ORAU has awarded competitive research grants totaling $180,000 to 36 junior faculty from its member institutions. Oakland University, a member university, partnered with ORAU to fund one award. The annual grants are made through the company’s Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Awards program, which provides seed grants to enrich the research and professional growth of young faculty.
The awards recognize faculty members for their work in any of five science and technology disciplines: engineering and applied science; life sciences; mathematics and computer science; physical sciences; and policy, management or education. Oakland University’s award funds research project in the policy, management or education discipline area.
“Junior faculty at our member institutions represent the future of the nation’s research enterprise. Supporting the research and professional development of emerging leaders at the universities who are members of the ORAU consortium is an investment in the future of research,” said Ashley Stowe, ORAU chief research and university partnerships officer. “The Powe Award program is always extremely popular and very competitive. We are grateful this year to join with Oakland University in expanding the research focus of these awards.”
The Powe recipients, each of whom is in the first two years of a tenure track position, will receive $5,000 in seed money for the 2025-26 academic year to enhance their research during the early stages of their careers. Each recipient’s institution matches the Powe award with an additional $5,000, making the total prize worth $10,000 for each winner. Winners may use the grants to purchase equipment, continue research or travel to professional meetings and conferences.
Since the program’s inception, ORAU has awarded 945 grants totaling more than $4.725 million. Including the matching funds from member institutions, ORAU has facilitated grants worth more than $9.5 million.
The awards, now in their 35th year, are named for Ralph E. Powe, who served as the ORAU councilor from Mississippi State University for 16 years. Powe participated in numerous committees and special projects during his tenure and was elected chair of ORAU’s Council of Sponsoring Institutions. He died in 1996.
Recipients of the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Awards for the 2025-2026 academic year are listed below:
| ORAU Award Recipient | Member Institution |
| Pan He | Auburn University |
| Katherine Rush | Auburn University |
| Wesley Chang | Drexel University |
| Yan Zeng | Florida State University |
| Hui Leung | Indiana University Bloomington |
| Jiahui Shen | Indiana University Bloomington |
| Chenshu Liu | Lehigh University |
| Kaixiong Zhou | North Carolina State University |
| Veronica Roman-Reyna | Penn State University |
| Sunghee Park | Purdue University |
| Yonglong Xie | Rice University |
| Oana Cojocaru | Tennessee Technological University |
| Samson Zhou | Texas A&M University |
| Eung-Joo Lee | University of Arizona |
| Yannick Salamin | University of Central Florida |
| Benjamin Yavitt | University of Cincinnati |
| Stephanie Cone | University of Delaware |
| Lihong Zhao | University of Houston |
| Abby South | University of Louisiana at Lafayette (Sponsored by Oakland University) |
| Geoffrey Diederich | University of Maryland, Baltimore County |
| Anhar Bhuiyan | University of Massachusetts Lowell |
| Daniel Afosah | University of North Texas |
| Shuozhi Xu | University of Oklahoma |
| Elizabeth Zumpe | University of Oklahoma |
| Deanna Ibrahim | University of Pittsburgh |
| Richard Walker | University of Tennessee at Chattanooga |
| Poulami Das | University of Texas at Austin |
| Nicholas Hunter-Jones | University of Texas at Austin |
| Laisuo Su | University of Texas at Dallas |
| Katja Kasimatis | University of Virginia |
| Md Shirajum Munir | University of West Georgia |
| Ziyu Wang | Utah State University |
| Fabio Gomes | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Charity Scott | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Sweta Agrawal | Virginia Tech |
| Cong Su | Yale University |