REDD NEWS January 2026

 

Dear Colleagues,

Happy 2026!

As you are returning to campus and starting the spring 2026 semester, I wanted to provide a few updates about what is happening in the Research and Economic Development Division:

Growth of University of Wyoming Research Enterprise

As expected during every change in federal administration, FY 2025 was a disruptive year for federally funded activities at universities. Despite the uncertainties, UW’s research enterprise continues to flourish. As we presented to the UW Board of Trustees, 

• UW was recognized by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teach as a R1 – very high research activity- university. Putting it in the top 4.8 percent of U.S. research universities.
• UW’s research expenditures in FY2025 surpassed $183 million, almost 10% increase over FY2024. In addition, UW received $221 million in external funding for research, instruction, and service. This is 47% increase over what UW received in FY2024.
• UW was officially designated as an Innovation and Economic Prosperity (IEP) institution by the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities. This prestigious designation acknowledges public research universities that work with public- and private-sector partners in their respective states and regions to support economic development.
• UW was again recognized as one of the top universities in number of patents issued with 14 patents filed in 2025. Considering that we have far fewer faculty and students compared to the others in the list, this is remarkable achievement.

You can read more in the REDD Annual Report submitted to the Board of Trustees REDD Annual Reports.

Celebrating Excellence in Research and Innovation at the University of Wyoming

During the Research and Economic Development Committee meeting, seven Wyoming K-12 Teachers shared their experiences with and how the collaborations with UWs Science Initiative Roadshow and ESP4T Engineering Summer Programs for teachers and ML4HST - Machine Learning for High School Teachers have enhanced the experiences they are able to provide students in Wyoming. 

REDD also hosted a reception and dinner with the Trustees to celebrate the success of UW researchers in obtaining extramural funding and in translating their research to practice. This is the 3rd annual celebration of UW’s research and innovation excellence. In addition to recognizing outstanding researchers identified by colleges and schools, this year we presented five university-wide awards. A video created in collaboration with Institutional marketing debuted as well - https://youtu.be/axXzPNi5mrI

• UW Distinguished Researcher Award- for a researcher with the highest annual research expenditures averaged over the last three years. Dr. Thomas Boothy, Associate Professor, Molecular Biology
• UW Distinguished Innovator Award- for a researcher with the most prolific innovation portfolio (patents, start-ups, etc.). Dr. Mohammad Piri, Professor, Energy and Petroleum Engineering, Director, Center of Innovation for Flow through Porous Media
• UW Distinguished Research Service Award- for a faculty or staff member who has made major contributions to the UW’s research services and infrastructure. Dr. Qian-Quan Sun, Professor, Zoology and Physiology, Director, Wyoming Sensory Biology Center. Dr. Shawna McBride, Director, Research Development & EPSCoR-IDeA, Co-Director, Wyoming NASA Space Grant & NASA EPSCoR
• UW Exemplary Research Culture Award, Wyoming Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Unit - for a department/unit with highest per faculty research expenditures and impacts portfolio.

 

The Early Career Series

The Research Development office will again host a Spring 2026 workshop series for early career faculty preparing to submit NSF Career proposals in July 2026. Visit this link to register, Early Career Registration and contact the Research Development Office at resdev@uwyo.edu for more information.

Research Leadership Series

We also offering a new training opportunity this year for our emerging research leaders. The Research Leadership Program is designed to meet the unique demands of leadership in research and scholarship. The purpose of this program is to empower emerging research leaders with tailored activities, dedicated time and space to engage in values-driven leadership planning, and a supportive peer network and essential tools suited to the academic research environment. The first session will be held on February 6th at 11:30 AM. The following sessions will be mostly on the first Friday of the month. The dates will be determined in the first meeting. If you are interested in this program, please contact Parag Chitnis (pchitnis@uwyo.edu). Since this program is piloted for the first time, we are keeping the number of participants manageable to allow close interactions and teamwork among the participants. 

As we look ahead into 2026 REDD will continue to host monthly townhall meetings with updates and information both about developments in the funding landscape and to keep campus informed about units within the division and how we can serve you better. Our first townhall of this semester will be on February 10, 2026 details will be shared in a separate email. This townhall will focus on REDD reorganization. The Division of Research and Economic Development is reorganizing some of its units to allow them to serve the campus seamlessly and fully while increasing effectiveness and efficiency. We will describe the reorganization and how the newly configured offices will serve you in the future.

Sincerely,

Parag Chitnis

Vice President

Research and Economic Development