UW Faculty Win Prestigious Awards Winter 2026

Throughout the winter, members and departments of the University of Wyoming College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources have been celebrated for their exceptional efforts and accomplishments.

Read more about UW’s outstanding awardees below.

UW Celebration of Excellence

The University of Wyoming recognized the achievements of outstanding faculty and departments during its third annual Celebration of Excellence in Research and Innovation Jan. 22, including members of the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources.

Thomas Boothby (center), an associate professor of molecular biology, received the UW Distinguished Researcher Award at the recent Celebration of Excellence in Research and Innovation. He is flanked by Michelle Sullivan, vice chair of the UW Board of Trustees, and UW President Ed Seidel. (Michala Drum Photo)

Thomas Boothby, an associate professor of molecular biology, received the UW Distinguished Researcher Award, which is given to a researcher with the highest annual research expenditures averaged over the last three years. His research focuses on how organisms survive extreme environments and how we can make practical use of this knowledge for elevating some of society’s most pressing problems, such as increasing access to medicine and food security.

The Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit received the UW Exemplary Research Culture Award, bestowed upon a department with the highest per-faculty research expenditures and innovation portfolio. The unit, led by Director Matt Kauffman, is currently one of 43 U.S. Geological Survey Cooperative Research Units nationwide. Their offices, programs, and personnel are embedded within the UW Department of Zoology and Physiology.

Qian-Quan Sun received the UW Distinguished Research Service Award. The award is given to a faculty or staff member who has made major contributions to UW’s research services and infrastructure. Sun is a professor in the Department of Zoology and Physiology, and director of the Wyoming Sensory Biology Center.

Lauren Shoemaker, an associate professor of botany, received a Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The CAREER Award is one of NSF’s most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.

The university also honored two faculty members from the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources for their contributions to UW’s research and innovation landscape. The College Honoree award winners are:

Bledar Bisha, an associate professor of food microbiology and head of the Department of Animal Science; College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources.
Grace Shearrer, an assistant professor of family and consumer sciences, College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources.

NIH IDeA Program award

A longtime University of Wyoming faculty member who led the IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Program in Wyoming for many years has been honored nationally for his efforts.

Department of Zoology and Physiology Professor Scott Seville, a former senior associate dean of the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources, received the prestigious 2026 W. Fred Taylor Ph.D. Award for outstanding contributions to the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) IDeA Program.

Estes Memorial Teaching award

A University of Wyoming faculty member was recently bestowed a top teaching honor from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS).

Ramesh Sivanpillai, an instructional professor in the Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center and UW School of Computing, recently received the Estes Memorial Teaching Award from the organization.

Sivanpallai has a longtime association with the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources and frequently works with students from farming and ranching backgrounds. Since 2004, Sivanpillai says he has counted 230 unique projects in which students recruited him for his assistance. Of those, 87 dealt with crops; 60 focused on range mapping; 27 were about wildfires; 18 involved water issues; and 14 concentrated on forest projects.