Research award winners for 2024-25 announced

Dr. Jeremy Driskell is a University Professor of analytical chemistry at Illinois State University. Driskell has over 20 years of experience in developing point-of-need analytical devices with specific expertise in the area of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Driskell’s research program aims to demonstrate the potential impact of SERS-based detection applied to point-of-care diagnostic testing and on-scene forensic analysis by investigating the mechanism of SERS enhancement to design optimized SERS substrates. During the development of these applications, substantial effort was placed on gaining insight into the interactions of proteins with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to maximize the stability and activity of the protein-AuNP conjugate. These fundamental investigations are imperative to establish feasibility, determine limitations, and broadly facilitate rational design of AuNP-based biosensors. Driskell has procured more than $2.4 million in external funding to support his research in these areas from agencies that include the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute for Justice, and the National Institutes of Health. Driskell has published 53 peer-reviewed works, he has given 33 invited scientific talks, and his students have presented 39 posters at national meetings. As an independent investigator, Driskell was selected for a 2013 DOD-DTRA Young Investigator Award and featured as a 2015 “Emerging Investigator in Analytical Sciences” by Analytical Methods and a 2016 “Emerging Investigator in Analytical Sciences” by Analyst. In 2018 and 2019, Driskell was recognized by the Analyst as an Outstanding Reviewer, a distinction only awarded to 13 and 10 reviewers in the international scientific community, respectively. Since 2011, Driskell has mentored 28 undergraduate and 17 M.S. graduate students in his research lab, with many graduating to pursue graduate degrees from prestigious institutions, including the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, UIC, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame.

Professor Allison Harris received her B.A. in physics from Drury University in 2004 and Ph.D. in theoretical atomic physics from Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2009. Following postdoctoral training at Kansas State University, she became an assistant professor at Henderson State University in 2010 and assistant professor at Illinois State University in 2013. She received tenure and promotion to associate professor in 2017 and promotion to professor in 2021. 

Harris’ research spans three areas of physics—charged particle collisions, ultrafast physics, and biophysics—a noteworthy accomplishment in today’s era of specialized science. She is an expert in theoretical collision physics, where she helped pioneer the investigation of electron-vortex collisions and has extensively studied the interactions that govern collisions between electrons or heavy ions and atoms or molecules. Her studies in theoretical ultrafast physics examine electron motion at its natural time scale and use ultrashort sculpted laser pulses to control electrons and generate atomic states relevant for quantum computing. She also works in the field of theoretical and experimental biophysics, where in collaboration with Professor Wolfgang Stein, she pairs computer simulations with fluorescent imaging of fruit fly brains to study the neurobiology of migraines.

Harris has been funded by the National Science Foundation since 2015, published 41 peer-reviewed papers, given 15 invited and 141 contributed presentations, and mentored 28 students. Her work is internationally recognized through external appointments and high-ranking service positions, including being chair of an international conference and international workshop, executive committee member for four international conferences, reviewer for numerous journals and the NSF, and guest scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Germany. In addition, Harris has received many research and teaching awards.

Dr. Daniel Kpienbaareh is an assistant professor of geography in the Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment. He is originally from Jirapa Duori in the upper west region of Ghana. He holds a bachelor’s degree in geography and rural development (minoring in economics) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana (2011); a Master of Science in climate change science and policy from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom (2013); a Master of Science in GIS/remote sensing and cartography from the University of Akron, Ohio (2017); and a Ph.D. in geography and environment from the University of Western Ontario, Canada (2021). He currently teaches Introduction to GIS, Earth’s Dynamic Weather, Climate Change, Agriculture and Sustainable Futures, and Introduction to Environmental Systems. Kpienbaareh is an interdisciplinary human-environment researcher interested in applying geospatial techniques to explore the impacts of human-environment interactions on socio-ecological systems and design locally relevant policy options for addressing environmental challenges. Research themes include natural resource management, agroecology, food security, and environmental health. His research primarily focuses on smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (Ghana, Malawi, and Rwanda).

Dr. Pirmin Nietlisbach joined Illinois State University as assistant professor of evolutionary biology in fall 2020. Nietlisbach obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, in 2015, for investigations of inbreeding and its consequences in an island population of song sparrows. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich and, later, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Nietlisbach is an evolutionary biologist who is applying genetic methods to study evolutionary questions in populations of wild birds and mammals. His current research broadly addresses two overarching topics. In one line of research, Nietlisbach and his team study how small population size and genetic isolation affect the genetic variation and fitness of island populations of North American deermice and song sparrows at the west coast of Canada. In another line of research, Nietlisbach and his collaborators at Illinois State University investigate how birds choose their mates and what the evolutionary reasons for and the consequences of these choices are. The data to address these questions are collected in a nearby population of house wrens inhabiting nestboxes in forests along the Mackinaw River, providing ideal opportunities for undergraduate and graduate student research projects.  

Dr. Samantha McDonald started as an assistant professor of exercise science in 2020, in the School of Kinesiology and Recreation. McDonald’s primary line of research focuses on the effects of prenatal exercise on maternal, fetal, and neonatal health outcomes. Since then, she has successfully published 21 peer-reviewed articles, and one book chapter. A new textbook is in the works with the Taylor and Francis Group entitled Exercise During and After Pregnancy: Overview of Pre and Postnatal Exercise.

Ongoing research projects at Illinois State include determining an accurate methodology for assessing exercise intensity in pregnant women to prescribe the safest and most effective exercise program to positively impact prenatal, postnatal, and neonatal health. Another project in the developmental stage is evaluating the changes in skeletal muscle morphology and function throughout pregnancy. McDonald gets to work with the “biomechanics crew,” learning new methodologies to investigate this novel research area. The characteristics of skeletal muscle may change in pregnancy potentially affecting the risk of pregnancy complications, especially among minority women. Another research project she collaborates on with biomechanics is creating biomechanical and physiological profiles for Illinois State athletes with the goal of enhancing sports performance and preventing injury. This data facilitated five student-submitted abstracts to hopefully be presented at the next American College of Sports Medicine Meeting in May 2025.

The successfulness of her research extends beyond her own efforts. None of these projects would be successful without the work of high-caliber undergraduate and graduate research assistants who aided in recruitment, administering many different testing protocols, collecting data, leading exercise training, etc. The following students collectively volunteered over 500 hours of their time: Sidney McClure, Grace Redman, Stephanie Prostko, Mia Manisco, Gia Positano, Diego Soto, Blake Pettys, Brett Scott, Jadon Konkel, Logan Hibler, Will Easley, Cassie Jordan, Nathan Durre, Evan Semonis, and Ella Tilkes.

Dr. Ela Przybyło is an associate professor and graduate director in English and core faculty in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Illinois State University, developing work on disability studies and asexuality studies. She is the author and editor of several books including Asexual Erotics: Intimate Readings of Compulsory Sexuality (Ohio State University Press 2019); Ungendering Menstruation (University of Minnesota Press, May 2025); On the Politics of Ugliness (Palgrave 2018); and, with Yo-Ling Chen, Global Asexualities and Aromanticisms (in progress). Their photography looks at bodies, naturecultures, and queerness and their poetry reflects on diasporic queer Polishness and is most recently published in chapbook form with Illinois State’s Press 254 (2024). Przybyło is a founding editor of the peer-reviewed, open-access journal Feral Feminisms.