The University of New Orleans awarded more than $270,000 in research grants and awards to faculty members and undergraduate students Wednesday during its annual Achievements in Research, Creativity and Scholarship awards ceremony.

The awards presentation, hosted by the Office of Research, was broadcast on YouTube. The ceremony underscores the power of research and the opportunities that exist for UNO scholars at all levels and in all areas.

Representatives from the University of New Orleans Research Council, which reviews nominees, presented the following prizes:

Faculty Creativity, Research & Scholarship Awards
The Faculty Creativity, Research and Scholarship Awards are the most prestigious awards bestowed by the Office of Research. They are presented to innovative faculty members who have distinguished themselves in their fields and at the University of New Orleans.

Winners receive a one-year fixed price award of $10,000 for career awards and $7,500 for early-career awards.

President John Nicklow announced the following 2022 winners of the Creativity, Research and Scholarship awards:

Research
•    Mahdi Abdelguerfi, computer science
Creativity and Scholarship:
•    M.O. Walsh, English
Early-Career Creativity, Research & Scholarship Award
•    Viktor Poltavets, chemistry

Undergraduate Mentor Awards
The Undergraduate Mentor Award is a new offering this year that recognizes those who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to mentoring undergraduate students.

Nominations were submitted by students and reviewed by the Undergraduate Research & Creativity Council. The Undergraduate Mentor Award comes with a one-year fixed price award of $2,500.

The 2022 recipients are:
•    Kalo Gow, Film & Theatre
•    Ting Wang, Mechanical Engineering

Creative Endeavor Opportunity (CEO): The goal of the Creative Endeavor Opportunity program is to provide support for faculty members launching programs of research, scholarship, exhibition or performance that will ultimately result in increased research and creative activity on campus. Proposal budgets are capped at $10,000.

The 2022 recipients are:
•    Anna Mecugni, fine arts
•    Dan Rule, fine arts
•    David Rutledge, English

Stimulating Competitive Research (SCoRe): the goal is to equip principal investigators with seed money to apply for external grant opportunities. Winners are required to make a proposal to an outside agency. The budget cap is $15,000.

The 2022 recipients are:
•    Charles Bell, biological sciences
•    Han Chen, hotel, restaurant and tourism administration
•    Tara Tolford, UNO Transportation Institute
•    Mark Trudell, chemistry

Interdisciplinary Grant Development (IGD): the program requires participation from two or more colleges or departments. The aim of the program is to stimulate fundable, interdisciplinary research across substantially distinct disciplines. Winners are required to make a proposal to an outside agency. The maximum funding for this program is $17,500 per investigator with up to three investigators allowed per project.

The 2022 recipients are:
•    Steven Rick, chemistry and Christopher Summa, computer science
•    Brandon Taravella, naval architecture and marine engineering, and Traci Erin Cox, biological sciences

Innovation Challenge:The Innovation Challenge program is new this year. It funds environmental sustainability projects on UNO’s campus. The program requires participation from a faculty mentor and a team of students from two or more colleges. Proposals must have a budget cap of $10,000.

The 2022 recipient is:
• Chris Belser, educational leadership, counseling and foundations

Tolmas Scholars
UNO offers two flagship programs that introduce undergraduate students to research opportunities: the Privateer Undergraduate Research & Scholarly UNO Experience (PURSUE) and the College of Sciences Undergraduate Research Program (CoSURP).

Through these programs, undergraduates are awarded student worker positions with UNO faculty members. As these programs are generously funded in part by the Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust, undergraduate students who receive these positions are known as “Tolmas Scholars.”

To view the list of 2022 Tolmas Scholars and their mentors, visit the Tolmas Scholars website.