The College of Science gathered on Feb. 26 to recognize and celebrate our high achieving faculty and staff at the 2025 Combined Awards Ceremony. The evening celebrated the very best in the College, from teaching, advising and research to inclusive excellence, administration and service.
The following faculty and staff received awards in research.
Congratulations to all the awardees!
Justin Preece, from the Department of Integrative Biology, received the Outstanding Faculty Research Assistant Award.
Justin Preece, from the Department of Integrative Biology, received the Outstanding Faculty Research Assistant Award.
Preece has coauthored 22 peer-reviewed publications in his career. He has streamlined high-performance computing access for machine learning and AI projects, aligning with future campus research infrastructure. His innovative approach has significantly advanced access to research tools and methodologies.
He has a strong track record of teaching software development skills and mentoring students in computational tools for research. His mentorship, including in high-performance computing, has empowered undergraduate and graduate students to adopt advanced methodologies in their research.
As the Data Coordinator for the Team-Based Rapid Assessment of Community-level Coronavirus Epidemics (TRACE) program, which designed and implemented door-to-door surveys to monitor the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a key contributor to the NSF-funded Pandemic-Resilient Cities project, Preece has managed complex, multidisciplinary efforts, particularly in computational systems design and data analysis.
He has had a transformative impact on his research group helping his team to expand into new areas, such as AI-based disease forecasting, and secured funding for more complex projects.
Equity, inclusivity and access are central to Preece's professional ethos. He has consistently advocated for the inclusion and success of students from underrepresented backgrounds. As a mentor in STEM summer camps, the Ag-REEU Big Data internship program, and lab-based projects, he has guided many students from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds. His role in the TRACE program focused on public health initiatives for all Oregonians, particularly URM communities, with an emphasis on multilingual accessibility and cultural sensitivity. The NSF-funded Pandemic-Resilient Cities project, under his leadership, has prioritized collaborations and data analysis efforts in semi-rural Oregon locales with significant URM populations, demonstrating his commitment to equitable community impact.
Jeff Hazboun, from the Department of Physics, received the Dean's Early Career Achievement Award.
Jeff Hazboun, from the Department of Physics, received the Dean's Early Career Achievement Award.
Hazboun is an emerging international leader in gravitational wave astronomy, having published 55 research articles in this field, given 35 invited talks and received the prestigious NSF CAREER and Frontiers of Science Awards. His publications have been cited over 6200 times and he was honored by the Institute of Physics Publishing as a 2024 “Most Cited in Astronomy.”
He is also a leading member of the $17M NANOGrav PFC NSF center. His work has had a profound impact on the study of ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves, particularly in analyzing NANOGrav’s pulsar-timing datasets to uncover signals from supermassive black hole binaries. Hazboun has pioneered innovative new approaches and notably, he led a key publication from NANOGrav’s 2023 landmark discovery of nanohertz-frequency gravitational waves.
Hazboun has organized and taught at several data analysis workshops for students and postdocs in the NANOGrav collaboration at both national and international venues. He has developed online GitHub repositories of student workshop learning/coding materials for dissemination to the entire science community. He is developing a set of four summer student data science workshops (the Gravitational Wave Investigative Data Science Experience or GravWISE) focusing on transitioning community college transfer students and students from traditionally underrepresented groups into 4-year and graduate programs in STEM and data science.
Hazboun has been involved in various activities promoting DEI. He has served as the Diversity, Inclusion, Culture & Equity (DICE) Committee Chair in the physics department which designed and carried out the climate survey, which was instrumental for the American Physical Society Climate Site visit to the department in November 2024. He is a member of the College of Science Equity, Access and Inclusion Leadership Council and of the NANOGrav Equity and Climate Committee. He recently obtained a supplement for his NSF CAREER grant to specifically build a more diverse workforce.
Xavier Siemens, from the Department of Physics, received the Milton Harris Award for Basic Research.
