President's Awards

Eligibility

ASU faculty and staff may apply. Teams can develop ideas and can take many forms. Applicants must develop, complete, implement and show measurable results from their project or program. Interested applicants must be prequalified for final applications.

Prequalification proposal submissions are open from Dec. 27, 2023, through Feb. 26, 2024.

Submit prequalification proposal

Submit prequalification proposal

A committee will review each submission and determine if the proposed project or program aligns with the selected award. Those who align will receive an official invitation to apply in early 2024.

Contact Patty Rosciano for inquiries about submitted proposals.

Accepted applicants

Invited projects or programs selected will receive an awards packet detailing the second part of the application process:

• Adhering to the application submission deadline.
• Attending an informational and writers’ workshop to assist you in your submission.
• Ensuring the project meets the full award criteria.
•  Include detailed information on your application, such as contact information, abstract, and document requirements.

Please email the program coordinator for additional resources.

Submit final applications by 5 p.m., April 29, 2024. The committee will provide further information in the awards packet. A committee will review all completed submissions and select the final President’s Awards recipients. The program coordinator will notify award recipients and provide award ceremony details.

Project Award category descriptions

President’s Award for Innovation

This award recognizes ASU personnel who demonstrate the university’s commitment to higher education through the development and execution of innovative projects, programs, initiatives, services and techniques. Solutions may be motivated by social, economic, artistic or intellectual challenges and should reflect a clear commitment to positive change while creating value for the university and the broader community. Ideas might include these elements:

• Collaborative initiatives involving departments, external communities or institutions that yield mutually beneficial outcomes.
• Revolutionary processes that serve as exemplars in any field and are scaled or used within ASU and beyond.
• Modern methods that drive the success of ASU’s academic community of students and scholars — e.g., recruitment, programming, research and learning.
• Imaginative solutions to social, economic, political, environmental or other global challenges that meet present and future needs.

President’s Award for Innovation criteria.

President’s Award for Sustainability

This award recognizes sustainability principles, solutions, programs or services that may serve as a catalyst or an example for adoption by other ASU units. Sustainability projects and programs must model one or more of the following:

• Collaborative action among scientists, scholars, business leaders, students and community leaders that enhances our collective capacity to address sustainability challenges.
• Campus operations, including the development of campus events, business practices or policies that promote and enhance ASU’s goals of climate positivity, a circular resource system and optimized water use.
• Teaching and learning involving faculty, staff and students promoting sustainability practices and solving sustainability problems locally, nationally or globally.
• Use-inspired research that is a collaboration between university researchers and their internal and external partners to develop solutions addressing sustainability’s environmental, economic and social challenges.

President’s Award for Sustainability criteria.

President’s Award for Transdisciplinary Collaboration

The Arizona State University President’s Award for Transdisciplinary Collaboration seeks to recognize multidisciplinary project teams that have undertaken exemplary trans-sectoral collaboration addressing a complex societally relevant issue. These research teams work collaboratively with actively engaged participants from different sectors — academia, business and industry, government laboratories, agencies and organizations in civil society.

The approach to transdisciplinary collaboration exemplified in this award aligns with ASU’s design aspirations of transdisciplinary intellectual fusion and use-inspired research. Successful projects will feature signature characteristics of Highly Integrative Basic and Responsive research projects. HIBAR projects pursue fundamental knowledge while addressing urgent societal challenges and integrate theories, concepts and methodologies across disciplines and beyond university walls.

The President’s Award for Transdisciplinary Collaboration will be awarded to a research team whose leadership includes at least one researcher who is a member of the ASU academic community and at least one affiliated with a societal partner organization. A societal partner organization can be a government agency or laboratory, a for-profit company or a non-profit organization. Researchers in all fields are eligible to apply.

Exemplary transdisciplinary and cross-sectoral projects integrate the following characteristics:

• Dual motivations or integrated purposes that seek new knowledge and address a critical societal challenge. These purposes lead project teams to draw from a more comprehensive set of knowledge and skills.
• Shared leadership by academic and non-academic researchers representing wider society, working in a collaborative and equitable partnership. Participants from different sectors make more informed decisions when working together, including decisions regarding project goals, direction, theories, concepts and methods.
• Sustained urgency is a hallmark of a HIBAR project. Team members are intensely focused on addressing a societal program while recognizing that fundamental understanding requires sustained effort and must be guided by responsible research and innovation principles.

President’s Award for Transdisciplinary Collaboration criteria.

