Faculty and staff were recognized during the annual Research Excellence Awards. Each year, the awards are given to those who exemplify the very best of research and creative practice at WSU.
The Research Excellence Awards is part of Research Happens Every Day, a series of events throughout the year celebrating the successes and highlighting the diversity of WSU faculty researchers and creative practitioners.
“Our researchers tackle some of today’s most difficult problems every day. Through their research, they make discoveries and create innovations and partnerships that enrich life for us all. This year, we have an outstanding set of winners whose work covers a broad range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary work, demonstrating the breadth and impact of WSU’s research, scholarship, and creative activity,” said Michael Wolcott, Regents Professor and interim vice president for research. “Congratulations to the winners.”
The awards ceremony also recognized grant and contract administration staff whose performance goes above and beyond.
Faculty Research Awards
- Stacey Hust and Jessica Willoughby, co-directors for the Media, Adolescents, and Cannabis Lab, received the Public Impact Award for their commitment to improving the lives of young people through their research on substance misuse prevention. They recently were funded through the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Drug Abuse to refine a cannabis misuse prevention intervention.
- Bernie Van Wie, professor in The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, David Thiessen, professor in The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Prashanta Dutta, professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, and Sola Adesope, associate dean for research and external funding in the College of Education, received the Teams that Build Award for their Low-Cost Desktop Learning Modules (LCDLMs) Team aimed to improve STEM education by designing miniature industrial process equipment for classroom use.
- Carolyn Ross, professor in the School of Food Science, received the Advancing Equity in Research Award for her research understanding the eating behaviors of children with Down syndrome and considering these needs in the context of food product development.
- Elizabeth Canning, associate professor in the Department of Psychology, received the Pacesetter Award for her research on the ways that instructors and others communication belonging, value, talent, and ability, and how stigmatized individuals respond to this messaging.
- Birgitte Ahring, professor in The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, received the Catalyst Award for her research, innovations, leadership, and collaborative approach to thermochemical conversion processes to reduce waste volume and enhancing methane yield through a pre-digestion process, which has major impacts in the areas of renewable energy production and greenhouse gas reduction.
- Shulin Chen, professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, received the Impactful Contribution to Society Award for his ongoing breakthroughs in creating methods to produce desired compounds from waste products to make highly desired products at a lower energy cost, moving towards a cleaner, more sustainable future.
Grant Competition Winners
RA and $10K Competition Award — Presenters competed for two awards, each for $10,000 and a one-semester doctoral-level Research Assistantship (RA).
- Carrie Cuttler, associate professor in the Department of Psychology
- Andrei Smertenko, associate professor in the Institute of Biological Chemistry
Grants and Contracts Support Awards
- Greg Ardashev, grant and contract coordinator for WSU Tri-Cities, received the Grant and Contract Administration Service Recognition Award for his dedication to collaborating with faculty members from six colleges that encompass twenty departments and three administrative units, along with the new FAA portfolio and the Institute of Northwest Energy Futures. In 2023 alone, the WSU Tri-Cities campus submitted 72 proposals totaling $67 million in funding.
- Krista Cole, contracts manager in the Office of Research Support and Operations, received the Grant and Contract Administration Contribution Recognition Award for her support to researchers across the WSU system, offering invaluable assistance with proposal submission and award negotiations.
