The Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award honors individuals who have demonstrated success in mentoring undergraduates in their research and/or creative inquiry endeavors, as nominated by the students they have impacted with their exceptional mentoring.
This award is open to Ohio State faculty, lecturers, post-docs and graduate students who serve as undergraduate research mentors.
Nomination Process
Ohio State undergraduates, enrolled on any campus, may nominate an Ohio State faculty, post-doctoral associate, or graduate student for the Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award.
Nomination materials include the following:
- Student's background and contact information
- Research mentor's background and contact information
- Statement of nomination. The statement of nomination must be between 300–500 words. When crafting your statement of nomination, please tell us how your research mentor has: (1) supported and inspired you to grow intellectually as a researcher, (2) encouraged and enabled you to reach your future goals and (3) supported and encouraged you on a personal level.
Congratulations to the 2023-2024 award winners:
Dr. Daniel Gallego-Perez
Edgar C. Hendrickson Chair in Biomedical Engineering
Director of Advanced Nanotherapeutics - Gene Therapy Institute
Dr. Gallego-Perez lab’s research is aimed at developing nanotechnology-driven platforms (e.g., devices, methods, approaches, systems) for both fundamental and translational biomedical research. A major portion of his research has been devoted to using nanotechnology to induce controlled lineage conversions, in vivo, as a potential therapeutic approach for different conditions. Dr. Gallego-Perez is the lead inventor of the Tissue Nano-Transfection (TNT) technology, for which he was awarded the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award to work on developing TNT-driven therapies for ischemic stroke and peripheral nerve injury.
Dr. Wolfgang Pfeifer
Postdoctoral scholar in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, and the Department of Physics
Dr. Wolfgang Pfeifer received his Bachelor and Master degree from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany in 2011 and 2013, respectively. After finishing his PhD in Bio-Nanotechnology, he moved to Columbus, Ohio, to conduct further research in DNA Nanotechnology, starting at The Ohio State University in January 2020 .Additionally, he has mentored 7 undergraduate students, as part of the SEED and TEK8 program, and during their honors theses.
Not Pictured:
Tasha Posid, PhD
Surgical Educator & Education Specialist at Wexner Medical Center, Department of Urology
Dr. Tasha Posid received her Bachelor’s Degree from Emory University and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Boston College, which she followed with a three-year post-doctoral fellowship at The Ohio State University where she specialized in curriculum design, implementation, and evaluation (assessment). Dr. Posid facilitates several of the department’s ongoing resident education series, including a Research Curriculum, Wellness Curriculum, Hidden Curriculum (for non-clinical skill development), and a local Global Health Curriculum. Dr. Posid also manages a robust pipeline of students working with the department - both medical students and undergraduates - and is the Faculty Advisor for the First-Generation Pre-Medical Student Organization at Ohio State. In Urology, Dr. Posid continues to serve as the Department’s Director of Social Media and Director of Undergraduate Education.
Jovica Badjic
Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Prof. Jovica D. Badjić obtained his PhD from Iowa State University in the area of organic/inorganic materials (2001). After a postdoctoral stint with Prof. J. Fraser Stoddart (Nobel Prize 2016) at UCLA, he joined faculty of chemistry at the Ohio State University in 2004. He was promoted to associate professor in 2010 and professor in 2014. His research interests are in the area of supramolecular chemistry with the goal of using computational and experimental methods for designing, preparing, and probing characteristics of abiotic hosts.
The 2023-2024 Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award nomination form is now closed. Four outstanding awardees were selected and honored at the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum Award Ceremony on Thursday, March 7, 2024.
EURMA Recipients
2022-2023 Awardees
- Robin Bagley (Evolution, Ecology, & Organismal Biology; Lima)
- Roman Covarrubias (Internal Medicine)
Hannah Shafaat (Chemistry and Biochemistry)
As nominations increased, we moved to a competitive process for recognizing outstanding mentors beginning with the 2022-2023 cycle.
2020-2021 Nominees
- Laurence Coutellier (Psychology and Neuroscience)
- Riley DeBacker (Speech & Hearing Science)
- Kevin Evans (Health & Rehabilitation Sciences)
- Christine Fortney (Nursing)
- Angela Harden (Health & Rehabilitation Sciences)
- Irene Hatsu (Human Sciences)
- Natalie Hull (Civil, Environmental, & Geodetic Engineering)
- Tao Jiang (Psychology)
- Brian Joseph (Linguistics)
- Jessica Krok-Schoen (Health & Rehabilitation Sciences)
- Stephanie Moulton (Public Affairs)
- Steve Oghumu (Pathology)
- Leah Oliemuller (Chemistry and Biochemistry)
- Kristen Roberts (Health & Rehabilitation Sciences)
- Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan (Psychology)
- Katie Vinopal (Public Affairs)
- Nicolas Wein (Pediatrics)
- Michelle Wibbelsman (Spanish & Portuguese)
- Valarie Williams (Dance)
2019-2020 Nominees
- Zoe Almeida (Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology)
- Dawn Anderson-Butcher (Social Work)
- Taylor Ballinger (Psychology)
- Matthew Birkhold (German)
- Rebeka Campos-Astorkiza (Spanish and Portuguese)
- Sergei Chmutov (Mathematics)
- Jiyeon Denninger (Psychology)
- Mark Drew (Microbial Infections & Immunity)
- Rachel Gabor (SENR Hydrology)
- Scott Graves (Educational Studies)
- Kristyn Gumpper (Internal Medicine)
- Richard Hickey (Chemical and Biomedical Engineering)
- Sharvari Karandikar (Social Work)
- Krista Kecskemety (Engineering Education)
- Yeoeun Kim (Educational Studies)
- Jane Klinger (Psychology)
- Melanie Krook (Center for Clinical and Translational Science)
- Andrew May (Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering)
- Megan Meuti (Entomology)
- Ryan Norris (Evolution, Ecology, and Orgranismal Biology)
- Hollie Nyseth Brehm (Sociology)
- Shane O'Neil (Neuroscience)
- Bill Peterman (School of Environment and Natural Resources)
- Valentina Pita-Grisanti (Nutrition)
- Donald Terndrup (Astronomy)
- Rolando Valdes Aguilar (Phyics)
- Ericka Velez-Bonet (Internal Medicine)
- Yael Vodovotz (Food Science and Technology)
- Leah Weston (Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology)
- Jessica Winter (Chemical and Biomedical Engineering)
- Jian-Qiu Wu (Molecular Genetics)
2018-2019 Nominees
- Abigail Buffington (Anthropology)
- Kimberly Carter (Chemistry)
- Kristi Cheramie (Landscapre Architecture)
- Zobeida Cruz-Monserrate (Internal Medicine)
- James Fuchs (Medicinal Chemsitry)
- Genie Giaimo (English)
- Erin Gloag (Microbiology)
- Mandar Kathe (Chemical Engineering)
- Chanhee Lee (OARDC Animal Sciences)
- Brett Loman (Microbial Pathogenesis)
- Claire Monroy (Otolaryngology)
- Nicole Sintov (Environment and Natural Resources)
- Noah Weisleder (Physiology and Cell Biology)
- Ryan Winston (Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering)
- Kristina Witcher (Neuroscience)
- Andre Palmer (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering)
- Edward Taketa (Dance)
- Jason Coronel (Communication)
2017-2018 Nominees
- Christopher Coss (Pharmacy)
- Peter Mansoor (History)
- Nikole Patson (Psychology, Marion Campus)
- Tasleem Padamsee (Public Health)