President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness

This award recognizes recipients for designing and facilitating new models for positive university-community collaborations. Social embeddedness is one of ASU’s eight design aspirations, encompassing new ways of thinking about how ASU and communities can partner in mutually beneficial ways. Socially embedded projects or programs may be related to one or more of the following actions:

Capacity building: Enable ASU and community organizations and institutions to become strong and effective by providing opportunities for mutual support, training and access to resources and information.
Civic engagement: Cultivate an environment that encourages faculty, staff, students and the community to actively and responsibly engage in issues of public importance throughout their lifetime.
Community-based teaching and learning: Involve faculty, staff, students and the community in discovery, solving problems or maximizing learning and growing opportunities.
Knowledge exchange: Build bridges between the university and community by translating groundbreaking research into accessible and meaningful information that the public can use and working with partners to leverage knowledge and expertise as we work together to tackle complex issues.
Use-inspired research: Advance relevant inquiry by leveraging community input, knowledge and needs.

President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness criteria.

President's Award for Global Engagement

This award is by nomination. Please reach out to the Office of the President for more information.

Recipients

2024

Zelaki Project: Partners ASU’s Engineers Without Borders with Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa Institute of Technology to address conservation and community challenges.

2023

YouthMappers at ASU: Engages in global mapping activities to address humanitarian and development needs.

2022

Pamela DeLargy: recognized for her contributions.

2024

Annotation-Efficient Deep Learning for Computer-Aided Diagnosis in Medical Imaging: Develops annotation-efficient CAD technology for medical imaging.

Humanities Lab: Enables students to research social challenges collaboratively.

2023

Dreamscape Learn: Combines immersive technology with cinematic storytelling for experiential education.

Online Undergraduate Research Scholars (OURS): Provides scalable research opportunities for ASU online students.

2022

Clean Indoor Air Project: Enhances air quality in Arizona classrooms with portable air cleaners.

Map and Geospatial Hub 3D Explorer: Offers a virtual tour of ASU’s geospatial library resources.

2021

NatureMaker: Provides hands-on resources on biomimicry and biomechanics.

Study Hall: Prepares learners for college via engaging YouTube content.

2020

Law and Behavioral Science Initiative: Explores the intersection of law and psychology for impactful research.

2024

ASU Eco Reps: Trains students as sustainability stewards in residential communities.

Shared Vehicle Fleet Pilot: Demonstrates the benefits of a shared electric vehicle fleet for sustainability.

Sustainability Consortium: Advances global consumer product sustainability.

2023

Sustainability Analyst Certificate Program: Offers applied courses for sustainability workforce development.

Sustainable Purchasing Research Initiative: Expands knowledge for sustainable purchasing globally.

2022

Garden Commons: Supports food education and sustainability through a community hub at ASU.

2020

Produce Rescue at ASU: Reduces food waste by redistributing produce across Arizona.

2019

Banner Bag Program: Repurposes discarded banners into upcycled tote bags.

2024

Language and Dyslexia Screening Questionnaire: Provides bilingual dyslexia assessments for children.

2023

Global Locust Initiative: Advances pest management solutions globally.

Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems: Promotes organic agriculture for health and sustainability.

2024

Arizona STEM Acceleration Project: Enhances STEM education statewide with resources and funding to Arizona’s K–12 educators.

Rio Reimagined: Revitalizes the Salt and Gila River corridor.

RV CoLab Future Cities Program: Empowering Community Voices through Immersive Technology: Uses immersive technology for urban planning through public engagement.

2023

ASU Helios Decision Center for Educational Excellence: Supports educational excellence through collaborations across Arizona.

Maryvale One Square Mile Initiative: Engages in community-driven transformation efforts.

Targeted Investments Program Quality Improvement Collaborative: Promotes equity for Medicaid patients through healthcare collaboration.

2022

Bridging Success: Provides support for foster care alumni at ASU.

Libraries as Community Hubs for Citizen Science: Provide libraries with open-source physical and digital resources to support patron engagement in citizen science. 

Project Cities: Links students with communities for sustainability projects.

STEM and Social Capital: Advancing Families through Learning and Doing: Encourages STEM careers for students in grades 7-12 with refugee backgrounds.

ASU Inside-Out Prison Exchange: Combines education for incarcerated and ASU students.

2021

Guadalupe COVID-19 Response Team: Provides tailored health education to mitigate COVID-19 spread.

School Participatory Budgeting: Empowers 47 Arizona K-12 schools and students in school-wide civic engagement.

Thrive in the 05: Addresses social challenges in vulnerable communities.

2020

Survivor Link: Trains domestic violence advocates and provides community support.