Curtis W. McGraw Research Award

Nominations for this year's award will be accepted through December 2, 2024. The award is presented at the ERC Annual Business Meeting at the ASEE ERC Research Leadership Institute in March 2025.

Curtis W. McGraw (1895-1953) began his career with McGraw-Hill in 1920 in the book company's shipping department and worked his way up to the presidency of that company in 1950. As a successful business executive, he carved for himself a place of importance and distinction in the book publishing world.

The Curtis W. McGraw Research Award was established in 1957 to recognize outstanding early achievements by young engineering college research workers and to encourage the continuance of such productivity.

The Award: The annual award is sponsored by the Engineering Research Council with the initial assistance of the McGraw-Hill Book Company. Two awards will be made - one to the top applicant from a PhD granting program and one to the top applicant from a non-PhD granting program. The award consists of a $1,500 honorarium and a certificate.

Curtis W. McGraw Research Award Winners:

1999 Constance J. Chang-Hasnain
2000 Christopher Bowman
2001 Jonathan A. Wickert
2002 Kristi S. Anseth
2003 Mark R. Prausnitz
2004 Richard Braatz
2011 Kenneth Gall
2012 Ali Khademhosseini
2013 Christopher Jones
2014 Ellis Meng
2015 Steven R. Little
2016 Michael Dickey
2017 Jordan J. Green
2018 Adam J. Engler
2019 Kathryn A. Whitehead
2019 Suzanne J. Matthews
2020 Fengqi You
2020 Ziqian ( Cecilia) Dong
2021 Luke Dosiek ( Awardee)
2021 Maryam Shanechi ( Awardee)
2021 Veronica Augustyn ( Finalists)
2021 Ranga Dias ( Finalists)
2021 Umut Gurkan ( Finalists)
2021 Elizabeth Nance ( Finalists)
2022 Hiu-Yung Wong
2022 Ryan Lively
2023 Shawana Tabassum
2023 Ryan McGinnis
2024 Whitney Lohmeyer and Matthew Webber

Because this award recognizes the significant achievements of early career researchers and educators emphasizing early achievement, trajectory, and potential, recipients must demonstrate:

Research activity in one or more types of research ordinarily carried on by engineering colleges or institutes of technology.
Achievement of important advances accepted by colleagues and by others in the field of specialization with emphasis on quality rather than quantity and sound and productive thinking, and with a promise for making significant contributions to the field of specialization.
Outstanding research abilities, including discoveries and other original contributions to engineering fundamentals; conceptions and improvements of laboratory techniques or devices; the publication of books, monographs, and scholarly papers; and activities in educational professional societies.
Candidates must be early career researchers at the assistant or associate professor level, within 10 years of starting their first tenure-track academic appointment (or the equivalent if the institution does not have tenure-track appointments) on June 30th of the year the award is presented.

Nomination Limit: One nomination per ASEE college/school membership. Nominators are advised to contact their College/School regarding processes used to select the nomination for submission.

Nomination form can be found here.

A complete nomination consists of the following items compiled into a single PDF in the following order:

Nomination Form Cover Page - This page includes information on the nominee and contact information for the nominator.
Award Citation - A brief statement, not to exceed 100 words, giving the major accomplishments for which the award is being made. This will be used in the award announcement should the nominee be selected as the awardee.
Rationale for Nomination - A statement, not to exceed 700 words, on why the candidate is being nominated for the award.
Curriculum Vitae - Degrees earned (university and granting dates); other postgraduate studies; the record of positions held (starting with most recent and working back, outlining dates for each); publications (including all books, published papers, and articles); ASEE and other professional society activities and offices held; awards, honors, and inventions.
Supporting Letters - A minimum of three and a maximum of four supporting letters from colleagues and/or former students.

Send nomination materials as a single PDF by email by December 2, 2024, 5:00 pm EST to Rose Hu (rose.hu@usu.edu)
The subject line must read: 2025 Curtis W. McGraw Research Award Nomination.

Curtis McGraw award committee welcomes renominations from faculty who have been previously nominated and are still eligible.

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