The 2025 CNS Alumni Awards

Matthew Tirrell PhD '77, Derrick Maxwell BS '14, and Ahmed A. H. Siddig PhD ’15 have been named the recipients of this year's awards.
Food Science Challenge Seeks New Products, Practices, and Technology
The challenge is designed to inspire a range of original edible and technological food science-related inventions.
Raymond Bradley Honored with Chinese Academy of Science Distinguished Scientist Fellowship
Bradley has been collaborating with Chinese scientists since 1986, beginning with research in China’s Loess plateau.
Baoshan Xing and Team Study How To Grow More Nutritious Rice With Less Fertilizer
The team found that nano-scale selenium reduced the negative environmental impacts of nitrogen fertilization in rice by 41%.
Chemistry and Computer Science Collaboration Wins NSF Grant
This work could improve how scientists from various areas identify unknown molecules through spectroscopic analysis.
Brian Yellen Teams Up with USGS and Others to Shed Light on the Location of Pyrrhotite
Pyrrhotite weakens concrete over time, posing a costly hazard to homeowners and communities.
Daniel Corkran, David Boutt, and Team Find that Water’s Density is Key to Sustainable Lithium Mining
This work uncovers the previously unknown physical mechanisms that govern sustainable water usage.
Study Co-authored by Richard W. Harper Examines Pros and Cons of Replacing Forests with Solar
This study weighs the trade-offs of replacing forests with photovoltaic panels.
VASCI Researchers Find Pathogen-fighting Cells that Demonstrate ‘Immunological Memory’
This research on T-cells may open the door to next-generation cancer vaccines.
EGCS Part of International Team Warning of Risks of Polar Geoengineering to Slow Climate Change
This team assesses five of the most developed geoengineering ideas currently being considered for deployment in Antarctica and the Arctic.
CNS Physicists Estimate That We Could See an Exploding Black Hole in the Next Ten Years
Such an explosion would be strong evidence of a theorized but never observed kind of black hole, called a “primordial black hole.”