Xavier Siemens, from the Department of Physics, received the Milton Harris Award for Basic Research.
Siemens is the Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the NSF-funded NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center, comprising about 90 institutions in the U.S., Canada and overseas, and about 200 investigators overall. The financial support for the center over the last nine years (and continuing for a total of about $35M) has been crucial for the collaboration.
Through his leadership, NANOGrav announced in June 2023 a major discovery in long-wavelength gravitational wave astronomy. Results presented at the NSF in Washington, DC garnered worldwide attention in both the scientific community and the popular press. His publication record leading up to and since the announcement is outstanding and the NANOGrav results have stimulated more than 100 papers by others in the 18 months since the announcement. These include quite far-reaching implications for fundamental physics.
The new gravitational window opened up by the NANOGrav discovery (along with similar results from other pulsar timing array groups in Australia, Europe, India and China, which were stimulated by the NANOGrav results) will be explored into the indefinite future. To be successful, sustained monitoring of a large sample of pulsars is needed with greater measurement sensitivity. This requires access to a new radio telescope, which NANOGrav is pursuing under Siemens' leadership.
The NANOGrav collaboration has gone to great lengths to advocate for and implement an inclusive environment that has benefited greatly from Siemens' public stance and support for training sessions at in-person NANOGrav meetings and a mentoring program for junior members of the collaboration. This supportive environment has led to the growth in membership that includes many undergraduates, able to participate in meaningful research projects with ongoing mentoring.
On all fronts, Siemens is making important, highly visible scientific, educational and social contributions that all demonstrate his leadership, building upon a long standing commitment to the enterprise of science. He is highly deserving of recognition for his past and continuing efforts.
David Ji, from the Department of Chemistry, received the F.A. Gilfillan Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Science.
David Ji, from the Department of Chemistry, received the F.A. Gilfillan Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Science.
Ji's scholarly achievements are truly extraordinary. As a highly cited researcher recognized by the Web of Science since 2019, his impact in the scientific community is indisputable. With over 43,000 citations and an H-index of 93 (as reflected on his Google Scholar profile), his work has shaped the trajectory of energy storage research worldwide. His research has been published in premier journals, including Nature Energy, Nature Materials and Science Advances, consistently advancing the frontiers of science for nearly two decades.
Ji is known as a leading scientist who pushes the boundaries of fundamental understanding in emerging battery chemistry. His recent contributions to aqueous batteries and batteries using anions as charge carriers have advanced the battery field toward addressing the grid energy storage and sustainable electric vehicles.
Ji's honors and awards, including the prestigious NSF CAREER award and multiple DOE grants, speak to the distinguished quality of his work, which integrates fundamental discoveries with practical solutions to some of society's most pressing challenges, such as sustainable energy.
Ji's impact extends far beyond his scientific accomplishments. He has built a research community characterized by inclusivity and mentorship, fostering the success of a diverse group of students and postdoctoral researchers. He has actively worked to reduce barriers for underrepresented groups in STEM, creating opportunities for students of varied backgrounds to thrive in research. His mentorship style emphasizes collaboration, curiosity and rigorous thinking, ensuring that each mentee leaves his group with the skills and confidence to contribute meaningfully to science and society. He has trained 8 postdocs, 21 graduate students, 16 visiting scholars and exchange students and over 50 undergraduate researchers. He tirelessly creates opportunities for those who are interested in working on solutions for a future with sustainable energy.
His scholarship also reflects a strong commitment to equity and access. He ensures his research environment is one where all students and colleagues feel valued and empowered. Whether through outreach activities, professional mentorship or integrating equity considerations into research practices, he exemplifies the values of inclusivity and fairness that are essential for fostering excellence in science.
“His work not only advances fundamental science but also addresses critical societal needs, inspiring the next generation of scientists and leaders. I am honored to support his nomination wholeheartedly," a colleague of Ji's from California wrote in a nomination letter.
