UW CALSNR celebrates research achievements
The University of Wyoming (UW) awarded and honored the research and innovation of several members of its faculty in celebration of the impact, relevance and importance of their respective work. Awardees included faculty from the UW College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources (CALSNR).
UW’s annual Celebration of Excellence in Research and Innovation Awards event, which was held at the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center, featured distinguished researcher, innovator and research service awards given to three faculty members.
An award also featured a standout UW school for demonstrating exemplary research culture.
The event designated several faculty members as honorees for research and innovation excellence and recognized faculty members from select UW schools and colleges for their respective contributions to research excellence.
“We are incredibly fortunate and proud to have such prodigiously productive and impactful researchers here at UW,” UW President Ed Seidel says. “The work researchers being recognized today perform has massive consequences for our university, state and the world.”
“These are just a few of the many UW faculty similarly making positive and profound impacts with the research they conduct,” he adds. “Congratulations to those we recognize today, along with our gratitude and thanks to all researchers here at UW.”
Individuals honored
Scott Seville, a professor of zoology and physiology and senior associate dean of UW CALSNR, was given the UW Distinguished Research Service Award. He directs the Wyoming IDeA Networks for Biomedical Research Excellence Program (INBRE), which is funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In this capacity, Seville led UW collaborations in biomedical research with all community colleges and fostered NIH-funded research at UW. As a result, many UW faculty members have been able to submit competitive research projects. Seville also has served in leadership roles in many national organizations.
Kevin Monteith, a professor of natural resource science in UW’s Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, was given the UW Distinguished Researcher Award.
His research focuses on understanding the behavior and life history of large mammals to reveal the mechanisms behind their fitness and population dynamics.
Monteith is experienced at employing extensive field studies of individual animals’ life history and nutrition. He engages and mentors a large number of undergraduate and graduate students in his research.
Monteith’s research is used in managing wildlife populations in Wyoming.
Maohong Fan, a professor of chemical and biomedical engineering and energy and petroleum engineering in the School of Energy Resources, was given the UW Distinguished Innovator Award.
Fan has led and worked on many projects in the areas of chemical production, clean energy generation and environmental protection which have been supported by various domestic and international funding agencies and industrial companies.
He has helped various chemical, environmental and energy companies overcome their technical challenges. He is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Inventors and is one of the most cited researchers, according to the annual list published by the analytics company Clarivate.
The event also featured recognition of UW’s School of Energy Resources with the Exemplary Research Culture Award.
Honorees in research and innovation excellence
UW recognized research by Matt Kauffman of the Department of Zoology and Physiology and David Fay of INBRE and the Department of Molecular Biology, as well as innovation by Mark Gomelsky of the Department of Molecular Biology and John Oakey of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, as honorees in research and innovation excellence.
Additional college- and school-specific research honors were accepted by respective faculty members, including Melissa Morris of the College of Arts and Sciences; Jeff Beck and Thomas Boothby of CALSNR; Katie Li-Oakey and Jifa Tian of College of the Engineering and Physical Sciences; Kelly Simonton of the College of Health Sciences; Linda Price of the College of Business; Emanual Eidin of the College of Education; Kelly Dunning of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources; Jason Robison of the College of Law; Selena Gerace of the School of Energy Resources and Andrew Kirby of the School of Computing.
2024 CAREER Award Winners
The National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award is among its most prestigious recognitions of research by university faculty. It is awarded to those who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.
UW’s 2024 NSF CAREER awardees recognized at the event are Nga Nguyen, Diksha Shukla and Xiang Zhang, all of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences.
This story was originally published by UW News on Jan. 30.
