Researchers honored for funding, research successes
Researchers from across UNC Charlotte who led research projects with $1 million or more in external funding in 2024 were honored Wednesday, March 27, at a celebration that also included the presentation of the 2025 First Citizens Bank Scholars Medal.
Chancellor Sharon L. Gaber, recognizing the research honorees, noted their instrumental role in the University’s move to top-tier research university status.
“Your success is a testament to the strength of our research enterprise and a key driver of UNC Charlotte’s upward trajectory,” Gaber said. “Just yesterday, we celebrated a historic milestone, achieving R1 research status. This is a defining moment in our University’s journey. Your research is helping to power the future — not just for UNC Charlotte, but for the entire Charlotte region and the state of North Carolina. It is driving innovation, enriching our students’ experiences and making a meaningful impact on the world around us.”
At the celebration, Franz W. Kellermanns was honored as the 2025 recipient of the First Citizens Bank Scholars Medal, which recognizes outstanding scholarship, creativity and research among the University’s senior full-time faculty members.
“Dr. Kellermanns’ research expertise includes international business strategy and entrepreneurship, with a real focus on family business,” Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Jennifer Troyer said. “He joined the Belk College in 2013 and has built an impressive research portfolio with over 28,800 citations. His most influential publication has been cited more than 1,500 times.”
The 46 principal investigators who were honored as part of the Million Dollar Research Circle had a total of $114 million in funding in 2024, or 40% of the University’s $278 million active research portfolio.
“Certainly $1 million is a significant amount of money,” said Vice Chancellor for Research John Daniels. “Really though, it’s so much more than the dollars. It’s what those dollars are going toward.” Daniels noted the hard work that goes into obtaining funding for research and how administrators, academic leaders, Board of Trustees members and others across Charlotte and the community are cheering on the researchers in their work.
Troyer commended the honorees for their dedication to delivering on the promise of their research. “You are all doing that alongside your teaching, your work with students, your mentoring, your service commitments to our campus and your disciplines and beyond,” she said. “Balancing those faculty responsibilities is challenging, but it also provides meaning to us and the creation of new knowledge which also inspires our students to learn and go on to do the same.”
The Cato College of Education with $48 million and the Klein College of Science with $24 million were recognized for the largest cumulative amounts of research funding among the colleges. The three academic departments with the largest cumulative amounts were special education and child development, biological sciences and educational leadership.
Notable awards in 2024 included 16 from the National Institutes of Health and a $1 million National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines award, with a subsequent invitation to seek further funding during the next stage of the competition.
Seven faculty in four colleges had at least $3 million over the past year in active external research grants:
- Ish Aggarwal, physics and optical science
- Daniel Alston, reading and elementary education
- Danillo G. Augusto, biological sciences
- Rob Cramer, epidemiology and community health
- Catherine Fowler, special education and child development
- Shelley Johnson, criminal justice and criminology
- Rich Lambert, educational leadership
2025 Million Dollar Research Circle
Klein College of Science
- Kirill Afonin, chemistry
- Ishwar Aggarwal, physics and optical science
- Kristen Funk, biological sciences
- Danillo G. Augusto, biological sciences
- Ian Marriott, biological sciences
- Bao-Hua Song, biological sciences
- Andrew Truman, biological sciences
- Patricija van Oosten-Hawle, biological sciences
- Juan Vivero-Escoto, chemistry
- Shan Yan, biological sciences
Cato College of Education
- Daniel Alston, reading and elementary education
- Brittany Anderson, middle grades, secondary and K-12 education
- Kristen Beach, special education and child development
- Catherine Fowler, special education and child development
- Scott Kissau, college administration
- Richard Lambert, educational leadership
- Debra Morris, educational leadership
- Michelle Stephan, middle grades, secondary and K-12 education
- Virginia Walker, special education and child development
- Charles Wood, special education and child development
College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences
- Cheryl Brown, political science and public administration
- Shelley Johnson, criminal justice and criminology
- Elizabeth Stearns, sociology
W.S. Lee College of Engineering
- Aidan Browne, engineering technology or construction management
- Youxing Chen, mechanical engineering and engineering science
- Robert Cox, electrical and computer engineering
- Farah Deeba, electrical and computer engineering
- Saffeer Khan, Energy Production and Infrastructure Center
- Edward Morse, mechanical engineering and engineering science
- Steven Schmid, mechanical engineering and engineering science
- Hamed Tabkhivayghan, electrical and computer engineering
- Brett Tempest, civil and environmental engineering
- Terry Xu, mechanical engineering and engineering science
- Qiang Zhu, mechanical engineering and engineering science
College of Health and Human Services
- Robert Cramer, epidemiology and community health
- Laura Gunn, epidemiology and community health
- Shanti Kulkarni, School of Social Work
- Catrine Tudor-Locke, college administration
College of Computing and Informatics
- Mohsen Dorodchi, computer science
- Xiuxia Du, bioinformatics and genomics
- Anthony Fodor, bioinformatics and genomics
- Abigail Leavitt LaBella, bioinformatics and genomics
- Ann Loraine, bioinformatics and genomics
- Heather Richter Lipford, software and information systems
- Min Shin, computer science
- Jun Wang, bioinformatics and genomics