The Office of the Vice President for Research is pleased to honor a new class of Breakthrough award recipients, continuing our annual tradition of recognizing some of the best and brightest researchers throughout the University of South Carolina system. This year, we honor five senior faculty members with Breakthrough Leadership in Research awards, fourteen early-career faculty with Breakthrough Star awards and thirteen graduate students with Breakthrough Graduate Scholar awards.
The Breakthrough “family” of awards recognizes researchers at three distinct career stages.
- Senior faculty who both excel in their research areas and have a proven track record of making significant contributions to the Carolina scholarly community are selected for the Breakthrough Leadership in Research award.
- Early-career faculty who have made great strides in their research and scholarship at USC in a relatively short time are selected for the Breakthrough Star award.
- Graduate students who have shown exceptional promise in their pursuit of research and scholarly careers are honored through the Breakthrough Graduate Scholar award.
Every fall, the Office of the Vice President for Research receives an impressive number of nominations for each Breakthrough award, demonstrating the consistent excellence among USC scholars at every level of advanced study and career accomplishment. Breakthrough award recipients are selected by a committee of USC faculty members from a wide variety of disciplines. The outstanding individuals selected by the committee are celebrated in the spring at a special awards dinner and profiled in the annual Breakthrough Awards Booklet.
USC’s Vice President for Research, Prakash Nagarkatti, congratulated the 2019 class of Breakthrough award recipients: “Through the years, we have been so impressed with the high quality of nominations we receive. That makes the job of our awards committee very hard, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. I am so excited to honor each of these exceptional scholars this spring and to thank them personally for their major contributions to the growing, thriving research community that spans the entire USC system. Congratulations to all 2019 Breakthrough award recipients!”
2019 Breakthrough Leadership in Research Awards
Fanglin Chen, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing
Varsha Kulkarni, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Arts and Science
David Matolak, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing
Timothy Mousseau, Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Biological Sciences and School of Earth, Ocean and Environment, College of Arts and Sciences
Virginia Scotchie, M.F.A, Professor, School of Visual Art and Design, College of Arts and Sciences
2019 Breakthrough Stars
Suzanne Adlof, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Arnold School of Public Health
Samuel Amadon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, College of Arts and Sciences
Sourav Banerjee, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing
Ali Brian, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Education, College of Education
Tisha Felder, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, College of Nursing
Breanne Grace, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, College of Social Work
Andrew Greytak, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Arts, College of Arts and Sciences
Mo Jang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, College of Information and Communications
Mythreye Karthikeyan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Arts and Sciences
Joshua Ruppel, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Division of Natural Sciences and Engineering, University of South Carolina Upstate
Kevin Kam Fung So, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management, College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management
Daniel Speiser, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences
Paula Vasquez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, College of Arts and Sciences
Zhu Wang, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, College of Arts and Sciences
2019 Breakthrough Graduate Scholars
Jada Ach, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences
Jackie Bader, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine
Alycia Boutté, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Health Promotion, Education and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health
Mohammad Faisal Haider, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing
Brady Ferster, Ph.D. candidate in the School of the Earth, Ocean and Environment, College of Arts and Sciences
Lewis Eliot, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences
Xiao Huang, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geography, College of Arts and Sciences
Joon Kyoung Kim, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications, College of Information and Communications
Hannah Liberatore, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Arts and Sciences
Pongsarun Satjaritanun, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing
Md Majbah Uddin, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing
Zhiyu Wang, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mathematics, College of Arts and Sciences
Samantha Yaussy, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences
14 January 2019