2020 Breakthrough Award Recipients to be Honored for Research Excellence
Each spring, the Office of the Vice President for Research honors a new group of outstanding faculty and graduate student researchers with our signature Breakthrough awards. These awards are designed to recognize the University of South Carolina’s excellent researchers at three distinct career levels:
- Breakthrough Leadership in Research awards celebrate senior faculty members who have made major research impacts throughout their careers.
- Breakthrough Star awards honor the strong research achievements made by faculty members relatively early in their careers.
- Breakthrough Graduate Scholar awards recognize doctoral students who show great promise for distinguished careers in research and scholarship.
This year, we are proud to announce five Breakthrough Leadership in Research awardees, 11 Breakthrough Stars and 14 Breakthrough Graduate Scholars. Vice President for Research, Prakash Nagarkatti said, “This group of 2020 Breakthrough awardees is extremely impressive. It speaks so highly of our amazing research enterprise at the University of South Carolina that we have Breakthrough recipients representing departments ranging from music to mechanical engineering, across eight UofSC colleges spanning three campuses. The faculty and doctoral students receiving Breakthrough awards this year are emblematic of the excellence that characterizes our university. It is my pleasure to thank and congratulate all of this year’s Breakthrough recipients.”
2020 Breakthrough Graduate Scholars
Candace Bethea, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mathematics, College of Arts and Sciences
Kelli Boling, Ph.D. candidate in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, College of Information and Communications
Frances Cashman, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Arts and Sciences
Yoo Jin Cho, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Health Promotion, Education and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health
Otega Ejegbavwo, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Arts and Sciences
Juan Jimenez, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing
Lynsey Keator, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Arnold School of Public Health
Eilea Knotts, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences
Hanfei Mei, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing
Kaitlyn Pilarzyk, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Neuroscience, USC School of Medicine Columbia
Elizabeth Regan, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Exercise Science, Arnold School of Public Health
Heather Roman-Stork, Ph.D. candidate in the School of the Earth, Ocean and Environment, College of Arts and Sciences
Sutapa Sarkar, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health
Alexander Sougiannis, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, USC School of Medicine Columbia
Read more here.