2022-2023 UIC Research and Scholarship Annual Award Competition
Winners of the 2022 Researcher and Scholar of the Year Awards! Heading link
We are delighted to announce the recipients of the 2022 Researcher and Scholar of the Year Awards!
Last fall, nominations were solicited to honor a Distinguished Researcher/Scholar and Rising Star in each of five categories. After careful review of the candidates’ contributions and achievements, the following individuals were selected for awards. OVCR proudly recognizes the accomplishments of these faculty and wishes them continued success in their endeavors! Congratulations!
Clinical Sciences
Rising Star
Zackery Bulman, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy
Asfar Naqvi, Department of Periodontics, College of Dentistry and Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, College of Medicine
Distinguished Researcher
Krista Varady, Professor, Department of Kinesiology & Nutrition, College of Applied Health Sciences
Basic Life Sciences
Rising Star
Yu (Tom) Gao, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy
Distinguished Researcher
Yulia Komarova, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Regenerative Medicine, College of Medicine
Natural Sciences and Engineering
Rising Star
Yayue Pan, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ian Tobasco, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Distinguished Researcher
Eben Alsberg, Richard and Loan Hill Chair, Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering, Colleges of Engineering and Medicine
Social Sciences
Rising Star
Jennifer A. Jones, Associate Professor, Departments of Sociology and Latin American & Latino Studies, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Distinguished Researcher
Alexandra Filindra, Departments of Political Science and Psychology, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Humanities, Arts, Design, and Architecture
Rising Star
Ronak K. Kapadia, Associate Professor, Department of Gender & Women’s Studies, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Distinguished Scholar
Mark Canuel, Professor, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Overview of the competition Heading link
The Research and Scholarship Annual Award competition celebrates the efforts and commitment of individuals who are making exceptional progress advancing knowledge in their areas of research and scholarship. These individuals inspire and promote continued excellence at UIC.
One Distinguished Researcher and one Rising Star Awardee will be selected from each of the following categories:
- Basic Life Sciences
- Clinical Sciences
- Natural Sciences & Engineering
- Social Sciences
One Distinguished Scholar and one Rising Star Awardee will be selected from the following category:
- Humanities, Arts, Design, & Architecture
The Distinguished Awards will be given to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their fields, whereas the Rising Star Awards will be bestowed on individuals who show exceptional promise to become future leaders. Awardees will be recognized at a ceremony in spring.
Note: The nomination must be submitted through the OVCR online portal.
Award Information Heading link
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Important Dates
- Nominations: January 9, 2023, 11:59 PM Central Time
- Letters of support: January 23, 2023, 11:59 PM Central Time
- Awards announced: March, 2023
- Award celebration: April, 2023
Eligibility
Nominee eligibility
- All faculty (i.e. tenured, tenure-track, research-track, clinical-track, including research assistant professors) with a full-time appointment at UIC may be nominated for any category of award pending additional criteria below.
- All UIC nominees must have been at UIC for at least the past 3 consecutive years as of the nomination deadline date.
- In exceptional cases, two investigators from the same college may be co-nominated and will each be evaluated for the appropriate award (Rising Star or Distinguished Researcher/Scholar) based on career stage.
Nominator eligibility
Nominations can be submitted by anyone from the UIC community who is knowledgeable about a successful UIC researcher/scholar. Although self-nominations are accepted, reviewers tend to view these as less compelling than those submitted by an enthusiastic colleague.
Awards
One Distinguished Researcher and one Rising Star Awardee will be selected from each of the following categories:
- Basic Life Sciences
- Clinical Sciences
- Natural Sciences & Engineering
- Social Sciences
One Distinguished Scholar and one Rising Star Awardee will be selected from the following category:
- Humanities, Arts, Design, & Architecture
The Distinguished Awards will be given to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their fields, whereas the Rising Star Awards will be bestowed on individuals who show exceptional promise to become future leaders. Awardees will be recognized at a ceremony in spring.
Rising Star nominees must be within 12 years of their terminal degree (no earlier than 2010), with at least the last 3 years at UIC.
Note: eligibility for Rising Star has previously been 10 years from terminal degree. This year the eligibility is extended to 12 years to compensate for the 2-year COVID hiatus in the program.
Distinguished Researcher/Scholar nominees will be evaluated on their full body of work, with emphasis placed on significant contributions made over the past 3 years.
Nomination Process
All documents will be uploaded in the nomination portal. Nominators will be asked to submit the names and contact information for two references who will be asked to provide 2-page letters of support. Research Development will handle these requests, but we strongly encourage nominators to confirm that references are willing to provide letters by the January 16, 2023 deadline.
