MinerAlert
MinerAlert
Honorific awards comprise prestigious recognitions, fellowships, and memberships in national honor societies and national academies that acknowledge the outstanding contributions and achievements of faculty members in their respective fields. These awards can also be internal, conferred by Research & Innovation, recognizing their impact across UTEP’s research enterprise.
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2101 Sun Bowl Drive
500 W University Ave (general address)
El Paso, TX 79968
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Honorific awards are critical for faculty success as they:
The Proposal Development Team is dedicated to supporting faculty members throughout the process of applying for honorific awards. Our services include:
To be effectively prepared for honorific award opportunities, faculty members should:
Dr. James Li
Innovation thrives at the intersection of research and impact, and Dr. James Li exemplifies this alliance. As a professor in the College of Science and the recipient of the 2025 R&I Award for Established Innovator, Dr. Li has made significant contributions through his pioneering work in biotechnology, nanotechnology, and microfluidic lab-on-a-chip bioanalysis. His efforts have led to the development of low-cost detection devices for early cancer detection and rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases, garnering substantial media attention. Dr. Li's vision is clear: “We want to make our devices accessible to everyone because cost should not be a barrier to healthcare,” he says. His approach integrates research, entrepreneurship, medical collaboration, and industry partnerships to ensure life-saving innovations reach those in need, enhancing UTEP's reputation for public interest contributions.
Dr. Yun-Pil Shim
For Dr. Yun-Pil Shim, curiosity is the driving force behind his groundbreaking work in quantum computing. An assistant professor in the College of Science, Dr. Shim's journey into this field began at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was drawn to the elegance of mathematics and its potential to revolutionize technology. Now in his fifth year at UTEP, Dr. Shim has been honored with the R&I Early Career Innovator Award for 2025. Reflecting on this achievement, he says: “This award is a surprise and a great motivation. It validates the importance of theoretical research and encourages me to keep moving forward.” Dr. Shim's dedication to theoretical research is a testament to the importance of academic pursuit in advancing our understanding of the world.
Dr. Skye Fortier
A lifelong fascination with nuclear energy sparked Dr. Skye Fortier’s journey into heavy-metal catalysis. Now an associate professor in the College of Science, Dr. Fortier focuses on assembling complex molecules using heavy metals like uranium to drive chemical reactions and create powerful catalysts. His passion for nuclear energy and its potential applications in chemistry is palpable. “Catalysts are used in many important chemical processes,” Fortier explains. “From the production of plastics to life-saving pharmaceuticals, they make modern chemistry possible. And because uranium is abundant and understudied, there’s a tremendous opportunity to unlock new applications.” At UTEP, Fortier has significantly advanced our understanding of chemistry, secured millions in research funding, and mentored future scientists, earning him the 2025 R&I Outstanding Researcher – Mid-Career Award.
Dr. Maria Duarte-Gardea
Research as a means to improve lives defines Dr. Maria Duarte-Gardea’s career. A professor in the College of Health Sciences, Dr. Duarte-Gardea’s focus is on nutrition and chronic disease prevention, particularly in the Borderplex region. “Diabetes is common across our population,” she reflects. “But through education and intervention, we can improve health outcomes.” Her background as a registered dietitian, combined with her expertise in food chemical engineering and nutrition, exemplifies her commitment to community empowerment. Her work and mentorship have earned her recognition as one of the 2025 R&I Outstanding Researcher – Distinguished Career Award recipients. “This award is not just about me—it’s about the students I’ve mentored, the colleagues I’ve worked alongside, and the communities we’ve served,” she says.
Dr. Josiah Heyman
For Dr. Josiah Heyman, the borderlands represent more than just a geographical region; they are the foundation of his life’s work. As a professor in the College of Liberal Arts and director of the Center for Inter-American and Border Studies, Dr. Heyman’s research is deeply rooted in fieldwork, characterized by long-term engagement with borderland communities. Reflecting on his journey, he notes: “It has given me my career; I have an enormous debt to the people of the borderlands.” His scholarly contributions emphasize the interconnectedness of cultures and communities, a dynamic that continues to shape his research. In recognition of his sustained impact, Dr. Heyman was named one of the recipients of the 2025 R&I Outstanding Researcher – Distinguished Career Award.
Dr. Julien Chaput
Driven by curiosity and a sense of adventure, Dr. Julien Chaput’s geophysical research spans the globe—from Antarctica to New Mexico's super caldera. As an assistant professor in the College of Science, he collaborates with students on seismic research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). One notable project involves imaging the massive caldera in New Mexico to locate magma bodies. “The caldera is so large, you don’t even realize you’re standing in it,” Chaput explains. His innovative research and dedication to student success have earned him the 2025 R&I Rising Researcher Award in STEM: Physical Science & Engineering.
