Researcher Recognition Program

Discretionary funding for multi-million dollar awards

Awardees of Researcher Recognition Program

In January 2023, the Office of Research launched the Researcher Recognition Program to award $50,000 in discretionary funds to Principal Investigators of new, multi-year research awards.

Each month, the Office of Research recognizes Purdue research faculty receiving this award. Purdue researchers receiving discretionary funding awards since the launch of this new program are:

FY 2025

Libai Huang, Chemistry, $12.7 million (U.S. Dept. of Energy), “Quantum Photonic Integrated Design Center (QuPIDC)”
Michelle Thompson, Planetary Science, $5.22 million, (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). “Purdue Resources Empowering Coordinated Investigations for Sample Exploration (PRECISE)”
Daniel Aliaga, Computer Science, $5.0 million, (National Science Foundation), “Frameworks: Cyberinfrastructure for Urban Tree Resilience and Environmental Equity (uTREE)”
Virginia Bolshakova, Curriculum and Instruction, $33.0 million (US Department of Education “Purdue University – GEAR UP State Grant – Indiana”)
Ajay Malshe, Mechanical Engineering, $5.9 million (Texas A&M – Air Force Research Laboratory, “Space Strategic Technical Institute for In Space Operations”)
Haley Oliver, Food Science, $20 million (Agency for International Development, “Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety”)
Dimitrios Peroulis, Purdue Online Administration, $9.2 million (Department of the Navy, “USNTPS Academic Curriculum Support Services”)
Kaushik Roy, Electrical and Computer Engineering, $26.0 million (Applied Research Institute- Natnl Security Tech Accelerator, “CHEETA: CMOS+MRAM Hardware for Energy-EfficienT AI”)
Tyamo Okosun, CIVS – Purdue Northwest, $7.2 million (Doe-Er-conservation & Renewable Energy, “Technical Development and Industrial Demonstration of Net-Zero Carbon EAF Steelmak”)

FY 2024

Kerrie Douglas, College of Engineering, $7.5 million (Applied Research Institute, U.S. Dept. of Defense, “Silicon Crossroads Workforce Development”)
Dongyan Xu, CERIAS, $6.5 million (Air Force Research Lab, “FIREFLY: A Cyber-Physical Framework for Scalable CPS Modeling and Simulation”)
Andrew Otte, College of Engineering, $9.85 million (NIH, National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Long acting biodegradable buprenorphine depots”)
Songlin Fei, College of Agriculture, $8.96 million (American Forest Foundation/Natural Resources Conservation Service, “Engaging Family Forests to Improve Climate-Smart Commodities (EFFICACI)”)
Zhihong Chen, Birck Nanotechnology, $6.3 million (Applied Research Institute, “ME Commons Capital”)

FY 2023

Peter Bermel, Birck Nanotechnology, $5.0 million (U.S. Department of Treasury/IN Economic Development Corporation/Greater Lafayette Commerce, “Semiconductors Workforce Development Project, Purdue Ivy Tech Partnership”)
Songlin Fei, College of Agriculture, $10.0 million (National Inst of Food & Agriculture Award for the Project entitled “Promoting Economic Resilience and Sustainability of the Eastern US Forests (PERSEUS)”)
Jen-Yi Huang, Food Science, $10.0 million (National Inst of Food & Agriculture Award for the Project entitled “When Blue is Green: Sustainable Blue Food Systems Driven by Integrated Aquaponics”)
Anand Raghunathan, Electrical and Computer Engineering, $5.5 million (DARPA/DSO, SRC, Georgia Tech Award for the Project entitled “COCOSYS: Center for the Co-Design of Cognitive Systems”)
Pavlos Vlachos, Central EVPR Support, $6.2 million (Eli Lilly and Company, “Strategic Partnership 2023”)
Pavlos Vlachos/Yoon Yeo/Luis Solario, Central EVPR Support, $11.4 million (Eli Lilly and Company, “Eli Lilly Genetic Medicine 2023-24 Intrathecal”)
George Wodicka, Bindley Biosciences, $6.8 million (NIH-National Advancing Translational/Indiana University, “Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute”)

Program Summary

The Researcher Recognition Program awards $50,000 in discretionary funds to the Principal Investigators of new, multi-year, research awards.

The qualifying criteria for these awards are as follows (updated Dec, 2024):

Winning awards be one of:
- A single grant equaling at least $5 million*
- A combination of two grants equaling at least $8 million*
- A combination of three grants equaling at least $10 million*.
* directly supporting expenditures spent at Purdue including direct and indirect costs, but excluding sub-awards
The award must have a start date after January 1, 2023

Awardees will be identified on a monthly basis by Sponsored Program Services.

The criteria for the discretionary allocation are as follows:

The allocation will be a one-time allocation of $50,000
The allocation will be put into one account for the Principal Investigators’ use at their discretion
The allocation will be awarded once the notice of award is received, and the award is established in the Purdue system
The allocation will be available to the Principal Investigator for a period of two years