Awards and Recognition

Noelle Noyes, associate professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine, has received a 5-year, $3.6 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop an important new tool for combating antimicrobial resistance. Her team is taking a novel approach to understanding the genetics behind antimicrobial resistance, an approach that could have significant practical applications for patient treatment and public health.

Stephanie Doscher, assistant vice provost for curriculum internationalization, has been named to the inaugural cohort of the Stevens Initiative Global Champions. The Stevens Initiative is an international leader in virtual exchange, advocating for and investing in virtual exchange opportunities for young people worldwide. Doscher was selected for her outstanding contributions and commitment to advancing global education and virtual exchange. As a Global Champion, Doscher will work closely with the Stevens Initiative to advocate for virtual exchange, share best practices, and inspire new ways to connect young people and educators across cultures.

The University of Minnesota has been included on Forbes' 2024 Best Employers by State list. To create the list, Forbes worked with Statista to survey employees working for large companies with at least 500 employees within the United States. This is the third year in a row the U of M has made the list.

Eli Sagor is interviewed at KSTP about an invasive insect threatening Minnesota’s oak trees; Jon Oliver is quoted in the Time magazine story “Why Mosquitoes Are So Dangerous Right Now;” Abdi Ismail Samatar is quoted in a USA Today story about Somali immigrants in Minnesota push back on GOP refugee rhetoric; Samantha Roth is interviewed in MPR News about new training that helps people reach out to those with mental health struggles; Metin Çakır is quoted in a USA Today story about the bewildering world of shrinkflation; Mike Reese is quoted in Red River Farm Network about a new agrivoltaics solar array at U of M Morris that will help with energy and milk production; Jill Amsberry is quoted in the Star Tribune about nurse vacancies declining but physician shortage growing at Minnesota hospitals; Christopher Faulk and Beth Thielen are quoted in the Fox 9 story “Minnesota State Fair: Corn dog genes entice snot study participants.”

University of Minnesota Twin Cities associate professor Vlad Pribiag is one of only 19 researchers nationwide to receive a prestigious five-year, $1.25 million Experimental Physics Investigators award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Pribiag’s research in quantum materials could have implications for next-generation computing. His proposed research program combines advanced superconductor-semiconductor materials, powerful nanofabrication techniques, and low-temperature measurement techniques to control the properties of quantum matter. His work is driven both by the potential to uncover fundamental properties of quantum materials and by the desire to develop quantum devices with emergent physical properties that could enable next-generation computing technologies. 

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) has announced the University of Minnesota earned the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award in recognition of the extraordinary community engagement initiatives of the U of M’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA). As the top honoree in its region of the country, the U of M will now compete for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which will be announced in November. 

The Research and Innovation Office has announced the recipients of the Innovation Impact Case Award, which recognizes University of Minnesota research that has had significant impact outside of academia. Two projects received awards this year: Michael Pitt, pediatrics, and John Sartori, electrical and computer engineering, for their project "Making Access to Hospital Rounds a Right, Not a Privilege with Q-rounds;" and Tasoulla Hadjiyanni, interior design, for her project "Mobilizing Design in the Fight Against Sex Trafficking." Each project received an award of $10,000. The award winners will be honored at a luncheon with Vice President for Research and Innovation Shashank Priya on Sept. 12.

Department of Family Social Science Professor and Pauline Boss Faculty Fellow in Ambiguous Loss Chalandra Bryant is the winner of the 2024 Ernest W. Burgess Award from the National Council on Family Relations. The Ernest W. Burgess Award is presented to a scholar "who has a superior research program as demonstrated by quality research, conceptual integration and achievement, codification of the field of inquiry, new research dimension(s) opened up, new measurement instrument developed, and new data collection or techniques developed."

MN Cup has announced the nine companies selected as this year's division winners. Twenty-seven companies moved forward to MN Cup’s finalist round—63 percent of them were U of M alumni. The nine division winners were selected from a diverse pool of almost 3,200 founders. The winning companies each received $25,000 to support the continued growth of their ventures. The division winners will now go on to present to the MN Cup Grand Prize Review Board in September, competing for an additional $50,000 prize. As the largest statewide startup competition in the nation, MN Cup's continuing mission is to identify, support, and connect emerging entrepreneurs throughout Minnesota.

JoonHyung (Joon) Cho has joined the Research and Innovation Office leadership team as assistant vice president for external affairs and communications. In this newly developed role, Cho is responsible for executing strategies on external engagement and communication that advance the University of Minnesota's research and innovation mission. This role also oversees RIO’s communications office. Cho has held numerous leadership roles at research institutions with a strong background in corporate engagement, research business development, strategic initiative fundraising, and technology commercialization. Most recently, Cho served as the director of corporate relations and business development at the University of Virginia.