Ole Miss launches research awards, honors 12 faculty members

A chemistry innovator, a particle physicist and a pharmaceutics researcher were among 12 Ole Miss faculty members recognized when the university opened a new awards program meant to showcase research with consequences far beyond campus.

The inaugural Chancellor’s Awards for Research and Creative Scholarship were presented Tuesday, April 29, 2025, at The Inn at Ole Miss. University leaders said the ceremony included trophies and monetary awards, and that the new program is designed to recognize up to nine faculty members each year for excellence in more recent research or creative scholarship at the university.

The awards are meant to complement the university’s longtime Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award, which honors a faculty member for national or international recognition over an entire career. Ole Miss also tied the new program to its R1 status, the Carnegie Classification mark for institutions with the highest level of research activity, underscoring how much the university wants its research reputation to carry weight outside academic circles.

Among the honorees, Nathan Hammer was recognized for work tied to a U.S. patent. Hammer is the Margaret McLean Coulter Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry; he joined the University of Mississippi in 2007, earned tenure in 2013 and received an NSF CAREER Award in 2010. Michael Repka, a distinguished professor of pharmaceutics and drug delivery and director of the Pii Center for Pharmaceutical Technology, was honored for technology his team helped pioneer. The Office of Technology Commercialization recognized both Hammer and Repka as UM Inventors after their teams earned U.S. patents last year.

Breese Quinn received the Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award. Quinn is a professor of physics and astronomy and director of the Center for Multi-messenger Astrophysics. John C. Higginbotham, vice chancellor for research and economic development, said Quinn’s work in particle physics and his mentorship have brought national attention to the university and inspired the next generation of scientists. Chancellor Glenn Boyce told the honorees to keep setting a high bar and to help inspire young researchers.

For Lafayette County, the message reaches past academic applause. A university that rewards invention and scholarship can strengthen the local economy, attract talent, support graduate education and feed the kinds of knowledge jobs that help hospitals, businesses, classrooms and startups around Oxford. The 2025 ceremony highlighted how research at Ole Miss spans chemistry, pharmaceutical technology and physics, not just one discipline.

The program did not stop with its first year. Ole Miss held a second annual Chancellor’s Awards ceremony on April 7, 2026, recognizing nine faculty members, showing the university has already turned the new awards into an annual way to put research on display.