Miron Victory Court was the setting for the Faculty Research and Creative Excellence Celebration hosted by the Office of Research April 27. The event served to honor faculty who earned prestigious external research awards, fellowships, grants and patents in 2025—which translates to more than 280 distinct recognitions spanning every school and college at the University.

Incoming Chancellor J. Michael Haynie spoke at the event, praising the research enterprise and sharing his vision for continued growth.

“I am coming into this role with deep respect for what has been built here, and with equally deep conviction that our best days as a research institution are still ahead of us,” he said.

Record Year for Sponsored Research

Sponsored research expenditures reached $95.6 million in 2025, a 5% increase over last year and a 49% increase over five years. Of the 178 faculty recognized at the event, 102 secured new sponsored project awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, New York State, various foundations, the private sector and other sources.

Haynie noted that the University’s “Research 1” Carnegie Classification places Syracuse among just 39 private doctoral universities in the nation recognized for the highest level of research activity.

“That is not a statistic on a website,” he told the faculty. “That is a reflection of you—your publications, your discoveries, your doctoral graduates and the external investment that your reputations have attracted to this institution.”

Vice President for Research Duncan Brown also spoke at the event. He emphasized the importance of research to the University’s educational mission.

“Students do not choose Syracuse just because of our R1 classification,” he said. “They choose Syracuse because of what the R1 classification means: the opportunity to work with faculty who are doing the work we are recognizing tonight. That is the connection between the research enterprise and the educational mission of this University, and it is why our investment in research matters.”

Brown also noted that, “research attracts and retains our outstanding faculty, and those faculty bring the passion for what they do to our students, transforming them from consumers of knowledge to creators of knowledge and equipping them with the skills to solve challenges across the full breadth of human society.”

Honoree Highlights

Among those celebrated at the event were six physics faculty who shared the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, one of the most prestigious awards in science. Three faculty were elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Four early-career faculty received prestigious NSF CAREER Awards spanning chemistry, electrical engineering and computer science, physics and political science. Six faculty received Fulbright awards.

Additional recognition included diverse book and paper awards, artistic grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and CNY Arts, patents and international honors. In addition, multiple faculty earned awards from their respective professional societies.

Commitment to Research

Haynie called on faculty to pursue ambitious, externally funded research agendas, to collaborate across disciplines, to invest in mentoring doctoral students and to publicly communicate the value of their scholarship.

“The challenges facing our world—in health, in technology, in democracy, in sustainability, in human understanding—demand exactly the kind of rigorous, creative, courageous scholarship that happens at a place like Syracuse,” he said.

Haynie offered a direct pledge: “I will be an advocate for research, loudly and consistently. I will work to ensure that our faculty have the resources, the infrastructure and the institutional support they need to pursue ambitious ideas. Together, we will make sure that the next chapter of research at Syracuse University is the most consequential one yet.”