to live with growing inflation; Jason Hill is quoted in a New York Times story about the consequences of Biden’s decision to allow the summertime sales of higher-ethanol gas; Alfred Marcus comments summer ethanol sales in Minnesota at KARE 11; Mark Schleiss is quoted in an ABC News story about the rise of the contagious BA.2 variant.