2024-25 Researcher of the Year Awards Program

There is a longstanding tradition of recognizing excellence in research at UIC. The University of Illinois Chicago is one of 187 Carnegie Classified “Research 1: Very High Spending and Doctorate Production” institutions in the nation and one of only four universities in the state of Illinois to receive this designation.

The honors given today recognize and celebrate the efforts and commitment of individuals who advance knowledge as well as inspire and promote continued excellence in research and scholarship at UIC.

The Distinguished Researcher and Distinguished Scholar awards are given this year to five UIC faculty members who have demonstrated outstanding achievements in their respective fields of expertise. An additional five UIC early career faculty receive the Rising Star awards for showing outstanding promise to become future leaders in their fields.

The Inventor of the Year Award honors an outstanding inventor or team of inventors at University of Illinois Chicago who have contributed to the development of intellectual property that significantly impacts their field and society.

The Faculty Mentor of the Year Award recognizes an individual who serves as an outstanding, knowledgeable and empathetic guide that leverages their experience to inspire and support mentees in achieving their goals.

The Postdoctoral Scholar of the Year Award recognizes a postdoctoral fellow who has demonstrated outstanding achievement and shows exceptional promise as a future leader.

This year marks the addition of a new award: Champion of Research Support. This award recognizes a staff member who provides outstanding support to the UIC research enterprise.

The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Office of Technology Management thank the campus community for the wealth of compelling nominations submitted for these awards. Our thanks also go to members of the review panels for their time spent reviewing the applications and convening to select the final awardees.

Basic Life Sciences

Rising Star: Elizabeth Glover, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine

Dr. Glover’s research focuses on understanding the neurocircuitry underlying reward and aversion and how it is altered in neuropsychiatric illnesses, including addiction and mood disorders. Her work is some of the first to implicate a brain region known as the rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg) in the neurobiology of alcohol use disorder. In addition, her lab characterized the anatomy and function of cortical inputs to the RMTg, describing their density, their ability to modulate aversive responding and the plasticity that occurs in this neural circuit following exposure to aversive stimuli. Her findings will impact the neuroscience field at large by providing a foundation for the field to advance its understanding of RMTg anatomy and function in healthy and pathological conditions. She was recently selected for competitive membership into the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and ranks within the top 25% of over 1,400 NIH-funded psychiatry faculty in 2024.

Distinguished Researcher: Lijun Rong, PhD, Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine

Dr. Rong studies the entry and replication mechanisms of several emerging or remerging viruses with pandemic potential such as flu, Ebola virus, SARS-CoV-2, Lassa virus and Nipah virus, and develops antiviral therapeutics. He is an expert in high-throughput screening development and a leader in the field of small molecule drug discovery targeting the entry of flu and Ebola virus. His work has led to numerous patents and more than 160 publications and the development of novel antivirals and potent small molecule entry inhibitors, including a new orally available influenza A antiviral which synergizes with Oseltamivir (Tamiflu). Dr. Rong has been funded by the NIH since 2000 and currently is PI or co-I on eight NIH grants and a Gates Foundation grant. He serves as an editorial member or associate editor for journals such as Antiviral Research. He was recently selected as an American for Advancement of Science fellow and is an organizing leader of the Chicago Area Virology Association.

Clinical Sciences

Rising Star: Leslie D. Willams, PhD, Assistant Professor, Division of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health

Dr. Williams’ research involves studying predictors of and interventions to improve HIV- and substance use-related health outcomes. Her work has a particular focus on understanding stigma as a setting-level phenomenon, including its relationship to HIV and substance use-related outcomes, its relationship to health service and/or intervention uptake and access, and the development and evaluation of interventions to reduce and address stigma. She was recently awarded $6.9 million in grants from the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct a trial of an expanded social network-based recruitment to HIV testing (E-SNRHT) and stigma reduction intervention in South Africa and from the Centers for Disease Control to study a peer support intervention for reducing opioid overdose risk in Chicago.

