President's Research Impact Award

Nominees will be evaluated by a selection committee composed of UT researchers and leaders with diverse expertise and whose research, scholarship and creative activity has had noted impact beyond the university, whether through influencing their scholarly field, external stakeholder engagement, influence on policy or other means. Ad hoc external reviewers might also be called upon, depending on the content of the nominations received.

• Nomination period: May 1 – June 28, 2024
• Nomination deadline: 5:00 PM Central Time on June 28, 2024
• Award decisions announced: Recipients will be notified in early November and receive the award at the President’s Research Impact Award ceremony in April.

• Nominees must be UT Austin faculty (tenured/tenure-track or professional track) and/or permanent, senior-level staff researchers with a current appointment and with Principal Investigator status at the time of nomination and award.
• Self-nominations are accepted.
• A nomination may be made by any member of the campus community.
• Nomination materials must effectively communicate the unique impact of a discrete and recent research project or effort. Notably, this award is not for lifetime or career-long achievement, but for a single contribution or a defined series of research activities. OVPR administers a separate award, the University Research Excellence Career Award, to recognize career-long achievement.

All nominations must be submitted electronically via InfoReady on or before the deadline noted above.

For questions regarding the President's Research Impact Award, please contact honorific-vpr@austin.utexas.edu.

Completed nomination form to be filled out in InfoReady.

The completed online nomination should include the following:

1. Research Statement, PDF no more than two (2) pages.
   • A detailed statement from the nominee summarizing the discrete and recent research activity to be considered for the award, and the overarching impact of that research. This statement should articulate why the nominee's approach is significant and impactful. Use the selection criteria listed below for additional guidance.
2. Documentation of Achievements, PDF document that contains the following:
   • List of no more than five (5) publications demonstrating the impact of the nominee’s research (e.g., journal articles, books, conference papers). Include link and/or DOI numbers along with a brief explanation of why each publication is relevant to this nomination.
   • List of no more than ten (10) awards or honors received that attest to the nominee's research excellence and stature in their home discipline.
3. Colleague Letter of Support*, PDF no more than two (2) pages
   • Letter from a colleague within nominee’s scholarly/creative discipline. This can be someone inside or outside of the university and can include colleagues who have collaborated with the nominee in the last several years, but should not be a nominee’s student, postdoc, staff direct report or otherwise in a training or mentorship relationship with the nominee. This letter should speak to the merits and impact of the nominee’s research, scholarly or creative activity within their academic discipline.
4. Non-Academic Letter of Support*, PDF no more than two (2) pages
   • Letter from a non-academic individual or organization that has been positively impacted by the nominee’s research or creative activity, describing the work’s impact/benefit beyond the university.

*Letters of support should address the selection criteria listed below in describing the nominee, their work, and its impact beyond the university/academe. Use each criterion's title as a heading at the beginning of paragraphs in your nomination letter, followed by short summaries of how the nomination reflects each criterion. For self-nominations, the nominee may collect these letters and upload them to InfoReady themselves (there is no need to keep the letters’ content hidden from the nominee).

The following criteria will be considered in the selection of President’s Research Impact Award recipients. A nominee need not meet all criteria to be nominated:

1. Commitment
   • The nominee has demonstrated, through their work, a commitment to pioneering work in their field that has led to far-reaching impact both within and beyond their academic discipline.
   • Examples that could demonstrate this commitment may include but are not limited to: testament from other scholars to the work’s far-reaching influence in the field; testament from non-academic partners or stakeholders to the work’s influence beyond academia; longstanding partnerships with non-academic partners, or efforts to share research through a variety of communication channels beyond academic journals and conferences.
2. Alignment
   • Evidence that the nominee’s research or creative work aligns with a societal question or problem, and clear explanation of how the research has served to address or answer that question by creating new understanding, by influencing policy, or by otherwise improving quality of life regarding a specific aspect of society.
   • Who or what benefited from the nominee’s research, scholarship or creative activity has been clearly identified.
3. Evidence of Impact
   • There is evidence of impact in the nominee’s work. Evidence could include quantitative and/or qualitative measures or indicators of outcomes — changes in understanding, behavior, or broader conditions in the related context of the focus area of the nominee. Include specific details about the type of impact the nominee’s work has achieved.
   • Specific aspects of the research or creative endeavor that were impactful are adequately described.
4. Advancement
   • The work of the nominees holds promise for raising the public’s awareness about and sustaining the public’s appreciation of the value of scholarly research and discovery in generating tangible benefits.