Now accepting nominations: 2024 Joseph G. Danek Award recognizing service to the EPSCoR community

Nomination period will close on Jan 19

In his last year as Chairman of the EPSCoR/IDeA Coalition Board of Directors, Dr. Bill Gern, who at the time was also the Vice President for Research at the University of Wyoming, introduced the idea of presenting an award to an extraordinary individual in the EPSCoR/IDeA community in the name of the “father of EPSCoR,” Dr. Joe Danek. Bill Gern saw Joe Danek as a “revolutionary,” someone who recognized research disparity across the United States and was committed to building a program that would improve the research infrastructure in states which received low amounts of federal research funding. In 2015, the EIF/C Boards approved “the Danek Award” to recognize individuals who develop the best ideas to resolve research disparity. In the words of Dr. Gern, the Danek award would be presented before the EPSCoR/IDeA community to an awardee who “has established a long-term commitment to the ideals and goals which EPSCoR represents befitting for awarding of the prize.”

Past winners include

• 2016: Dr. Jerome Odom (South Carolina) (first award winner)
• 2017: Dr. Michael Khonsari (Louisiana)
• 2018: Senator Laird Noh (Idaho)
• 2022: Dr. Paul Hill (West Virginia)
• 2023: Dr. Jeppi Compton (NASA EPSCoR)

We are now soliciting nominations for the 2024 Dr. Joseph G. Danek Award winner. Nominations should include a brief bio and anything else you’d like the selection committee to know. Email nominations by Jan 19, 5 pm EST