Researcher Recognition Program
Discretionary funding for multi-million dollar awards
Awardees of Researcher Recognition Program
In January 2023, the Office of Research launched the Researcher Recognition Program to award $50,000 in discretionary funds to Principal Investigators of new, multi-year research awards.
Each month, the Office of Research recognizes Purdue research faculty receiving this award. Purdue researchers receiving discretionary funding awards since the launch of this new program are:
FY 2025
- Michelle Thompson, Planetary Science, $5.22 million, (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). “Purdue Resources Empowering Coordinated Investigations for Sample Exploration (PRECISE)”
- Daniel Aliaga, Computer Science, $5.0 million, (National Science Foundation), “Frameworks: Cyberinfrastructure for Urban Tree Resilience and Environmental Equity (uTREE)”
- Virginia Bolshakova, Curriculum and Instruction, $33.0 million (US Department of Education “Purdue University - GEAR UP State Grant – Indiana”)
- Ajay Malshe, Mechanical Engineering, $5.9 million (Texas A&M - Air Force Research Laboratory, “Space Strategic Technical Institute for In Space Operations”)
- Haley Oliver, Food Science, $20 million (Agency for International Development, “Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety”)
- Dimitrios Peroulis, Purdue Online Administration, $9.2 million (Department of the Navy, “USNTPS Academic Curriculum Support Services”)
- Kaushik Roy, Electrical and Computer Engineering, $26.0 million (Applied Research Institute- Natnl Security Tech Accelerator, “CHEETA: CMOS+MRAM Hardware for Energy-EfficienT AI”)
- Tyamo Okosun, CIVS – Purdue Northwest, $7.2 million (Doe-Er-conservation & Renewable Energy, “Technical Development and Industrial Demonstration of Net-Zero Carbon EAF Steelmak”)
FY 2024
- Kerrie Douglas, College of Engineering, $7.5 million (Applied Research Institute, U.S. Dept. of Defense, “Silicon Crossroads Workforce Development”)
- Dongyan Xu, CERIAS, $6.5 million (Air Force Research Lab, “FIREFLY: A Cyber-Physical Framework for Scalable CPS Modeling and Simulation”)
- Andrew Otte, College of Engineering, $9.85 million (NIH, National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Long acting biodegradable buprenorphine depots”)
- Songlin Fei, College of Agriculture, $8.96 million (American Forest Foundation/Natural Resources Conservation Service, “Engaging Family Forests to Improve Climate-Smart Commodities (EFFICACI)”)
- Zhihong Chen, Birck Nanotechnology, $6.3 million (Applied Research Institute, “ME Commons Capital”)
FY 2023
- Peter Bermel, Birck Nanotechnology, $5.0 million (U.S. Department of Treasury/IN Economic Development Corporation/Greater Lafayette Commerce, “Semiconductors Workforce Development Project, Purdue Ivy Tech Partnership”)
- Songlin Fei, College of Agriculture, $10.0 million (National Inst of Food & Agriculture Award for the Project entitled “Promoting Economic Resilience and Sustainability of the Eastern US Forests (PERSEUS)”)
- Jen-Yi Huang, Food Science, $10.0 million (National Inst of Food & Agriculture Award for the Project entitled “When Blue is Green: Sustainable Blue Food Systems Driven by Integrated Aquaponics”)
- Anand Raghunathan, Electrical and Computer Engineering, $5.5 million (DARPA/DSO, SRC, Georgia Tech Award for the Project entitled “COCOSYS: Center for the Co-Design of Cognitive Systems”)
- Pavlos Vlachos, Central EVPR Support, $6.2 million (Eli Lilly and Company, “Strategic Partnership 2023”)
- Pavlos Vlachos/Yoon Yeo/Luis Solario, Central EVPR Support, $11.4 million (Eli Lilly and Company, “Eli Lilly Genetic Medicine 2023-24 Intrathecal”)
- George Wodicka, Bindley Biosciences, $6.8 million (NIH-National Advancing Translational/Indiana University, “Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute”)
Program Summary
The Researcher Recognition Program awards $50,000 in discretionary funds to the Principal Investigators of new, multi-year, research awards.
The qualifying criteria for these awards are as follows (updated Dec, 2024):
-
Winning awards be one of:
- A single grant equaling at least $5 million*
- A combination of two grants equaling at least $8 million*
- A combination of three grants equaling at least $10 million*.
* directly supporting expenditures spent at Purdue including direct and indirect costs, but excluding sub-awards
- The award must have a start date after January 1, 2023
Awardees will be identified on a monthly basis by Sponsored Program Services.
The criteria for the discretionary allocation are as follows:
- The allocation will be a one-time allocation of $50,000
- The allocation will be put into one account for the Principal Investigators’ use at their discretion
- The allocation will be awarded once the notice of award is received, and the award is established in the Purdue system
- The allocation will be available to the Principal Investigator for a period of two years
