April 7, 2022
The Research Office at Oakland University presented awards to several OU faculty members in recognition of their outstanding research and initiative during the Research, Innovation and Engagement Town Hall, which was held on Thursday, April 7. The awards were presented virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re delighted to be recognizing these stellar efforts in the areas of funded research,” said Dr. David Stone, professor of health sciences and philosophy, and vice president for research at OU.
This year’s award categories included:
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| Andrew F.X. Goldberg |
• Frank Giblin Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes faculty members for their notable research accomplishments during their career at Oakland University and is named in honor of Dr. Frank Giblin to recognize his remarkable career in the Eye Research Institute. The award was presented to Dr. Andrew F.X. Goldberg, Reddy professor of biomedical sciences of the Eye Research Institute, who has received $8 million in research funding over his career.
Dr. Goldberg and his lab’s efforts are focused on understanding and combating inherited forms of retinal disease caused by defects in rods and cone cell structure of the eye. They most recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, solving a decades-old question about how rods and cones get their characteristic shapes. Understanding how these cells are structured is an important step forward in understanding how inherited defects disturb their structure to trigger eye disease.
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| Luca Cucullo |
• Researcher of the Year Award, which was presented to Dr. Luca Cucullo, a professor in the Department of Foundational Medical Studies. The award recognizes the faculty member who has received the largest amount of competitive grant funding in the fiscal year. Dr. Cucullo received over $2.2 million in funding.
Dr. Cucullo does translational neuroscience research focused on understanding how physical changes affect the structure and function of the brain and its regions, how to influence or change those physical structures (through drugs and other biological agents) when they have been affected by injury or adverse behavior (such as smoking), and how to evaluate pre-existing conditions or factors that may help or hinder treatment of disease states or other health conditions, and designing effective countermeasures against them.
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| Xiangqun Zeng |
• Most Active Research Award, which is presented to faculty members who has been awarded the highest number of new grants during the fiscal year. The award was presented to Dr. Xiangqun Zeng, distinguished professor of analytical chemistry. She received three grants in fiscal year 2021, and her sensor projects were funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Dr. Zeng works to integrate greenhouse gas sensor technology and improve models to project soil processes, which helps with studying the dynamic changes occurring in the Arctic. This project is within the scope of one of NSF’s Big Ideas, “Navigating the New Arctic,” which addresses convergence scientific challenges in that rapidly changing environment. Dr. Zeng was also funded for work focused on sensors to monitor hydrogen.
• Most Active Grant Seeker Award, which was also presented to Dr. Xiangqun Zeng. The award is given to the faculty member who has submitted the highest number of grant proposals to federal agencies in the fiscal year. In the past year, Dr. Zeng has submitted nine proposals to funders, including the NIH and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Dr. Zeng has been the winner of this award for the past four out of five years, and the award is being renamed in her honor. Beginning in 2023, it will be the Xiangqun Zeng Grant Seeker Award.
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| Ziming Yang |
• Outstanding Junior Investigator Award, which is given to the early career faculty member(s) who had notable research accomplishments in the fiscal year. The award was presented to Dr. Ziming Yang, assistant professor of environmental chemistry and an alum of the PI Academy. Dr. Yang received the prestigious NSF CAREER award to support his work in understanding hydrothermal systems.
His lab group’s research is on the interfaces of chemistry, geology, and biology. Their main projects research how minerals/metal ions influence organic geochemical reactions in the hydrothermal systems on and beyond Earth. In addition, they also research biogeochemistry — exploring organic-mineral-microbe interactions in soils and aquatic ecosystems.
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| Department of Chemistry |
• Outstanding Research Department Award, which was presented to the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Foundational Medical Studies. The award recognizes the departments that have received the highest amount in research funding in the fiscal year.
This year, the Chemistry Department had over $4.1 million in funding, including $2.9 million from the State of Michigan and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which supported work focused on COVID-19. Overall, the department’s awards funded 11 major projects.
The Department of Foundational Medical Studies received $2.5 million in funding, with seven major projects. FMS faculty have researched vaccine confidence, smoking and its effects on the brain, and substance abuse treatment and recovery for foster care youth in Michigan.
“You are all doing yeoman’s work, and it’s absolutely outstanding in terms of promoting and supporting our research enterprise,” said Dr. Britt Rios-Ellis, executive vice president of Academic Affairs and provost at Oakland University. “Together, we look forward to seeing your continued success in current and future projects.”
In addition to the awards, Dr. Stone also highlighted some of the initiatives and accomplishments undertaken by other departments this year, including:
• The Industrial and Systems Engineering Department had 75% of its faculty submitting proposals, making it the department with the highest proportion of faculty submitting proposals. This is their second year with this honor.
• The Department of Mechanical Engineering had 58% of its faculty submitting proposals.
More information can be found in the Annual Research Report, which is released each fall and provides details about sponsored projects and activities for the prior year. The report can be found on the Research Office website at www.oakland.edu/research.