Purdue honors researchers with Seed for Success Acorn Awards

Purdue on Wednesday (Nov. 1) honored more than 100 researchers with the university’s prestigious Seed for Success Acorn Awards.

The award recognizes Purdue principal investigators and co-investigators who obtain their first research grants with external funding of $1 million or more for a single proposal.

“Being awarded $1 million in research funding is a true milestone,” said Karen Plaut, executive vice president for research. “It is an important recognition of a researcher’s accomplishments and innovative ideas. It also recognizes not only what researchers accomplished today but also our hopes and aspirations for the future and the impact that they will have on the world.”

This year’s ceremony honored winners from the past three years, because award ceremonies were cancelled in 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to Covid-related restrictions.

“It’s wonderful to be back celebrating this community of scholars engaged in world-class research at Purdue,” President Mung Chiang said. “External funding of your work is an important reflection of your research excellence. We could not be prouder of your accomplishments.”

Last year, Purdue set a record in external research funding, reaching $613 million.

“Receiving the Seed for Success Acorn Award early in my collegiate career is very humbling,” said one winner, Kristen Seward from the College of Education. “I am honored to carry out gifted education research to change life trajectories of youth and value that Purdue recognizes the vital importance of this work.”

A full list of award recipients is available at the awards webpage.