This year’s recipients of the UNM Faculty Mentored Research Award (FMRA) focused on research that evaluates strategies for promoting student success at UNM.

The FMRA is awarded annually by UNM’s Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) and the Undergraduate Research, Arts and Design Network (URAD). Awardees must demonstrate a strong research partnership between a faculty mentor and their student mentee(s). In addition to quality of research and research outcomes, this award recognizes successes in developing a collaborative relationship and prioritizes aspects of the research process that contribute to professional growth of the student.

This year, OVPR and URAD leadership selected two sets of winning teams:

  • Assistant Professor Anjali Mulchandani | Kamryn Zachek
  • Jake Greenberg, Ph.D. | Solomon Gbara | Audrey Lee

Assistant Professor Anjali Mulchandani – who directs the Water Science Communication Fellowship – partnered with Economics and Philosophy major Kamryn Zachek to conduct a mentored research project that evaluates the outcomes of the fellowship.

Zachek’s study demonstrates that participation in research contributes to academic success by improving self-efficacy and confidence among undergraduate students. She presented at last year’s UNM’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Conference (UROC). Zachek is now the student leader for the Water Communication Fellowship program, passing along the skills she has learned to other undergraduate scholars.

“As a mentor, I am overjoyed and thrilled to have a student like Kamryn working alongside me. She is among the brightest undergraduates at UNM, and it has been my distinct privilege to work with her. She has been the driving force behind the Grand Challenge Water Science Communication Fellowship and exemplifies the argument of her own paper: students who participate in interdisciplinary undergraduate research grow with respect to personal confidence, ownership of their project, and identity as a researcher,” Mulchandani said.

Jake Greenberg is a lecturer in the University College’s Foundational Math program and leads a research group focused on investigating student success in higher education.

Last year, Greenberg worked with Finance major Solomon Gbara and Chemical and Biological Engineering major Audrey Lee to complete two distinct, but complementary research projects focused on the how UNM’s Foundational Math incomplete pathways affects academic outcomes for UNM students. Lee and Gbara also presented their results at UROC.

“Both students inspire me to do better,” Greenberg said. “I have adopted a strategy of reading about mentorship strategies when working with undergraduates to maximize our time together, so we can all be as productive as possible.”

As part of UNM’s WeR1 initiative, this award develops UNM’s tenet “Research IS Education” by promoting a culture of diverse research participation, advancing UNM students into successful futures, and increasing capacity for research to impact society.

Faculty award recipients will receive a $2,500 prize to be awarded as an honorarium or a contribution to their research index. Student recipients will receive a $1,500 cash prize. Both teams will be publicly recognized during the 2024 Research & Discovery Week in November.

“We received many outstanding nominations for the award this year and simply could not pass up the opportunity to recognize both of these outstanding teams,” said Ellen Fisher, UNM vice president for research. “Dr. Mulchandani and Dr. Greenberg have each invested substantially in developing formal research mentorship programs that address a breadth of research skills and foster student growth and success beyond the scope of their research projects. It is perhaps no surprise that both winning collaborations this year focused on measuring student success.”