Dr. Michael Harvey
Exploring biodiversity through the lens of avian science, Dr. Michael Harvey uncovers insights into environmental health. As an assistant professor in the College of Science, Dr. Harvey combines natural history collections, cutting-edge DNA sequencing technologies, and advanced computational tools for big data analysis. His research primarily focuses on bird diversity. “We study birds because they’re a great litmus test,” Dr. Harvey explains. “They’re a great indicator of what’s going on with the health of the environment.” In recognition of his early-career achievements and his potential for continued excellence in research, scholarship, and creative activity, Dr. Harvey was honored with the 2025 R&I Rising Research Award in STEM: Life Science & Engineering.
Dr. Adriana Dominguez
The transformative power of theater shapes Dr. Adriana Dominguez’s approach to scholarship and community engagement. An assistant professor in the College of Liberal Arts, Dr. Dominguez first discovered theater’s ability to “reinforce that magic that you can’t explain” at a young age. This passion led her to pursue a doctorate and return to UTEP, where she has become a prominent community-engaged theatre-maker. Reflecting on her role, Dr. Dominguez emphasizes the interconnectedness of artistic practice and scholarly impact, highlighting her significant contributions to the community. In recognition of her early career achievements and potential for continued advancement, she was honored with the 2025 R&I Rising Researcher Award in Arts, Humanities, and Education.
Dr. Yong Qin
Blending innovation with compassion, Dr. Yong Qin’s research aims to enhance cancer patient outcomes through therapeutic development and translational science. An assistant professor in the School of Pharmacy at UTEP, Dr. Qin’s work addresses cancer disparities while integrating cutting-edge science with a commitment to community health. Reflecting on his journey, he shares: “If you do cancer research, you will always have a miracle.” Inspired by his mentor, Dr. Laurence Hurley, Dr. Qin pursued a career dedicated to advancing patient care and influencing clinical practice. His forward-thinking approach earned him the R&I Rising Researcher – UTEP Health Award, recognizing his potential for sustained impact in the field.
| Award | Name | Title/College |
|---|---|---|
| Outstanding Researcher - Distinguished Career Award | Jorge Gardea-Torresdey Ph.D. | Professor - Science |
| Outstanding Researcher - Mid-Career Award | Marianne Karplus Ph.D. | Associate Professor -Science |
| Innovation Award - Established Innovator | Raymond Rumpf Ph.D. | Professor - Engineering |
| Innovation Award - Early Career Innovator | Laura V. Alvarez Ph.D. | Assistant Professor - Science |
| Rising Researcher Award - STEM Physical Science & Engineering | Robert C. Roberts Ph.D. | Assistant Professor - Engineering |
| Rising Researcher Award - STEM Life Science & Engineering | Alexander Friedman Ph.D. | Assistant Professor - Science |
| Rising Researcher Award - Social Science, Arts, Culture & Society | Melissa Melpignano Ph.D. | Assistant Professor - Liberal Arts |
| Award PI Name | Award Title |
|---|---|
| Alvarez Rueda, Laura V | UNDERSTANDING THE PHYSICS OF TURBULENT FLOW, EROSION AND DEPOSITIONAL PATTERNS IN RIVER SYSTEMS |
| Friedman, Alexander | EXTENDING INTERDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION IN EXPERIMENTAL AND COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE BY DEFINING THE MECHANISTIC ROLE OF STRIOSOMAL MICROCIRCUITS IN DECISION-MAKING |
| Tosh, Deepak Kumar | CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENCY THROUGH ROBUST PROVENANCE AND INFORMATION SHARING |
| Award PI Name | Award Title |
|---|---|
| Macchiarella, Lindsey | EARLY MUSIC LATIN AMERICA PROJECT |
| Award PI Name | Award Title |
|---|---|
