A prestigious group of UConn faculty are being honored this year as the University\u2019s latest recipients of early-career awards from the National Science Foundation, recognizing their potential as role models in education and research.<\/p>\n
The UConn Board of Trustees and Interim President Radenka Maric recognized 10 faculty members at Wednesday\u2019s trustees meeting, noting that the NSF has indicated others might also receive the prestigious recognition in coming months.<\/p>\n
NSF gives about 500 of the NSF Early Career Development (CAREER) Program awards each year to universities and research institutions nationwide. UConn has in recent years been well represented, putting it on par with other elite research universities in the category.<\/p>\n
In addition to this year\u2019s awards<\/a> \u2013 not counting any additional that are announced in coming months \u2013 UConn faculty also received eight in 2021<\/a>, seven in 2020<\/a>, nine in 2019<\/a>, and others in previous years.<\/p>\n The CAREER Awards come with five-year grants that are especially valuable to support early-career faculty in their research and their career development.<\/p>\n UConn received as many or more awards in the past three years as many leading research institutions, Maric said, including Dartmouth College, Emory University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, Tufts University, Vanderbilt University, Yale University, and others.<\/p>\n \u201cIt tells you that we are a powerhouse in (having) faculty with curiosity, with passion to teach, and with passion for science, and I think that with those faculty, we can achieve new highs,\u201d Maric said, adding that UConn also prioritizes retaining talented faculty with support that can help them flourish at the University.<\/p>\n She also noted that the new CAREER Award recipients are among many young faculty that UConn has recruited in recent years, including some fresh from finishing their postdoctoral programs, and who\u2019ve made an immediate positive impact.<\/p>\n \u201cOur students come to UConn to learn from the best,\u201d Maric said at Wednesday\u2019s meeting as she introduced the recipients who were in attendance and invited them to describe their research to the board and guests.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s UConn recipients and their schools or colleges are as follows.<\/p>\n \u2022 Cara Battersby<\/a>, physics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) Five UConn faculty members had received CAREER Awards between 2012 and 2014, at which time the School of Engineering initiated monthly workshops for faculty to help them envision and formulate their applications for consideration.<\/p>\n Engineering won three CAREER Awards in the next year, and the UConn Office of the Vice President for Research \u2013 led by Maric as vice president, before her appointment as interim president \u2013 launched CAREER workshops in 2015.<\/p>\n It expanded them in 2016 to coordinate with schools and colleges, while at the same time CLAS was offering specialized workshops for its faculty.<\/p>\n \u201cIn seven years, we have seen our total of NSF CAREER awards increase from a handful to 60, representing tens of millions of dollars in support of UConn research,\u201d Pamir Alpay, interim vice president for Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, said recently. \u201cThe increase in awards is no coincidence. It validates the research excellence of our brilliant early career faculty members as well as the critical support UConn provides to guide them through the awards process.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Ido Davidesco<\/a>, educational psychology, Neag School of Education
\n\u2022 Ben Fuller<\/a>, computer science & engineering, School of Engineering (ENG)
\n\u2022 Walter Krawec<\/a>, computer science & engineering, ENG
\n\u2022 Tomoyasu Mani<\/a>, chemistry, CLAS
\n\u2022 George Matheou<\/a>, mechanical engineering, ENG
\n\u2022 Kristin Morgan<\/a>, biomedical engineering, ENG
\n\u2022 Anna Tarakanova<\/a>, mechanical\/ biomedical engineering, ENG
\n\u2022 Xueju (Sophie) Wang<\/a>, materials science and engineering, ENG
\n\u2022 Hongyi Xu<\/a>, mechanical engineering, ENG<\/p>\n