Distinguished Researcher: Tanvi Bhatt, PhD, Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Applied Health Sciences

Dr. Bhatt’s research involves investigating the neuromechanical basis of balance recovery from external perturbations such as slips and trips and subsequently designing interventions for reducing fall-risk. Her research focus also includes examining the effects of alternative cognitive and motor therapies for improving impairment, function and participation in community-dwelling older adults and people with neurological and neurocognitive disorders such stroke, multiple sclerosis and mild cognitive impairment. She has developed a fall prevention framework—the 3Ps of Fall Prevention: Perspection, Prevention and Prognosis—and her work has led to the development of the FRATS app, which utilizes machine learning to assess fall risk and develop customized games to improve cognitive-motor training for fall risk prevention. The app uses cloud system and computer vision techniques, allowing it to be implemented remotely for scalability and accessibility. Bhatt is the co-director of the Midwest Roybal Center for Health Promotion & Translation and the Center for Health Equity in Cognitive Aging and has been extramurally funded since 2011.

Natural Sciences and Engineering

Rising Star: Andy I. Nguyen, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dr. Nguyen is a synthetic chemist whose group designs peptides as models and mimics of proteins and enzymes. He draws inspiration from biological processes to build and evolve macromolecular, inorganic complexes that function as efficient catalysts and molecular machines for energy conversion and drug delivery. His team discovered a new class of materials, which they call peptide frameworks, that are widely useful in catalysis and separations across industrial and smaller-scale applications. Peptide frameworks combine the benefits of heterogenous materials – ease of recovery, durability, device fabrication – with the sophistication of protein architecture and evolvability. Dr. Nguyen is the first UIC faculty member to receive the Department of Energy Early Career Award and has also received an NSF CAREER award and an NIH Maximizing Investigators' Research Award.

Distinguished Researcher: Michael Trenary, PhD, Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dr. Trenary is a leader in the field of surface science – the behavior of molecules on the surface of metals. He was one of the first people to utilize a new generation of low-cost, high-performance Fourier transform infrared spectrometers for reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS). From this technique, he has been able to measure the vibrational spectra of hydrocarbons at low concentrations on metal surfaces; to explore the structure and chemistry of novel surface intermediates that form during surface chemical reactions; to extract information based on the surface dipole selection rule; and to demonstrate that a single-atom alloy can be used to selectively hydrogenate a molecule with two double bonds to one with a single double bond. His spectroscopic studies are often combined with scanning tunneling microscopy, which can provide atomically resolved images of surfaces. He is the only UIC chemistry professor who is a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Chemical Society.

Social Sciences

Rising Star: Uchechi A. Mitchell, PhD, MSPH, Associate Professor, Division of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health

Dr. Mitchell is an aging and health equity researcher who addresses questions at the intersection of population and biopsychosocial sciences. She leverages her interdisciplinary training in public health, population sciences, health psychology, aging and biodemography to investigate pathways leading to health inequities and poor health among underserved populations. She has extensive experience conducting theory-informed and community-engaged research on racial and ethnic health inequities in mid-life and old age across multiple physical, mental, cognitive and biological outcomes; the psychosocial and structural determinants of health inequities; and the aging experiences of older Black adults, including the influence of individual and community-level stressors and culturally relevant protective factors on their mental and physical health. Her work and training have been funded by the NIA, NIMHD, NIGMS, the Illinois Department of Public Health and multiple internal pilot grants from UIC. She recently served as the principal investigator of an NIA-funded R21 project examining the roles of stress, social resources and physiological functioning on Black-White differences in cognitive decline. She is a former Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) Scientist and Mentor and played a major role in launching UIC’s RCMAR—the Center for Health Equity in Cognitive Aging—where she serves as co-lead of the Community Liaison and Recruitment Core. She is also a former NIA Butler-Williams Scholar and recipient of NIA’s Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) travel grant award.

Distinguished Researcher: Danny Bernard Martin, PhD; Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education and Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dr. Martin’s research focuses on understanding the impact of race and identity on Black learners’ mathematical experiences. His research across K-12 and postsecondary contexts has challenged deficit perspectives of Black learners by focusing on success and resilience and Black learners’ negotiations of antiblackness. Dr. Martin’s research and writing are supported by ideas from a variety of fields beyond education. In recent years, Dr. Martin has expanded the scope of his scholarship to developing theory and practice related to racial justice in early childhood mathematics. Across his research, Dr. Martin calls for new forms of mathematics education that are worthy of Black learners and that contribute to Black people’s liberation. In 2018, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Benjamin Banneker Association. He is a 2024 American Educational Research Association Fellow. He has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation and the National Academy of Education.

