The Knight Campus Awards recognize those around us who have made remarkable contributions to our community. By going above and beyond, they inspire us all to do the same, which ultimately helps further our mission!
Diversity and Inclusion Award
Awarded to an individual or team making outstanding contributions and exceptional commitment to enhancing diversity and inclusion in our community.
Betsy Tanenbaum
“Betsy goes above and beyond in her support of the recruitment and success of students from historically underrepresented and underserved backgrounds for the KCGIP and Bioengineering PhD. She helps our students feel seen and heard and a part of the Knight Campus community. Betsy embodies the spirit of inclusion in all that she does.”
Exceptional Service Award
Awarded to an individual or team who establishes and maintains positive and effective working relationships with fellow faculty, staff, students and internal/external customers. They are dedicated to continuously improving, exceeding expectations, and reacting appropriately to ensure best outcomes.
Helen Aucoin
“Helen is such a joy to work with! She handles the stress of event planning and all the last-minute requests with such grace and poise. She provides exceptional customer service to her fellow colleagues and our student groups. I’m in awe of her ability to juggle so much. She manages to put on dazzling events and she does it all with a smile.”
Innovation and Impact Award
Awarded to an individual or team who has generated novel and valuable ideas, and translated these ideas into new or improved products, methods, processes or systems that have led to substantial social and/or economic impact.
Keane Deas and Oliver Loreto of ClearMark Biosciences
“This duo is trailblazing student start-ups from the Knight Campus, as undergrads! From the Plesa Lab, to the iGEM synthetic biology competition, to the Oregon Innovation Challenge, to a new start-up company that is leasing space in the Papé Family Innovation Center, they are pulling all levers and resources at their disposal to put their innovations to work. I can’t wait to see where they go with their concussion diagnostic!”
Training and Teaching Award
Awarded to an individual or team who has creatively implemented a training strategy that is interdisciplinary, experiential, applied, and/or entrepreneurial, that prepares students to identify and solve problems of societal and commercial relevance.
The worldwide synthetic biology competition International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Mentor Team: Calin Plesa, Sam Hinton, Andrew Holston, Anissa Benabbas, Natanya Villegas, Justin Svendsen, and Keane Deas
“The iGEM team has excelled under their leadership, earning 2nd place at the iGEM jamboree this year. The students clearly respect their mentors, who are open to feedback and have taught important skills that will give them an advantage in future projects.”
Communication Award
Awarded to an individual or team who has gone above and beyond to widely and creatively communicate about our work in a way that effectively demonstrates our impact to both the scientific community and the public.
Julie Langenberg
“Julie has partnered with various groups to increase the Knight Campus's awareness of all the amazing work that is being done here. She leads the Knight Campus monthly newsletter, participates in the Inclusion, Diversity, and Outreach Committee (IDOC) and worked hard supporting the workplace climate survey responses and various activities. Julie is a great writer, communicator, and colleague.”
Mark Blaine
“Over the years, Mark has had a tremendous impact on the way we approach communication across the Knight Campus. His expertise and commitment to training science communicators has led to notable accomplishments including a very high percentage of awards being presented to doctoral and post-doctoral scholars for their research presentations and fellowship applications.”
Research Collaboration Award
Awarded to an individual or team who has successfully catalyzed impactful convergent research collaborations that integrate diverse capabilities, technologies, and ideas.
Gabriella Lindberg
“Gabriella fosters an environment to collaborate with others and spark opportunities between research groups. It is important to her for science to be done as a team and she implements that with collaborations across campus, the U.S., and the world.”
Friend of the Knight Campus Award
This award is offered only in years when the Knight Campus community wants to recognize a person or a unit at the UO that has been a particular advocate and/or provided exceptional service in advancing the mission and goals of the Knight Campus.
Kate Petcosky-Kulkarni
“Kate provides exceptional and thoughtful service to individuals in the Knight Campus developing proposals for external funding, identifying appropriate potential funding sources for our community members, and acting as the facilitator and project manager for the successful NSF funded biofoundry workshop.”