Division of Research & Innovation
Research Awards
This page highlights recent research awards received by faculty and staff across the
University of Memphis, showcasing the scope, scale, and impact of their work. These
awards support innovative research, creative activity, and community-engaged projects
spanning transportation, public safety, health, education, the arts, and workforce
development.
Collectively, they reflect strong partnerships with federal, state, industry, and nonprofit funders and underscore the University’s commitment to advancing knowledge, addressing real-world challenges, and creating lasting impact locally and beyond.
March 2026
Dr. John Sabatini, Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology, was awarded $1,031,184 by the U.S Department of Education for his project “Teaching and learning with AI: Transforming post-secondary education with scenario-based tasks.”
Dr. Satish Kedia, Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Associate Dean for Administration and Faculty Affairs in the School of Public Health, was awarded $478,484 for his project “Enhancing Opioid Prevention and Harm Reduction in Tennessee through Comprehensive Evaluation.”
Dr. Xiaolei Huang, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, was awarded $214,917 by the National Science Foundation for his project “Excellence in Research: Societal- and Cultural-Aware Machine Learning for Robust Decision-Making Support.”
Mary Tucker, Chief Policy & Compliance Officer for University Schools, was awarded $137,459 by the US Department of Education for her project “FY26 IDEA Part B.”
Dr. Lara Condon, Assistant Professor of Instruction and Curriculum Leadership, was awarded $60,000 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for her project “EdLight Student Work Study: Phase 2.”
Dr. Nikki Wright, Assistant Professor in the Department of Leadership, was awarded $49,916 by the Spencer Foundation for her project “Mediating Policy, Politics, and Pedagogy: A Comparative Qualitative Exploration of Educator Sensemaking of Book Banning and Censorship Efforts in K12 School Contexts.”
Dr. Andrew Tawfik, Associate Professor of Instruction and Design Technology, was awarded $18,000 by the University of Tennessee – Knoxville for his project “University of Memphis AI.”
Dr. Ranganathan Gopalakrishnan, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, was awarded $12,000 by the United States Army Research Laboratory for his project “Summer Research Internships in Basic Plasam Research Funded by ARL DEVCOM Award W911NF-23-2-0013.”
Dr. Francisco Muller Sanchez, Assistant Professor of Physics and Material Science, was awarded $10,250 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for his project “Characterizing Inflows and Outflows in 4C+37.11: A Unique Laboratory to Witness the Evolution of a Binary AGN.”
Dr. Leigh Boardman, Assistant Professor of Biology, was awarded $5,991 by the Tennessee Corn Promotion Board for her project “Leveraging Physiology and Microbiomes for Novel Southern Corn Rootworm Control Options Year 2.”