The annual Research & Innovation Awards Reception was held in the Great Room of the Joe Crowley Student Union April 30, 2025. Research & Innovation recognizes faculty and rewards creativity, productivity and innovative research endeavors.

"I would like to thank you all for what you do for the University of Nevada and beyond," Mridul Gautam, vice president for Research and Innovation, said at the reception. "We are so fortunate to have you as colleagues and stewards of the research mission of this institution. Congratulations to all."

Through a Nevada System of Higher Education system-wide competition, each institution nominates a researcher in each category. This year, the Board of Regents initiated a new award, recognizing excellence in Humanities and Social Science Research. Monica Miller, director of the Interdisciplinary Social Psychology Program and Foundation Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice in the College of Liberal Arts, was selected as the inaugural recipient. 

The Regents’ Distinguished Researcher Research Award recipient was Vladimir Pravosudov, Foundation Professor, Trevor J. McMinn Endowed Research Professor in Science with the Department Biology in the College of Science. 

Three Jason Geddes Rising Researchers from the University were named. This award was renamed last year in honor of the late Regent Jason Geddes, in commemoration of his service and dedication to higher education. The 2025 honorees included Joanna Blaszczak, associate professor, Freshwater Ecology & Biogeochemistry in the Department of National Resources & Environmental Science within the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources. Also named was Pengbo Chu, Nevada Gold Mines Professor in the Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering in the College of Science. Third recipient was Li Ke, assistant professor of science education in the College of Education & Human Development.

This year, there were two Outstanding Researcher Award recipients. These faculty members have a distinguished record in research or creative activities over their academic career. 

The award in the STEM category went to Foundation Professor Elizabeth “Beth” Leger, director of the Museum of Natural History in the College of Science. 

The second Outstanding Researcher of the year, recognized in the SACS category – social science, arts, culture and society fields – was Valerie Fridland, professor of linguistics in the Department of English in the College of Liberal Arts.

The Foundation Innovation Awards recognize two faculty or staff members for their contributions to innovation or the commercialization of ideas that impact and benefit the public’s well-being. Chris Barile, associate professor and the Clemons-Magee Endowed Professor in Chemistry in the College of Science, was honored with this year’s Foundation Established Innovator Award. 

The Foundation Early Career Innovator Award went to Ying Yang, assistant professor and MARC Nevada PI in the Department of Chemistry in the College of Science. 

“It is a strong belief of mine that a key component in research excellence is safety,” Gautam said. “This is why we established the Excellence in Lab Safety award in 2021. Lab Safety is essential in protecting property and research integrity, but most importantly of all, people."

Subhash Verman, professor of Microbiology and Immunology in the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, and his research team, were recognized as this year’s recipient of the Excellence in Laboratory Safety Award, for his diligence in animal handling protocols and responsiveness to documentation changes. 

Several new academy members were recognized. 

Geoff Blewitt was recently nominated as a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Blewitt is a professor of physics, a professor with the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, and a founding member of the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory. Anthony, “Tony” Czarnik was elected to the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Since 2004, Czarnik has served on the faculty in the Department of Chemistry in the College of Science. Alexa Colgrove Curtis, associate dean for research and innovation and Endowed professor for the Orvis School of Nursing, was named a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Also celebrated were two new members of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): Bob Ryan, professor and interim NRES department chair, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, and Steven Vander Wall, professor and biology graduate director in the College of Science. This brings the University’s total AAAS members to 13, with six elected between 2022-2024.

Twenty-four NSF CAREER awards have been given in the last four years, compared to 11 in the previous four years. The 2024 and 2025 honorees included: Elnaz Esmaeilzadeh Seylabi from civil and environmental engineering, Hamed Ebrahimian, also from civil and environmental engineering, Jihwan Yoon from electrical and biomedical engineering, Nicholas Borotto, from chemistry, Julie Loisel from geography, Mark Lescroart from psychology and Li Ke from the College of Education and Human Development.

Two new faculty members received National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships: Emily Hobson, an associate professor of Gender, Race, and Identity and History in the Department of History, and Justin Gifford, associate professor of U.S. American literature in the Department of English.

Finally, Monika Gulia-Nuss, associate professor and Graduate Program Director in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, has been named Fulbright US Scholar.