| Martinez, Ignacio | TALES FROM THE CHIHUAHUAN DESERT: BORDERLANDS NARRATIVES ABOUT IDENTITY AND BINATIONALISM |
| PI Name | Role | Section | Award |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alejandra Castellanos | PI | Engineering | ELUCIDATING THE CARBON NANOTUBES MORPHOLOGICAL PARAMETERS EFFECT ON CRACK MITIGATION FOR BONDED UNITIZED AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES |
| Alexander Friedman | PI | Science | EXTENDING INTERDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION IN EXPERIMENTAL AND COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE BY DEFINING THE MECHANISTIC ROLE OF STRIOSOMAL MICROCIRCUITS IN DECISION-MAKING |
| Anass Bouchnita | PI | Science | PREDICTING SEASONAL INFLUENZA HOSPITALIZATIONS USING SEMI-MECHANISTIC MODELS |
| Brandon Merritt | PI | Health Sciences | AN INTERDISCIPLINARY HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAM TO ADDRESS TRANSGENDER HEALTH INEQUITY IN AN UNDERSERVED, PREDOMINANTLY LATINX COMMUNITY |
| Caitlyn Muniz | PI | Liberal Arts | RESEARCHING CASES OF CHILDREN WITH PROBLEMATIC SEXUAL BEHAVIOR |
| Cesar Tirado | PI | Engineering | DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT OF TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PLAN |
| Cristina Dominguez De Quezada | PI | LIFE EXPERIENCES OF LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES LIVING IN THE US-MEXICO BORDER | |
| David Huber | PI | Science | MECHANISMS OF FIRE-INDUCED CARBONATE FORMATION IN A COLD DESERT ECOSYSTEM |
| Deepanwita Dasgupta | PI | Liberal Arts | FELLOWSHIP FROM THE CENTER FOR PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE |
| Eda Koculi | PI | Science | STUDIES OF RIBOSOME BIOGENESIS |
| Gabriel Frietze | PI | Collaborative Awards Across Colleges,Science,School of Pharmacy | INVESTIGATING LANGUAGE AS A BARRIER TO RAPID TESTING IN UNDERSERVED SPANISH SPEAKING HISPANIC POPULATIONS |
| Guy C Kamdem Djoko | PI | Science | MONITORING THE DEVELOPMENT OF RESISTANCE TO THE NOVEL INSECTICIDE CLOTHIANIDIN IN ANOPHELES GAMBIAE |
| Hyunjung Cheon | PI | Liberal Arts | YOUTH RESILIENCE TO CRIME AND VIOLENCE IN THE CARIBBEAN |
| Jay Chapman | PI | Science | INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL DRIVERS OF OROGENIC EPISODICITY IN THE ECUADORIAN ANDES |
| John J Bird | PI | Engineering | RAPID GEOLOCATION OF RADIO FREQUENCY EMITTERS WITH MACHINE-LEARNING |
| Jonathon Mohl | PI | Science | BACTERIAL METAL SULFIDE METABOLISM |
| Jose Hernandez-Viezcas | PI | Science | NANOSCALE MANGANESE AND IRON MICRONUTRIENTS TO INCREASE PHOTOSYNTHESIS, CROP YIELD AND ABIOTIC STRESS TOLERANCE |
| Laura Alvarez | PI | Science | UNDERSTANDING THE PHYSICS OF TURBULENT FLOW, EROSION AND DEPOSITIONAL PATTERNS IN RIVER SYSTEMS |
| Lindsey Macchiarella | PI | Liberal Arts | EARLY MUSIC LATIN AMERICA PROJECT |
| Md N Islam | PI | Engineering,Collaborative Awards Across Colleges,Other Campus Units | CAPABILITIES DEVELOPMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO FOR HYDROGEN GENERATION RESEARCH AND EDUCATION |
| Mohammad Iqbal Bhuiyan | PI | School of Pharmacy | R01: ASTROCYTIC CASCADE IN WHITE MATTER ASTROGLIOSIS AND INJURY |
| Olga Lauter | PI | Liberal Arts | IMPROVING CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN THE ARCTIC RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS WITH THE CO-PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE FRAMEWORK |
| Palvi Aggarwal | PI | Engineering | AN AI-DRIVEN COUNSELING SYSTEM FOR UNDER-REPRESENTED TRANSFER STUDENTS |
| Rebecca Reid | PI | Liberal Arts | A SYSTEMATIC EXAMINATION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES BEFORE UNITED STATES COURTS |
| Ritwik Bhattacharya | PI | Science | PREDICTION ISSUES IN PROGRESSIVELY CENSORED LIFE-TESTING EXPERIMENTS |
| Saeid Tizpaz Niari | PI | Engineering | DETECTING AND LOCALIZING NON-FUNCTIONAL VULNERABILITIES IN MACHINE LEARNING LIBRARIES |
