Georgia State University has named the recipients of the first-ever Ignite Awards. The awards recognize outstanding contributions from faculty, staff and students whose work offers tremendous impact on advancing knowledge, solving complex problems, creating new innovations and enhancing the quality of life in Georgia and beyond.

“The Ignite Awards honor the wide range of disciplines here at Georgia State as well as a scholars and staff at every level, from doctoral students to seasoned professors to administrators,” said Vice President for Research and Economic Development Tim Denning. “Our success and our impact simply wouldn’t be possible without their efforts.”

“Georgia State’s strategic vision for the decade ahead calls for the university to innovate in research, scholarship and creativity,” said  Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Nicolle Parsons-Pollard. “I am proud to celebrate those whose work has supported our current path of excellence, and thanks to their dedication, the university will continue to advance its contributions to the greater good.”

The 2023 Ignite Award winners include:

For the Research Impact Award: The CHARA Array of Georgia State University, consisting of Gail Schaefer, Theo ten Brummelaar, Nic Scott, Narsireddy Anugu, Nils Turner, Christopher Farrington, Jeremy Jones and Cyprien Lanthermann

• The CHARA Array is one of the most complex astronomical facilities ever built, and the work of this team has led to the discoveries of magnetic storms on the surfaces of stars, the expanding fireball from a nova explosion and the gas and dust ring surrounding a supermassive black hole.

For the Research Partnership Award: Shannon Self-Brown and Dan Whitaker

• Self-Brown and Whitaker have worked over the past 15 years developing and leading the National SafeCare Training and Research Center within the Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development. Their work partnering with hundreds of organizations, including governmental agencies, nonprofit and for-profit service agencies, to conduct research on child maltreatment and related childhood adversities, to advance implementation science, and to broadly disseminate evidence-based practices has had and continues to have a real-world impact on disadvantaged families and children.

For the Research Scholarship and Creativity Award: Monique Moultrie

• Moultrie’s outstanding work in the overlapping fields of the academic study of race, sexuality and religion has been well received, both in the scholarly community and by a wide audience. She has been nominated for multiple awards and has frequent engagement in public scholarship and media interviews.

For the Research Mentorship Award: Janice Fournillier

• Fournillier’s work includes serving as a research and teaching mentor to more than 200 graduate and teacher preparation students as well as a graduate chair to 28 Ph.D. students and one master’s student. She is a member on 58 Ph.D. committees and one Master’s committee, and has served as a mentor to 16 graduate student interns, many of whom now have tenure-track/tenured faculty positions or as research scientists.

For the Early Career Research Impact Award in the area of Arts and Humanities: Juan S. Piñeros Glasscock

• Piñeros Glasscock has had notable success in field of philosophy, especially in publication; his articles have been accepted at about double the rate of publication for most tenured faculty. He has published six peer-reviewed articles in some of the most prestigious journals in philosophy, and his publications are already being cited, responded to in print and discussed within the field.

For the Early Career Research Impact Award in the area of Natural and Life Sciences: Jessica Bolton

• Bolton is known for her work on limbic and stress-related neural circuitry with a central emphasis on the mechanisms by which early-life experiences (e.g. adversity and stress) can rewire the plastic, developing brain. She has won prestigious and highly competitive grants, produced 10 scientific articles since joining GSU in 2021, and is sought after as a nationally recognized expert in her field.

For the Early Career Research Impact Award in the area of Social and Behavioral Sciences: Thaddeus Johnson

• Johnson has done exceptional work on police professionalism and innovation, police coercion, predictive bias and disparities in the justice system and control of violent crime. He has also excelled in sharing research in the public eye both through both traditional and non-traditional channels, including making more than 60 media appearances and writing 13 op-ed publications in popular media outlets.

For the Research Administration Excellence Award: Kay Gilstrap

• Gilstrap’s notable work at GSU includes serving as leader for the Research Administration Departmental group, Director of the University Research Centers support team, and as co-PI on a grant that began a novel research administration training internship at GSU. She also serves as Treasurer-elect for the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA).

For the Doctoral Research Achievement Award: Shaligram Sharma

• Sharma’s doctoral work on the biological basis of atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases has expanded knowledge in this area and has the potential for tremendous real-world impact.

For the Postdoctoral Research Achievement Award: Jordan Ross

• Ross has been a meaningful contributor to the Neuroscience Institute by teaching graduate lectures and supervising an undergraduate lab, has earned a fellowship from the National Institutes of Health, and had done outstanding work in organizing the GSU Postdoctoral Association which supports and promotes the postdoctoral community on the GSU campus.

The awardees were selected from nearly 100 submissions made from across the university, and they will be honored at an awards ceremony on Nov. 2.

For more information about Georgia State research and its impact, visit research.gsu.edu.