Humanities, Arts, Design and Architecture

Rising Star: Liza Calisesi Maidens, DMA, Assistant Professor, School of Theatre and Music, College of Architecture, Design and the Arts

Dr. Calisesi Maidens’ work encompasses research, performance and recording activity as a professional conductor and music educator. She is focused on expanding the choral canon by publishing and performing choral works by historically excluded voices of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. This has led to increased interest in and dissemination of these compositions. Dr. Calisesi Maidens’ other research encompasses a musicological study of the life and works of composer Imogen Holst and the concept of belonging in music education scholarship. In 2024, her album Expanding the Choral Canon with Bella Voce was on the first-round ballot for two Grammy Award nominations, and she has performed with several ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Opera and mirabai.

Distinguished Scholar: Liliana E. Sánchez, PhD, Professor, Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dr. Sánchez studies bilingual, heritage and comparative syntax. Her current work focuses on crosslinguistic influence across language components, including syntax, morphology and informational structure; modelling processes of differential access to heritage grammars; and the interface between informational structure and morphosyntax in Quechua and Spanish in contact with English and Indigenous languages in South America. She also collaborates with academic and community researchers on indigenous languages, access to health information and language documentation. She has received funding from the National Science Foundation and was recognized with the Clement A. Price Human Dignity Award from Rutgers University.

Inventor of the Year

Maria Siemionow, MD, PhD, DSc, Professor, Department of Orthopedics, College of Medicine

Dr. Siemionow specializes in microsurgery, hand surgery, peripheral nerve surgery, transplantation and stem cell research. Her research focuses on reducing allograft rejection and minimizing the need for lifelong immunosuppressive drugs in transplant patients and developing new techniques to enhance nerve regeneration. Currently, she is investigating chimeric cells as a therapy for Duchene’s Muscular Dystrophy and other genetic diseases. This work led to the founding of a start-up company, Dystrogen Therapeutics, which is currently testing chimeric cell therapy in clinical studies.  She is a member of the Warrior Restoration Consortium, which focuses on the development of clinical therapies and new treatments for wounded soldiers under the Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine. In 2008, Dr. Siemionow led the team of surgeons that performed the first near-total face transplant in the United States and was honored with the James Barrett Brown Award.

Faculty Mentor of the Year

Noah J. Kaplan, PhD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dr. Kaplan joined UIC in 2011 and teaches a statistics and methods sequence for graduate students from the Department of Political Science and the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. He also advises many graduate students on projects that require statistical analysis and has been part of several master’s and dissertation committees. Dr. Kaplan has consistently created opportunities for his mentees to collaborate on research projects and co-author peer-reviewed publications, so that they can gain practical experience in data analysis, interpretation and writing. He is a proactive advocate for his mentees, leveraging his professional network to create opportunities for internships, collaborations and career advancement. His research interests include public opinion, political communication, campaigns and elections, political participation, representation and quantitative methodology.

Postdoctoral Scholar of the Year

Kanchan Jaswal, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine

Dr. Jaswal studies bacteria and fungi that live in the gut and their role during infection with the human pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. She discovered that the presence of a commensal yeast present in 60% of humans can worsen Salmonella infections. Her research also revealed that one Salmonella effector protein secreted through the T3SS needle, SopB, was sufficient to manipulate Candida metabolism and cause dramatic upregulation of arginine biosynthesis, in turn triggering the upregulation of virulent gene expression in Salmonella. Her abstracts have been selected for oral presentation three times over the past two years and the manuscript outlining her Salmonella findings is in review at Nature.

Champion of Research Support

Branko Bogicevic, Senior Assistant Director for Project Management-Mechanical Engineering, Planning, Sustainability and Project Management, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services

Branko Bogicevic strategically manages UIC’s facilities and physical infrastructure, driving critical upgrades that enable researchers to conduct cutting-edge work. By efficiently managing projects and identifying critical needs, he ensures campus resources remain at peak performance. He spearheaded a large-scale $20 million modernization of the Biological Resources Laboratory that supports approximately 600 research projects. Key upgrades to ventilation and increased animal housing capacity were necessary to expand the lab’s research capabilities and critical for accelerating scientific discovery. He also led the renovation of the Center for Structural Biology, a hub for Research Resources Center cores. Bogicevic is a key partner to OVCR and his work is essential to ensuring research at UIC remains viable and competitive, providing researchers with modern, state-of-the-art facilities and resources.