| Sandra P Lopez Ramirez | PI | Liberal Arts | EXPERIENCING THE BOSQUE |
| Sergio Luna Fong | PI | Engineering | MODEL BASED SYSTEMS ENGINEERING CURRICULUM INTEGRATION |
| Soyeon Lee | PI | Liberal Arts | ASIAN/AMERICAN RHETORIC AFTER THE ATLANTA SHOOTINGS: PUBLIC MEMORY, STORYTELLING, AND TECHNOLOGIES |
| Sylvia Natividad-Diaz | PI | Engineering | 3D IN VITRO HUMAN STEM CELL-DERIVED CARDIOVASCULAR TISSUE MODEL AND MICROFLUIDIC PLATFORM FOR TARGETED PRECLINICAL DRUG SCREENING |
| Todd Curry | PI | Liberal Arts | INDIGENOUS POLITICS |
| Vanesa Mueller | PI | Health Sciences | MOBILE HEARING SCREENING KIT |
| Xiaojin Sun | PI | Business Administration | CENTER FOR RISK-BASED COMMUNITY RESILIENCE PLANNING |
| PI Name | Role | Section | Award Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Velasco | PI | Science | COMMUNITY-DRIVEN INCLUSIVE EXCELLENCE AND LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES IN THE GEOSCIENCES (CIELO-G) |
| Marianne Karplus | Co-PI | Science | |
| Hugo Gutierrez-Jurado | Co-PI | Science | |
| Benjamin Brunner | Co-PI | Science | |
| Lin Ma | Co-PI | Science | |
| Ahsan Choudhuri | PI | Engineering,Collaborative Awards Across Colleges,Other Campus Units | AEROSPACE AND DEFENSE INNOVATION NETWORK FOR MANUFACTURERS |
| Ryan Wicker | Co-PI | Engineering,Collaborative Awards Across Colleges,Other Campus Units | |
| Miguel Velez-Reyes | PI | Engineering | CONSORTIUM FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN ELECTRONICS FOR EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS |
| Robert Roberts | Co-PI | Engineering | |
| David Zubia | Co-PI | Engineering | |
| Brian Schuster | Co-PI | Engineering | |
| Raymond Rumpf | Co-PI | Engineering | |
| John Wiebe | PI | Engineering,Health Sciences,Collaborative Awards Across Colleges,Liberal Arts,Other Campus Units,Science | FACULTY INSTITUTIONAL RECRUITMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSFORMATION |
| Ann Gates | Co-PI | Engineering,Health Sciences,Collaborative Awards Across Colleges,Liberal Arts,Other Campus Units,Science | |
| Michael Kenney | Co-PI | Engineering,Health Sciences,Collaborative Awards Across Colleges,Liberal Arts,Other Campus Units,Science | |
| Laura O'Dell | Co-PI | Engineering,Health Sciences,Collaborative Awards Across Colleges,Liberal Arts,Other Campus Units,Science | |
| Thenral Mangadu | Co-PI | Engineering,Health Sciences,Collaborative Awards Across Colleges,Liberal Arts,Other Campus Units,Science | |
| Guadalupe Corral | Co-PI | Engineering,Health Sciences,Collaborative Awards Across Colleges,Liberal Arts,Other Campus Units,Science | |
| Ahsan Choudhuri | PI | Engineering | DIGITAL ENGINEERING AEROSPACE AND DEFENSE SYSTEMS DESIGN CENTER AT EL PASO, AT YOUNGSTOWN, AND AT HUNTSVILLE |
| Md Mahamudur Rahman | Co-PI | Engineering | |
| Joel Quintana | Co-PI | Engineering | |
| Miguel Velez-Reyes | PI | Engineering | THE SCIENCE OF NON-RESOLVED SPACE OBJECT SIGNATURES FOR SPACE DOMAIN AWARENESS |
| Hector Erives-Contreras | Co-PI | Engineering | |
| Aryzbe Najera | Co-PI | Engineering | |
| Anne-Marie Nunez | PI | Collaborative Awards Across Colleges,Other Campus Units,Science | HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION NETWORK OPPORTUNITIES TO DEVELOP EQUITY |
| Azuri Gonzalez | Co-PI | Collaborative Awards Across Colleges,Other Campus Units,Science | |
| Amy Wagler | Co-PI | Collaborative Awards Across Colleges,Other Campus Units,Science | |
| Name | Title/College |
|---|---|
| Michael J. Kenney Ph.D. | Professor - Science |
| Craig E. Tweedie Ph.D. | Professor - Science |
| Thenral Mangadu Ph.D. | Professor - Health Sciences |
| Renato Aguilera Ph.D. | Professor - Science |
| Ryan B. Wicker Ph.D. | Professor - Engineering |
| Benjamin C. Flores Ph.D. | Professor - Engineering |
| Juliette Caire MA | Director - GEAR UP |
| Ahsan Chouduri Ph.D. | Professor - Engineering |
| Ann Q. Gates Ph.D. | Professor - Engineering |