Goodnight Early Career Innovators Award

Recognizing Early Career Excellence

The Provost’s Office oversees the Goodnight Early Career Innovators Award program, which was established in 2021. The program recognizes and rewards tenure-track assistant professors who demonstrate early productivity in STEM or STEM education research and innovation.

Approximately 25 awards will be made annually in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Faculty members selected as Goodnight Early Career Innovators receive $22,000 annually for three years to support their scholarship and research endeavors.

Goodnight Early Career Innovators Selection Process 
Goodnight Early Career Innovators Awardees 
Goodnight Early Career Innovators Award – Prior Years 

Selected Innovators

Since the Goodnight Early Career Innovators Award program began in 2021, 49 faculty have received this honor. Here’s the most recent class of innovators.

• Aydin Aysu, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering
• Yevgeny Brudno, assistant professor of biomedical engineering
• Wei-chen Chang, assistant professor of chemistry
• Karen Chen, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering
• Glenn Cruse, assistant professor molecular biomedical sciences
• Kevin Garcia, assistant professor of crop and soil sciences
• Landon Grace, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering
• Margaret Gruen, assistant professor of clinical sciences
• Ali Hajbabaie, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering
• Lilian Hsiao, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering
• Ethan Hyland, assistant professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences
• Shiyan Jiang, assistant professor of teacher education and learning sciences
• Arion Kennedy, assistant professor of molecular and structural biochemistry
• Albert Keung, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering
• Zakiya Leggett, assistant professor of forestry and environmental resources
• Gustavo Machado, assistant professor of population health and pathobiology
• Kelly Ann Meiklejohn, assistant professor of population health and pathobiology
• Santosh Mishra, assistant professor of molecular biomedical science
• Rajan Parajuli, assistant professor of forestry and environmental resources
• William Sagues, assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering
• Mahmoud Sharara, assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering
• Eunkyoung Shim, assistant professor of textile engineering, chemistry and science
• Katharina Stapelmann, assistant professor of nuclear engineering
• Xiaoqiu Wang, assistant professor of animal science
• Tianfu Wu, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering