GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AWARDS

FY25 Guidelines FINAL

At Georgia Tech, the research enterprise covers the totality of activities from basic research to commercialization and societal use. The Office of the Executive Vice President for Research offers awards annually recognizing the achievements of Georgia Tech faculty and staff as partners, mentors, outstanding researchers, and scholars across the many facets of this enterprise.

Outstanding Achievement in Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Research and Scholarship

Award Amount: $10,000

Awarded to a faculty member who demonstrates a commitment to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in research or scholarship. Nominations should illustrate the nominee’s accomplishments, describing how DEI advances the nominee’s research, scholarship, and creative activity and/or how these activities contribute to fostering DEI. Discuss how these efforts have positively affected the nominee’s unit, the Georgia Tech community and beyond.

Outstanding Achievement in Research Enterprise Enhancement

Award Amount: $7,500

Awarded to a member of the administrative staff who provides exceptional contributions to the research and scholarly enterprise. Nominations should demonstrate how the candidate embodies the values of the Institute Strategic Plan (i.e., Amplify Impact, Champion Innovation, Connect Globally, Expand Access, Lead by Example, and Cultural Wellbeing). Please review the eligibility requirements below.

Outstanding Achievement in Early Career Research and Scholarship

Award Amount: $10,000

Awarded to a faculty member who at the time of award (April 2025) is within 8 years of their initial appointment and has made significant discoveries or advancements in their research, scholarship, or creative activity, while visibly influencing society or one or more scholarly communities. Nominators should include both qualitative and quantifiable measures such as publications, citations, exhibitions of creative work, critical acclaim, intellectual property, commercialized products, public outreach, community engagement and significant research collaborations or other indications of the nominee’s potential for widespread influence, either within a specific field or throughout the community at large.

Outstanding Achievement in Research Engagement and Outreach

Award Amount: $10,000

Awarded to a faculty member who demonstrates excellence in research engagement and outreach to other institutions of Higher Education or external partners. Nominations should illustrate the nominee’s accomplishments, describing how the nominee has strategically and meaningfully engaged with one or more groups to promote awareness, scholarship, appreciation and understanding of specific research or scholarly topics and/or the broader research process. Strong nominations will include evidence of the influence of these engagement activities on the intended audience(s) and, if applicable, of the effect on the nominee’s own research activities. Examples include qualitative partnerships, external collaborations, networking, and community engagement. Engagement with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) is particularly noteworthy.

Outstanding Achievement in Research Innovation

Award Amount: $10,000

Awarded to a faculty member working at the forefront of discovery, application and deployment of knowledge or technology, whose research results have had a demonstrable and sustained societal influence. Nominations should document any known qualitative or quantifiable measures such as patents, licenses, commercialized products, startup metrics, established initiatives, community recognition, scholarly innovation or other indications of widespread influence. They should also include a description of the far-reaching implications of the nominee’s work, particularly the impact of implementing the nominee’s innovation or idea. If applicable, discuss the nominee’s relationship with external partners (including academic, education, corporate, industry, or non-profits).

Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Development

Timeline: Past 5 years, Award Amount: $15,000

Awarded to a research team, preferably composed of both faculty and staff, that creates a new thought leadership platform to significantly expand Georgia Tech’s research and scholarship portfolio. The nomination should highlight how the team has excelled in one or more of the following areas: spearheading disciplinary or societal research development, pioneering new research areas, or developing interdisciplinary initiatives. Program milestones or achievements should fall between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2024. Nominators should elaborate on the program’s development, both within Georgia Tech and as a mechanism for enhancing Georgia Tech's long-term, external scholarly reputation. Where applicable, briefly summarize any other recognition already received for the program. The prize will be divided equally among the team members who are employed by Georgia Tech.

Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Impact

Timeline: Past 5 years, Award Amount: $15,000

Awarded to a research team, preferably composed of both faculty and staff, that implements a novel program to significantly expand Georgia Tech’s research portfolio. The nomination should highlight how the team has impacted the human condition, and/or addressed a major societal challenge. Program milestones or achievements should fall between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2024. Nominators should elaborate on the program’s results, both within Georgia Tech and as a mechanism for enhancing Georgia Tech's long-term, external scholarly reputation. Where applicable, briefly summarize any other recognition already received for the program. The prize will be divided equally among the team members who are employed by Georgia Tech.

Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Advisor

Timeline: Past 5 years, Award Amount: $10,000

Awarded in recognition of the achievements of a faculty member's doctoral students who completed all degree requirements from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2024. Nominators should focus on what, specifically, makes this faculty member’s advising technique, process, or results truly excellent. Descriptions should focus on the overall influence of both the advisor on the students and the students on the greater community. Successful diversity, equity and inclusion efforts should be highlighted. Nominations may include a paragraph from the nominee on their advising philosophy and quotes from students as well. Nominations should list the students’ post-thesis positions and other accomplishments and describe how the advisor continues their involvement with graduates. If addressing collaborative publications, focus on those that are student-led. If possible, please include benchmarks comparing how these results vary between fields or peers. Please do not include achievements outside of the specified time period.

Outstanding Faculty Research Author

Timeline: Past 5 years, Award Amount: $10,000

Awarded to the faculty member who most contributed to highly impactful publications or presentations describing the results of research conducted at Georgia Tech and published during the period January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2024. Notable accomplishments may range from a single, greatly influential book or other extended analytical, interpretive work to primary authorship in multiple peer-reviewed journal articles or significant presentations. Please identify the key publication(s) or contribution(s) within the body of the nomination; for multiple publications, nominators should select just a few to highlight, including the author’s specific contributions to the paper. Nominators are free to include any available indicators but should focus the nomination primarily on the major topics of, and/or significant research breakthroughs noted in the specified publication(s). A listing of publications may be appended. Please do not include publications outside of the specified time period.

AWARD CONDITIONS:
Award

• For the awards with a $10,000 prize, $7,500 is for the recipient's personal use and $2,500 is for the support of their research. The $15,000 and $7,500 prizes are entirely for the recipients’ personal use. • Outstanding Achievement in Research Enterprise Enhancement: $7,500
  • Outstanding Achievement in Early Career Research and Scholarship: $10,000
  • Outstanding Achievement in Research Engagement and Outreach: $10,000
  • Outstanding Achievement in Research Innovation: $10,000
  • Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Advisor: $10,000
  • Outstanding Faculty Research Author: $10,000
  • Outstanding Achievement in Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Research and Scholarship: $10,000
  • Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Development: $15,000
  • Outstanding Achievement in Research Impact: $15,000
• Awards are presented each spring and winners are recognized at the Faculty/Staff Honors celebration.
• In highly competitive categories, at the recommendation of the review committee and with the approval of the EVPR, more than one awardee may be awarded in a category.

Eligibility

• Award winners must be current, active employees.
• Award winners must have been employed by the Georgia Tech for at least one year.
• All faculty with academic and research titles are eligible to be nominated for the Faculty Research Awards.
  • For the Research Enterprise Enhancement Award, the Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Development Award, and the Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Impact Award, staff are eligible.
  • Note that employees in faculty titles are only eligible for the Research Enterprise Enhancement Award if their role is primarily administrative.
• Individuals who have won an award are not eligible for another award in the same category for three years but may be nominated in any other category at any time.
• For the Outstanding Achievement in Early Career Research Award at the time of award (April 2025) an academic faculty nominee must be within 8 years of their initial appointment as an Assistant Professor at GT. If a nominee began their career at another institution, they can be within 10 years of the initial appointment, but must have spent at least 5 years at GT. For candidates who began their career in a non-academic setting, they must be within 12 years of the granting of their PhD, and must have spent at least 5 years at GT. Extensions to the RPT clock formally granted by the institute are also given in the award timeline. o At the time of award (April 2025) a research faculty nominee must be within 8 years of their initial appointment to Researcher I or Researcher II status at GT. For candidates who began their career elsewhere, they must be within 12 years of the granting of their terminal degree and must have spent at least 5 years at GT. Institutionally approved leaves of absence may be subtracted from the award timeline.

Nominations

• Only one nomination per individual per award each year.
• Only one nomination will be accepted per nominator in each category.
• There is no limit to the number of nominations from any individual unit, but all nominations will be vetted for endorsement by the appropriate dean, IRI director or other executive.
• A strong nomination will also highlight the difference between the efforts of this faculty member and peers at the same rank.
• Nominations must be submitted at Submit Form by January 17, 2025.

Please direct any questions or concerns to Linda Mazzeo, linda.mazzeo@gatech.edu and Krystal McNally, krystal.mcnally@gatech.edu