Application checklist:
- Cover form — enter information directly in the nomination portal
- Narrative statement (2 pages) — upload document in nomination portal
- Nominee’s CV (5 pages) — upload document in nomination portal
- Letter of support 1 (2 pages) — provide writer’s contact info in nomination portal
- Letter of support 2 (2 pages) — provide writer’s contact info in nomination portal
- Optional supporting materials (5 pages) — upload document in nomination portal
- Submit a nomination letter, nominee’s CV, optional other supporting documents, and names of two references for letters of support by January 9, 2023
- Letters of support (internal or external to UIC) due by January 23, 2023
Apply here.
Application Information Heading link
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Proposal Guidelines
Nominations can be submitted by anyone from the UIC community who is knowledgeable about a successful UIC researcher/scholar. Although self-nominations are accepted, reviewers tend to view these as less compelling than those submitted by an enthusiastic colleague.
Nomination Content
Applicants must provide the information below:
- Narrative Statement – This document should be 2 pages in length, single-spaced, 12-point font, with 1-inch margins
- Nominations will be reviewed by multidisciplinary panels, therefore, care should be taken to explain achievements in ways that can be appreciated by non-specialists in the field. For example, consider providing context for the individual’s publication record, such as the typical number of publications for the given career stage, the prestige of the journals, conventions for authorship in the individual’s (sub)field, etc. Make clear how the individual’s work compares to what is typical for someone in his/her (sub)field and career stage.
- For Distinguished awards, nominators should describe the impact of the individual’s work over his/her career, with a focus on one or two accomplishments and major breakthroughs achieved within the past three years. Nominators may also describe how these research accomplishments have contributed to the research excellence at UIC.
- For Rising Star awards, nominators should describe the impact of the individual’s work so far, with a focus on potential to become a leader in his/her field in the relatively near future. Nominators may also describe the potential impact on research excellence at UIC.
- Nominee’s curriculum vitae or resume. Items to include as appropriate to the nominee’s field of research:
- For Rising Star nominees, date of PhD or other terminal degree;
- Include the dates and type of appointment for all listed institutions;
- List of completed, current and pending extramural research/scholarly support with a 1- 2 sentence description – including total project cost – of each project and the nominee’s role in the project (i.e. principal investigator, co-principal investigator);
- Presentation of research/scholarship in professional settings such as a conference speaker/lecturer (please indicate keynote, plenary, or invited) or installation/exhibit;
- List of relevant publications (within the past 10 years);
- List of outreach and engaged/public scholarship.Note: The resume/CV may not exceed 5 pages.
- Two letters of support from individuals other than the nominator who are familiar with the nominee’s research/scholarship and who have expertise necessary for judging the nominee’s contributions. Writers should note their relationship to the nominee.
- Nominators will be asked to submit names and contact information for two references. Research Development will contact the references with submission instructions for their letters. They will have two weeks after the nomination deadline to submit letters. NOTE: if the nomination is submitted before the January 9 deadline, the writers will have more time to submit letters.
- Letters can be either internal or external to UIC; however, reviewers tend to place higher value on external letters, especially for Distinguished Researcher nominees.
- Although letters may come from former or current collaborators, reviewers expect letters from impartial leaders in the field who have not collaborated with the nominee – this is especially true for Distinguished Researcher nominees.
- Each letter of support should be no more than 2 pages in length, single-spaced, 12-point font, with 1-inch margins.
- OPTIONAL – No more than 5 pages of other materials supporting the candidate’s achievements, e.g., press clippings, award announcements, or news items. Please collate and upload as a single PDF file.
Nominations will be accepted through January 9, 2023 at 11:59 pm Central time.
Letters of support will be accepted through January 23, 2023 at 11:59 pm Central time.
Submit your nomination here.
- Narrative Statement – This document should be 2 pages in length, single-spaced, 12-point font, with 1-inch margins
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Review process
UIC faculty members will review nominations for all categories and make award recommendations to the Vice Chancellor for Research based on the following selection criteria:
Extent to which nominee’s recent research/scholarship charts (or has the potential to chart) significant advances to the field (i.e. new innovation, discovery, or methodology)
Extent to which nominee’s recent research/scholarship has been recognized by
- Colleagues in national and/or international venues such as professional conferences or symposia (i.e. presented, cited, or invited to keynote), installations or exhibits and/or
- Extramurally funded research support
- Publications in peer reviewed journals
- Outreach and engaged/public scholarship
Extent to which nominee’s recent scholarship has contributed (or has the potential to contribute) to applications beyond research journals and academia (such as impact to society directly).
Extent to which letters of support reflect a significant impact of the nominee’s research contributions in the respective field(s) of research.
Pending review of nominations, the VCR reserves the right to not make an award in any given category.
Awards Celebration Heading link
The Vice Chancellor for Research cordially invites all Distinguished Researchers and Scholars and Rising Star Awardees to attend a celebration in their honor at the Field Museum of Natural History.
Date and details forthcoming.
FAculty awards Heading link
