Awards and Recognition

Researchers at the University of Minnesota want to cut down on the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere by capturing those emissions at their source and instead turning them into something useful. A team at the College of Biological Sciences is working to develop a first-of-its-kind bioreactor platform that will transform CO2 into formate, a storable and transportable liquid that can be used to create chemicals or manufacture materials. The team’s research will be supported through $1.1 million in funding from the US Department of Energy’s ARPA-E as part of the agency’s efforts to create a carbon-neutral economy. Claudia Schmidt-Dannert, Distinguished McKnight Professor of biochemistry, molecular biology, and biophysics, will lead the project as its principal investigator. Mikael Elias, associate professor of biochemistry, molecular biology, and biophysics, and Jeffrey Gralnick, professor of plant and microbial biology, are co-principal investigators.

A project team that developed technology to improve the fuel efficiency of last-mile delivery vehicles is the recipient of this year’s Robert C. Johns Research Partnership Award. The team integrated new technology into UPS electric powertrain vehicles to allow them to make adjustments in real time. The project led to a 20 percent improvement in the fuel economy of hybrid delivery vehicles operating as part of the UPS fleet. The project team includes Will Northrop, Shashi Shekhar, Shawn Haag, and graduate students Pengyue Wang and Yan Li.

Samuel Myers Jr. was featured in a PBS NewsHour segment on COVID-19 and racial disparities in America's healthcare system that recently won a Peabody Award; Michael Osterholm is quoted in the New York Times story, “Joe Rogan Is Too Big to Cancel”; George John is quoted in a Mashed story about why General Mills is seeing a big dip in sales; Jon Oliver joined CBS Local to take a look at the science behind mosquito bites; Emil Lou comments at KSTP-TV about a new study that links sugary drinks with colorectal cancer in women; Pamela Lutsey is quoted in an Eat This, Not That! story about the link between lack of sleep and developing dementia; Forrest Fleischman is quoted in Science News about why planting tons of trees isn't enough to solve climate change; Joe Armstrong is quoted in the Washington Post about crowds packing a Bangladesh farm to see a dwarf cow thought to be one of the world's tiniest.

Julie Schumacher and Susan M. Wolf have been named as the University of Minnesota’s newest Regents Professors. Established in 1965 by the Board of Regents to recognize the national and international prominence of faculty members, the Regents Professorship is the highest honor the University of Minnesota bestows on its faculty. It recognizes faculty who have made exceptional contributions to the University through teaching, research, scholarship, or creative work, and contributions to the public good.

Julie Schumacher is a nationally recognized author and deeply respected professor in the Department of English in the College of Liberal Arts. She currently serves as the interim director of the Creative Writing Program. Under her leadership, the master of fine arts (MFA) in creative writing at the University of Minnesota has grown to be a nationally recognized program and regularly receives over 400 applications per year. Schumacher is one of the University's most visible spokespeople, and arguably its most famous writer of fiction. Her debut novel, The Body is Water, was a finalist for the prestigious PEN/Hemingway Award, and was translated into seven languages, a remarkable and rare occurrence among debut novels. She is the first woman to win the Thurber Prize for American Humor (2015) for her novel Dear Committee Members. 

Schumacher is also a passionate teacher devoted to her craft, her students, the University, and to the art of inspiring others. Her commitment to her students has been called otherworldly, attentive, articulate, and life-changing. Learn more about Julie Schumacher.

Susan M. Wolf, McKnight Presidential Professor of Law, Medicine, & Public Policy; Faegre Baker Daniels Professor of Law; and professor of medicine, is nationally and internationally renowned as one of the nation’s top scholars in law, medicine, and bioethics. She is also the founding chair of the Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences at the University of Minnesota, which is recognized around the world for path-breaking research, seminal publications, high-impact events, and critical policy collaboration. Wolf is the only University of Minnesota faculty member ever elected to the National Academy of Medicine, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Law Institute.

Wolf’s pioneering work has changed scholarship, policy, and real-world practice. She has put the University of Minnesota on the map for top work on societal issues in biomedicine and the life sciences. She has helped to secure over $60 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and other funders as principal investigator or co-investigator, leading interdisciplinary teams and authoring seminal publications. Additionally, Wolf is a gifted teacher who has made teaching, advising, and building innovative programs for students a centerpiece of her work. She is widely known for involving her students in her research, both grant-funded and independent scholarship. Learn more about Susan M. Wolf.

Two University of Minnesota Medical School faculty members, Dziwe Ntaba, assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, and Michael Westerhaus, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, have been selected as 2021 Bush Fellows. The Bush Fellowship provides up to $100,000 over the course of one to two years for education and learning experiences that foster large-scale change at the local and regional level. Fellows have the flexibility to define what activities would help them become more effective and equitable leaders, including formal education, leadership training, networking or mentorship. 

Keith Mays has been appointed dean of the School of Dentistry; Michael Rodriguez has been appointed dean of the College of Education and Human Development; and Laura Molgaard has been appointed dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Keith Mays has served as interim dean of the School of Dentistry since May 2020. A faculty member in the Department of Restorative Sciences since 2015, he previously served as the school’s associate dean of academic affairs.

Michael Rodriguez has served as interim dean of the College of Education and Human Development since August 2020. As a faculty member in the Department of Educational Psychology since 1999 and Campbell Leadership Chair since 2013, he previously served as the college’s associate dean of undergraduate education, diversity, and international initiatives. 

Laura Molgaard has served as interim dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine since August 2019. A faculty member in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine since 1997, she previously served as the college’s associate dean for academic and student affairs.

University of Minnesota Twin Cities Chemical Engineering and Materials Science professor Paul Dauenhauer has been named a 2021 finalist for the prestigious Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists, the world’s largest unrestricted prize honoring early-career scientists and engineers. Dauenhauer is one of only 31 finalists nationwide chosen for the award, which showcases America’s most promising young scientists and engineers. Three winners of the awards—in life sciences, chemistry, and physical sciences and engineering—will be announced on July 20, each receiving $250,000 as a Blavatnik National Awards Laureate.

College of Design professor Tasoulla Hadjiyanni has been selected as the Imagine Fund 2021-2023 Arts, Design, and Humanities (ADH) Chair. Hadjiyanni’s project “Journeys unpacked – Designing built environments for communities where everyone can thrive'' will activate synergies with local leaders, community members, design professionals, educators, and students to explore what it would take to create built environments that help eliminate health, income, and educational disparities. The Imagine Fund ADH Chair Award is an initiative of the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost awarding $100,000 over a two-year term to create a collaborative program of activities for the University community and the community at large.

George Karypis, a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, was honored with the Distinguished Contributions Award during the 2021 Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD). This is the highest award from the leading conference in the field, and recognizes outstanding lifetime contributions to knowledge discovery and data mining.

Associate professor of English Douglas Kearney received the inaugural Campbell Opera Librettist Prize, the first honor to focus specifically on opera librettists. Kearney co-wrote the libretto of Sweet Land, produced by The Industry in 2020 to rave reviews in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker. His latest, Comet/Poppea, written with composer George Lewis and commissioned by American Modern Opera Company, will premiere in 2023.