Twelve UO scholars pursuing projects ranging from a documentary on girls’ rugby and concussion science to the creation of an intercultural clarinet repertoire have received 2026 Faculty Research Awards.
Distributed annually by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, Faculty Research Awards (FRA) support scholarship, creative projects, and quantitative or qualitative research from all disciplinary backgrounds.
“My congratulations to this year’s FRA winners, whose projects represent the excellent creative, research, and scholarly endeavors undertaken by UO faculty,” said Geri Richmond, interim vice president for research and innovation. “I am pleased that my office can play an important role in fostering projects across the schools and colleges of the university.”
Awards went to faculty representing the fields of anthropology, cinema studies, history, journalism, mathematics, music, psychology as well as members of the interdisciplinary units of Counseling Psychology and Human Services, East Asian Languages and Literatures, and German and Scandinavian Studies.
Awardees will receive a summer stipend of $7,000 or up to $10,000 for research expenses during the coming fiscal year, to be spent on travel, supplies, contractual services, publication, and student effort.
Program applications were open to all tenure-track faculty members as well as career research faculty members engaged in substantial research. A committee of UO faculty members appointed by the University Senate provided peer review of the merit of the proposals and furnished their recommendations and rankings to the vice president for research and innovation.
The 2026 Faculty Research Award recipients are:
- Jesse Abdenour, associate professor, journalism
- Elizabeth Collins-Woodfin, assistant professor, mathematics
- Abigail Fine, assistant professor, music
- Scott Fitzpatrick, professor, anthropology
- Melissa Graboyes, associate professor, history
- Xan Holt, assistant professor, German and Scandinavian studies
- Nichole Kelly, associate professor, counseling psychology and human services
- Jina Kim, associate professor, East Asian languages and literatures
- Wonkak Kim, associate professor, music
- Chanel Meyers, assistant professor, psychology
- Karen McIntyre, assistant professor, journalism
- Colin Williamson, assistant professor, cinema studies