Research Awards

July 2025  

Dr. Xiaolei Huang, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $500,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project “CAREER: Temporal Learning Towards Trustworthy Decision for Healthcare.”   

Dr. Shawn Pollard, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Materials Sciences, was awarded $326,110 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project “Engineering 2D transition metal dichalcogenide electrodes with tunable band structures for enhanced capacitive performance.”   

Dr. Jani Johnson, associate professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, was awarded $175,744 from the Samsung Research America, Inc. (SRA) for her project “Clinical validation of the Samsung OTC self-fitting hearing aid feature.”   

Dr. Mitch Withers, associate research professor in the Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI) was awarded $168,720 from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for his project “Operation of the CERI Seismic Network 2025-2029.”   

Dr. Emily Puckett, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, was awarded $87,000 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her project “Hair-greying and melanocytic regulation of BCL2 in a non-model organism.”   

Dr. Shahram Pezeshk, chair & Civil Engineering professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, was awarded $85,189 from U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for his project “Referenced Empirical Ground Motion Model for the Coastal Plain Region of the United States.”   

Dr. Richard Bloomer, dean | professor in the College of Health Sciences, was awarded $6,981 from Holistic Health Holdings LLC for his project “IRB for energy product.”   

Dr. Jessica Jennings, associate professor in the College Biomedical Engineering, was awarded $3,003 from Bionova Medical Inc. for her project “BIONOVA.”