The annual Research & Innovation Awards Reception was held in the Great Room of the Joe Crowley Student Union May 18, 2026. Research & Innovation recognizes faculty and rewards creativity, productivity and innovative research endeavors. 

"This afternoon is for you," Mridul Gautam, senior vice president for Research and Innovation, said at the reception. "Each of you in this room has made the University of Nevada, Reno stronger through your scholarship, your mentorship and the real-world difference your work makes. We don't take that lightly, and we wanted to take a moment to say so."

President Brian Sandoval also addressed honorees.

"Researchers are at the heart of what makes this university worth building," he said. "The work happening in your labs, your classrooms, your publications and your partnerships with industry is what puts Nevada on the map nationally and internationally." 

Regents' Researcher Award – Humanities and Social Sciences

Through a Nevada System of Higher Education system-wide competition, each institution nominates a researcher in each category. This year's Regents' Researcher Award in the humanities and social sciences went to Valerie Fridland, professor of linguistics in the College of Liberal Arts. Fridland is internationally recognized in sociolinguistics and has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Her work on how speech habits shape language has drawn a national audience well beyond academia. 

Outstanding Researcher Award 

Two faculty were recognized for distinguished, nationally and internationally recognized research – one from STEM and one from the social sciences, arts and humanities. 

The STEM recipient was Franco Biondi, professor of natural resources and environmental science in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources. Biondi is among the world's leading quantitative dendroclimatologists. His statistical calibration framework for tree-ring climate signals has become a methodological standard for the discipline, and researchers across the globe rely on his DENDROCLIM software.

Richard Scott, professor of anthropology in the College of Liberal Arts, received the award in the social sciences, arts and humanities category. Scott, an international leader in dental anthropology, has made foundational contributions to the field. Biological anthropologists, bioarchaeologists and paleoanthropologists worldwide use the methods and datasets he developed. 

Foundation Innovation Awards 

The Foundation Innovation Awards recognize faculty who are actively translating research into real-world applications through entrepreneurship, commercialization and partnerships. 

Dean Burkin, professor of cell biology and pharmacology in the School of Medicine, received the Foundation Established Innovator Award. Burkin has founded a company and built partnerships across the pharmaceutical industry to move his lab's research results toward patients. 

"What strikes me most about the people in this room is that you don't do this for the recognition, you do it because you believe the work matters. We believe it too." - University President Brian Sandoval

Krista Carlson, associate professor of chemical and materials engineering in the College of Engineering, was named the Foundation Early Career Innovator. A co-inventor on anti-glare display glasses, point-of-use water disinfection devices piloted in Pakistan and tested with the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, and permeable aerogel and metallic-glass technologies, Carlson has built a record of real-world impact early in her career. 

Excellence in Laboratory Safety Award 

"It is a strong belief of mine that a key component in research excellence is safety," Gautam said. "Safe labs are the foundation of good research – they protect not just property and research integrity, but people." 

Yftah Tal-Gan, professor of chemistry in the College of Science, and his research team were recognized with this year's Excellence in Laboratory Safety Award. Tal-Gan's lab upholds the University's core values of safety and environmental stewardship and sets the standard for a safety-first research culture. 

Jason Geddes Regents' Rising Researcher Award 

Named in honor of the late Regent Jason Geddes, this award recognizes early-career faculty at Nevada research institutions for outstanding accomplishments and the promise of continued impact. Three University faculty were honored this year. 

Scott Allen, assistant professor of natural resources and environmental science in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources, studies how water and carbon interact with ecosystems – critical work in a state where water availability shapes livelihoods and landscapes.

Sandhya Krittika Narayanan, assistant professor of anthropology in the College of Liberal Arts, has published six peer-reviewed articles and two book chapters as sole author in just four years at the University. Her NSF CAREER award supports five years of research on language revitalization. She is only the second faculty member in the College of Liberal Arts to earn that distinction. 

Elnaz Esmaeilzadeh Seylabi, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering, has published 24 peer-reviewed papers since joining the University and secured more than $4 million in grants. 

NSF CAREER Awardees 

The NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program is the agency's most prestigious award for early-career faculty. The University has received 24 CAREER awards in the last four years, compared to 11 in the four years prior. Five honorees were celebrated across the 2025 and 2026 award cycles. 

Nicholas Borotto, assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Science, uses mass spectrometry and ion mobility to study protein structure at the interface of analytical chemistry and biochemistry. 

Floriana Petrone, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering, is developing probabilistic methods – combining simulations, machine learning and probability models – to better predict how infrastructure performs in rare, catastrophic earthquakes. 

Misty Riddle, assistant professor of biology in the College of Science, was awarded more than $1.3 million to study host-microbiome interactions, using a small fish species as a model to understand how genetics shapes microbial communities in the digestive tract. 

Maryam Raeeszadeh-Sarmazdeh, assistant professor of chemical and materials engineering in the College of Engineering, works on multifunctional proteins that regulate complex biological systems, with implications for medicine and sustainability. 

Sandhya Narayanan, recognized earlier as a Jason Geddes Regents' Rising Researcher, also received a CAREER award for her work on language revitalization. 

Fulbright U.S. Scholars

Four University faculty were named Fulbright U.S. Scholars, representing the global reach of research. 

For 2025-26: Deborah Shindell, associate professor in the Orvis School of Nursing, will advance her international health work in Uganda. Sergey Varganov, professor of chemistry in the College of Science, will spend a semester in Brazil deepening collaboration on molecular electronic structure and spin dynamics research. 

For 2026-27: Renata Keller, associate professor of history in the College of Liberal Arts, whose research on the Cold War and U.S.-Latin American relations has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Rachel Salas, associate professor of literacy in the College of Education and Human Development.