Awards and Recognition

School of Public Health researchers have received nearly $2 million in grants to identify segments of human genetic code associated with the onset of diabetes. The research is led by professors Baolin Wu and Jim Pankow and funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation.

Congratulations to the 2020-21 members of the Internationalizing Teaching and Learning Faculty Cohort Program. The ITL program engages University of Minnesota faculty in professional development aimed at internationalizing the curriculum, which supports the University’s educational mission to “graduate lifelong learners, leaders, and global citizens.” The new cohort joins the 80 faculty members who have participated in the program since 2010 in a systemwide community of practice. The program is sponsored in partnership with the Global Programs and Strategy Alliance, the Center for Educational Innovation, International Student and Scholar Services, and OIT-Academic Technology.

• Lacey Anderson and Harouna Maiga (Crookston)
• Marzell Gray, Viann Nguyen-Feng, Maria Ruud, and David Tuwei (Duluth)
• Jake Wright (Rochester)
• Melissa Saftner, Kazeem Adepoju, and Cara Santelli (Twin Cities)

Joshua Rhein and Jeffrey Miller are featured in a Star Tribune story about their research turning natural killer cells against COVID-19; Jiarong Hong is quoted in a Healthline story about how coronavirus spreads indoors and what can be done about it; Marc Jenkins is quoted at Live Science about why we develop lifelong immunity to some diseases, but not others; Michael Osterholm co-authored “Here's How to Crush the Virus Until Vaccines Arrive” in the New York Times; Gabrielle Clowdus is quoted in Press Pubs about creating tiny homes for the homeless; Keith Mayes is quoted in the Rochester Post-Bulletin about police reform; John Bischof is quoted in a Forbes story about a $104M NSF investment in four new engineering research centers; Rachel Hardeman is quoted in the Vice story, “COVID-19 Is Proof of Just How Socially Determined Health Is”; David Perry is quoted in The Atlantic story, “Colleges Are Deeply Unequal Workplaces”; David Van Riper is quoted in a Star Tribune story about growing worries about the 2020 census’ accuracy;

The National Science Foundation awarded the University of Minnesota Institute for Engineering in Medicine and Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Engineering in Medicine and Surgery $26 million over five years to create the Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Advanced Technologies for the Preservation of Biological Systems (ATP-Bio). ATP-Bio, which is the first ERC to be co-led by the U of M and Massachusetts General Hospital, aims to develop and deploy breakthrough bioengineering technology to preserve a wide range of biological systems: cells, tissues, organs and whole organisms. The administrative home will be at the U of M, with co-leadership from Massachusetts General Hospital and collaboration with core institutions of University of California Riverside, and University of California Berkeley.

Forum Kamdar, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, is one of 17 physician scientists in the U.S. to receive a $495,000 award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to expand her research on improving therapy for those with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

The Graduate School has announced the 2020-21 Doctoral Dissertation Fellows. The Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship gives the University's most accomplished PhD candidates an opportunity to devote full-time effort to an outstanding research project by providing time to finalize and write a dissertation during the fellowship year. The award includes a stipend of $25,000 for the academic year (September-May), tuition for up to 14 thesis credits each semester (fall & spring), and subsidized health insurance through the Graduate Assistant Health Plan. See the recipients and their projects.

To support women graduate students in any field of the natural or physical sciences who show exceptional promise for a successful career in research. Louise Dosdall entered the University of Minnesota in 1912 and completed her PhD in 1922. An expert on mushrooms and ornamental plants, she taught plant pathology at the University of Minnesota for 41 years. She established the fellowship in her will. See the recipients.

Michele Allen co-authors a piece at MinnPost about next steps in addressing racism as a public health crisis; Ryan Demmer talked with the New York Times about new research tying gum disease to Alzheimer’s risk; Jeff Marr is quoted about wakesurfing and U of M research on waves at MinnPost; Jaime Slaughter-Acey is quoted at TPT about political activism after George Floyd; Robert McMaster is quoted in Money Magazine about how fewer international students could hurt everyone; Michael Osterholm was quoted by CNBC and numerous other outlets about school closures; Karthik Natarajan is quoted in a New York Times story about families struggling to afford necessities; Ann Masten is quoted at The Verge about how to survive the internet’s pits of despair; Katie Spencer is quoted in a Popular Science feature about common misconceptions regarding trans and non-binary identities; Kathleen Vohs comments in the Star Tribune story, “We might wear our masks yet if behavioral science is correct.”

Ramla Kasozi, a third-year family medicine resident at the University of Minnesota Medical School, will serve as the newly elected Resident Director of Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians. Kasozi will serves as the first Muslim-elect Resident Director of MAFP and hopes to address health disparities by promoting research and creating resources for doctors and patients of color.

Multiple U of M faculty are mentioned in Mpls St. Paul Magazine’s ‘Top Doctors Special Report: Pivoting in a Pandemic’; Erika Lee writes in the Washington Post that Americans are the dangerous, disease-carrying foreigners now; Julia Ponder spoke with KARE 11 about inviting a raptor to your Zoom meeting; Traci Mann spoke with Womens Health Mag about the Noom diet and whether it’s worth your time; Craig Hedberg is quoted in the Wall Street Journal about being safe during food shopping and outdoor dining during coronavirus; Patricia Frazier and Ann Masten are quoted in a Star Tribune story about how to weather the pandemic; Yoji Shimizu, Mylene Culbreath, Noro Andriamanalina, Ellen Longmire, and Char Voight are quoted in a Minnesota Daily story about a new learning initiative for faculty fighting racism; Mark Schleiss is quoted in a New York Times story about what keeps most little kids from getting COVID-19; Aaron Sojourner is quoted in the Financial Times about whether the rebound in America's economy already over; Samuel Myers Jr. is quoted in a Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal story that asks whether PPP shut out minority entrepreneurs; Stephanie Carlson spoke to the New York Times about how play energizes your kid’s brain.