Success Stories

Dr. José Rodríguez Medina, Director of the PR-INBRE program and faculty member of the Department of Biochemistry, was interviewed as part of the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine’s 75th anniversary. Watch the interview at the link below and follow PR-INBRE for more!

From Dr. Martha Bickford - It has been an absolute pleasure to work with KBRIN/KY INBRE for the past 11 years. Serving as Associate Director since 2014 and Director since 2020 has been extremely gratifying.

On July 1, Ming Lei, senior associate vice president in the WVU Health Sciences Center Office of Research and Graduate Education and vice dean of research in the WVU School of Medicine, will assume the role of interim vice president at the WVU Research Office.

Boise State University Department of Biological Sciences Professor Jennifer Forbey won the 2025 Jean’ne M. Shreeve National Science Foundation Estab­lished Program to Stim­u­late Com­pet­i­tive Research (EPSCoR) Research Excellence Award.

Growing up in Southern California, Julie Heath frequented the beach, mountains and desert with a growing fascination for the natural world. As a high school student, she became a volunteer at SeaWorld San Diego, helping raise penguins for exhibit.

Her passion and care for birds only grew from there.

Dr. Sharon Rounds, professor and associate dean at Brown University and longtime champion of the NIH IDeA program, was recognized for receiving the 2025 W. Fred Taylor Award at the February 2025 EIC/EIF Annual Meeting in a recent press release by Brown University recognizing faculty who received prominent awards and distinctions in Spring 2025.

To strengthen innovation and research across the state, Mississippi has launched the Mississippi Emerging Research Institutions Council (MERIC). This new initiative brings together colleges and universities that are committed to research excellence but face unique challenges in gaining recognition, acquiring funding, and building infrastructure.

UAH researcher wins $299K EPSCoR fellowship to advance composite materials for breakthrough ground, air, space applications

Dr. Nathan Spulak, an assistant professor at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), has been awarded a $299,000 National Science Foundation EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement fellowship to enhance safety for earth, air and space vehicles and habitation structures by examining the characteristics of composite materials.

Regina Toolin, PhD, Associate Professor of STEM Education at the University of Vermont (UVM) and member of the SOCKS Education and Workforce Development Team, was named a recipient of the 2025 Joseph A. Abruscato Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship, recognizing her as an exemplar who achieves the ideals of the teacher-scholar recognition as a researcher and educator from UVM's College of Education and Social Services (CESS).

Northern Kentucky University Assistant Professor Dr. Brittany Smith, former KY INBRE Start-Up Award recipient, has received an R00 in the amount of $249,000 from the NIH National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) for her project entitled, “Executive function in opioid-exposed offspring and subsequent molecular signatures.”