Research Awards
CELEBRATION OF RESEARCH EXCELLENCE
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University faculty and students engage in transformative interdisciplinary research and scholarship through collaborative partnerships among academic units, with other universities, and with corporate and government researchers. Aggie researchers are creating new knowledge, spurring economic activity, and improving the quality of life for our community and the world.
Each spring, N.C. A&T celebrates the outstanding accomplishments and efforts of these innovators, mentors and dynamic leaders with a dinner awards program, the Celebration of Faculty Excellence, honoring Research, Advising, Teaching, and Community Engagement.
The Nomination Period for the 2024 N.C. A&T Research Excellence Awards IS NOW OPEN January 10, 2024 to 5 pm on February 26.
Active research faculty or non-teaching research scientists nominate themselves directly to the Division of Research and Economic Development. All applications must be submitted as a single PDF file via Competition Space.
NEW Application guidelines and information can be found here in the 2024 Nomination Packet.
AWARD CATEGORIESNorth Carolina A&T's most outstanding researchers are recognized each spring semester with the Research Excellence Awards. There are five categories:
- Senior Researcher of the Year: Recognizing outstanding research and/or creative activity by tenured faculty members who have been at the university at least five years.
- Outstanding Junior Researcher of the Year: Honoring tenure-track faculty members between their 3rd and 7th year of service at A&T and who are currently involved in research and show promise of making a significant contribution to their field.
- Rookie of the Year: Recognizing the work of a tenure-track faculty member or non-teaching research scientist in his or her second year of service at N.C. A&T.
- Intellectual Property Award: Recognizing researchers’ work to disseminate, commercialize or publish intellectual property created in the course of their research or creative activity during the previous calendar year.
- Interdisciplinary Team Award: Honoring research projects that break down the traditional boundaries of academic disciplines, comprising team members from different academic departments.
Rookie of the Year Award: John Ng’ombe, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Agribusiness, Applied Economics and Agriscience Education, CAES.
Outstanding Young Investigator: Renzun Zhao, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Civil Architecture and Environmental Engineering, COE.
Senior Researcher Award: Joseph Graves Jr., Ph.D., professor, Department of Biology, CoST.
Intellectual Property Award: Shanthi Iyer, Ph.D., professor, Department of Nanoengineering, JSNN.
Interdisciplinary Team Award: Dhananjay Kumar, Ph.D., professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, COE.
Rookie of the Year Award: Dr. Michael Andre Hamilton, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, COE
Outstanding Young Investigator: Dr. Hyoshin Park, Department of Computational Data Science and Engineering, COE
Senior Researcher Award: Dr. Lifeng Zhang, Department of Nanoenginering, JSNN
Intellectual Property Award: Dr. Hyoshin Park, Department of Computational Data Science and Engineering, COE
Interdisciplinary Team Award: Dr. Ali Karimoddini, Dr. Leila Hashemi-Beni, and Dr. Abolghasem Shahbazi
Senior Researcher of the Year: Dr. Salam Ibrahim, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Outstanding Young Investigator: Dr. Bishnu Bastakoti, College of Science and Technology
Rookie of the Year: Dr. Reza Zadegan, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering
Intellectual Property Award: Dr. Hyoshin Park, College of Engineering
Interdisciplinary Team Award: Sustainable Materials Research Team; Lifeng Zhang, Ajit Kelkar, Abolghasem Shahbazi, and Lijun Wang
Interdisciplinary Team Award: Food-Energy-Water Team; Manoj Jha, Chyi Lyi "Kathleen" Liang, Lyubov Kurkalova, Leila Hashemi Beni, Greg Monty and Timothy Mulrooney (of N.C. Central University)
Senior Researcher of the Year: Dr. Salil Desai, College of Engineering
Outstanding Young Investigator: Dr. Dongyang “Sunny” Deng, College of Science and Technology.
Rookie of the Year: Dr. Arnab Bhowmik, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Intellectual Property Award: Dr. Lifeng Zhang, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering
Interdisciplinary Team Award: Autonomous Robotic Non-Destructive Investigation (ARNDI) team, College of Engineering
Senior Researcher of the Year: Dr. Manoj Jha, College of Engineering
Outstanding Young Investigator: Dr. Andrea Ofori-Boadu, College of Science and Technology
Rookie of the Year: Dr. Uchenna Anele, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
Intellectual Property Award: Dr. Guochen Yang, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
Interdisciplinary Team Award: The TECHLAV Center, College of Engineering
Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kim Smith, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Senior Researcher of the Year: Dr. Shengmin Sang. College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
Outstanding Young Investigator: Dr. Lifeng Zhang, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering
Rookie of the Year: Dr. Hyung Nam Kim, College of Engineering
Intellectual Property Award: Sr. Sung-Jin Cho, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering
Interdisciplinary Team Award: BEACON, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering
Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jenora Waterman, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
Senior Researcher of the Year: Dr. Solomon Bililign, College of Science and Technology
Outstanding Young Investigator: Dr. Mahour Mellat-Parast, College of Science and Technology
Rookie of the Year: Dr. Andrea Ofori-Boadu, College of Science and Technology
Intellectual Property Award: Dr. Shengmin Sang, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
Interdisciplinary Team Award: NC-MS PIRT: College of Engineering/Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering
Senior Researcher of the Year: Dr. Lijun Wang, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
Outstanding Young Investigator: Dr. Robert Newman, College of Science and Technology
Rookie of the Year: Dr. Sung-Jin Cho, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering
Intellectual Property Award: Dr. Ajit Kelkar and Dr. Lifeng Zhang, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering
