Awards

Dr. Doerksen

  • School of Pharmacy Distinguished Teaching Scholar, 7/2017-12/2017
  • School of Pharmacy Faculty Service Award, 2015-2016
  • School of Pharmacy Faculty Instructional Innovation Award, 2011-2012
  • School of Pharmacy Faculty Service Award, 2010-2011
  • Junior Investigator, NIH Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Centers of Research Excellence-Natural Products Neuroscience, 2009-2015
  • Phi Lambda Sigma, Pharmacy Leadership Society, Elected in 2009
  • Rho Chi, Academic Honors Society in Pharmacy, Elected in 2009
  • Who’s Who in America, 2008, 2009
  • American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy New Investigator Award, 2007-2008
  • Searle Award Nominee, University of Mississippi, 2005
  • Fellow of University of Mississippi’s Faculty Research Program, 2004-2005
  • Top 5 in the ‘Science’ category for the ComputerWorld 21st Century Achievement Award, 2003
    • Supercomputer computations by RJ Doerksen in the antimicrobial polymer project (supported by National Institutes of Health) were chosen as the Case Study in the Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center’s nomination for their new Lemieux Terascale Computer
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada Postgraduate Scholarship, 1995-1997
  • Best Physical or Theoretical Student, UNB Chemistry Department, 1996, 1997, 1998

Dr. Pankaj Pandey

  • Travel award to attend NSF-sponsored workshop on “Multiscale Theory and Simulation”, Chicago, IL, June 2012
  • Who’s Who for The University of Mississippi 2013-2014
  • 2013 Nobles-Sam Graduate Research Award from the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Mississippi, bestowed on the student with the best podium presentation at the annual MALTO meeting (May 2013)
  • NIH Predoctoral Fellow 2013 “Structural insights into CB2 agonist/antagonist-induced conformation changes on CB2 receptor” sponsored by the Center of Research Excellence in Natural Products Neuroscience (CORE-NPN), University of Mississippi (October 2013)
  • Best Graduate Student Central Nervous System Oral Presentation at the 2013 Southeast Regional IDeA Meeting, Little Rock, AR (Nov. 2013)
  • UM Graduate Student Achievement Award (1 of only 2 for University of Mississippi, School of Pharmacy) (2014-2015)
  • $1,150 Chemical Computing Group Research Excellence Award in Medicinal Chemistry Student Travel Award Stipend for the 2015 Spring American Chemical Society National Meeting (Mar 2015)
  • 2014/2015 ACS Graduate Research Award from The Olemiss Local Section and The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Apr 2015)
  • 2nd place in the Applied Neuroscience poster section of the First Neuroscience Research Showcase, The University of Mississippi (Apr 2015)
  • 2015 Nobles-Sam Graduate Research Award from the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Mississippi, bestowed on the student with the best podium presentation at the annual MALTO meeting (May 2015)
  • Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship (Fall 2015)
  • First Place at the MCBIOS XII (Midsouth Computational Biology & Bioinformatics Society), Postdoctoral Oral Presentation, Memphis, TN (Mar 2016)
  • MCBIOS-JMP Young Scientist Excellence Award (Postdoctoral Fellows: Honorable Mention) at the MidSouth Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Society (MCBIOS) Annual Meeting in Starkville MS, Mar 2018
  • Ronald F. Borne Outstanding Postdoctoral Poster Presentation Award at the 45th Annual MALTO Meeting, College Station TX, May 2018
  • Honor Society Memberships: Phi Kappa Phi (2012), Rho Chi (2012)

AyoOluwa Aderibigbe

  • MidSouth Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Society (MCBIOS) Annual Meeting in Starkville, MS, Mar 29-31, 2018. AyoOluwa won an MCBIOS-JMP Young Scientist Excellence Award (Students: 2nd Place).
  • 2018 Nobles-Sam Graduate Research Award from the Division of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Mississippi, bestowed on the student with the best podium presentation at the annual MALTO meeting (May 2018)
  • Honor Society Memberships: Phi Kappa Phi (2018), Rho Chi (2018)

Dr. Shuneize Slater

  • NIH Predoctoral Fellow, Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) in Natural Products Neuroscience (2011)
  • Second Place Winner in the Graduate School Forum Annual Poster Session (Apr 2014)
  • Second Place Winner in the Annual Malaria Day Poster Session (Apr 2014)
  • First Place at the MCBIOS XII (Midsouth Computational Biology & Bioinformatics Society), Poster Presentation in Biological Bioinformatics, Little Rock, AR (Mar 2015)
  • Honor Society Membership: Phi Kappa Phi (2010), Rho Chi (2014)

Dr. Manal Nael

  • Thomas L. Lemke Outstanding Poster Presentation Award for best poster, Forty-First Annual MALTO Medicinal Chemistry-Pharmacognosy Meeting in-Miniature, Memphis, TN, May 2014
  • Selected to represent MS NSF EPSCoR Comp Chem in the 2015 National NSF EPSCoR meeting, Portsmouth NH (Nov 2015)
  • Graduate Student Council (GSC) Research Award (2015-2016)
  • UM Graduate Student Achievement Award (1 of only 2 for University of Mississippi, School of Pharmacy) (2015-2016)
  • Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship (Spring 2016)
  • Honor Society Memberships: Phi Kappa Phi (2013), Rho Chi (2014), Golden Key (2015), Gamma Beta Phi (2015)

Dr. Veena Gadepalli (Pharm.D. student, 2011-2016)

  • 1st place poster presentation, Rho Chi Research Day, University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, 9/2013
  • University of Mississippi Luckyday Scholar (8/2008-5/2012)
  • UM Department of Medicinal Chemistry Distinguished Citation for Outstanding Contributions to the Research Mission of Medicinal Chemistry, 2012-2013
  • UM Department of BioMolecular Sciences Distinguished Citation for Outstanding Contributions to the Research Mission of the Department, 2013-2014; 2014-2015
  • Honor Society Membership: Gamma Beta Phi (4/2009-5/2012); Alpha Lambda Delta (4/2009-5/2012); National Society of Collegiate Scholars (8/2008-5/2012); Delta Phi Alpha (National German Honor Society) (2/2010-5/2012)

Dion Kevin (Pharm.D. student, 2009-2014)

  • UM University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy Student Research Fellowship 2011-2012
  • UM Department of Medicinal Chemistry Distinguished Citation for Outstanding Contributions to the Research Mission of Medicinal Chemistry, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2012

Dr. Khaled Elokely

  • UM Graduate Student Achievement Award (1 of only 2 for University of Mississippi, School of Pharmacy) (2012-2013)
  • Teach-Discover-Treat KNIME Award to attend American Chemical Society 245th Meeting, K. M. Elokely, R. J. Doerksen, “Structure-based drug design for trypanosomal PDEB1”, Apr 2013
  • Honor Society Membership: Rho Chi (2011)

Dr. Gang Fu (8/2007–5/2012)

  • UM Graduate Student Achievement Award (1 of only 2 for University of Mississippi, School of Pharmacy) (2011-2012)
  • 2011 Nobles-Sam Graduate Research Award from the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Mississippi, bestowed on the student with the best podium presentation at the annual MALTO meeting (May 2011)
  • 2011 Graduate Student Research Award presented by the Ole Miss Local Section of the American Chemical Society (April 2011)
  • Graduate School Council Annual Research Day Prize for Best Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Mississippi (April 11, 2011)
  • Graduate School Council research grant by The University of Mississippi (2010-2011)
  • NIH Predoctoral Fellow 2008 “Virtual Screening of the ZINC Natural Products Database for Rational Discovery of Anti-Alzheimer’s Disease Agents” sponsored by the Center of Research Excellence in Natural Products Neuroscience (CORE-NPN), The University of Mississippi (October 2009)
  • Honor Society Membership: Rho Chi (2010)

Dr. Pankaj Daga (8/2005–5/2010)

  • Travel award by NRBSC/Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center, Pittsburgh, PA for attending the workshop “Methods and Applications of Hybrid QM/MM Simulations to Biomolecular systems” (Sep 2007)
  • Nobles-Sam Graduate Student Research Award for best graduate student oral presentation by a University of Mississippi, Department of Medicinal Chemistry PhD student at the 2008 MALTO Medicinal Chemistry / Pharmacognosy Meeting, Little Rock, AR (May 2008)
  • Travel award by Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, The University of Mississippi, for attending the “Gordon Research Conference: Oceans and Human Health” (June 2008)
  • NIH Predoctoral Fellow 2008 “Novel Approaches Towards Neurodegenerative Diseases: Design of Semi-Synthetic Latrunculin B Analogs” sponsored by the Center of Research Excellence in Natural Products Neuroscience (CORE-NPN), The University of Mississippi (Oct 2008)
  • UM Graduate Student Achievement Award (1 of only 2 for University of Mississippi, School of Pharmacy) (2008-2009)
  • Graduate School Council research grant by The University of Mississippi (2008-2009)
  • Certificate for Honorable Mention, Graduate Student Poster Competition at 8th Annual Oxford International Conference on the Science of Botanicals, Oxford MS (Apr 2009)
  • ACS Graduate Student Travel Grant, by American Chemical Society, AGRO division, for presenting the poster at 238th ACS National Meeting, Washington, DC (Aug 2009)
  • NIH Predoctoral Fellow 2009 “Predictive Statistical Models for CB2 Receptor agonists Using Machine Learning Methods and Their Use in Drug Design” sponsored by the Center of Research Excellence in Natural Products Neuroscience (CORE-NPN), The University of Mississippi (Oct 2009)
  • Honor Society Membership: Phi Kappa Phi (2006), Rho Chi (2008)

Dr. Prasanna Sivaprakasam (12/2004–4/2009)

  • UM Graduate Student Achievement Award (1 of only 2 for University of Mississippi, School of Pharmacy) (2007-2008)
  • The American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) 2008 Student Poster Award for poster presentation at 7th International Conference on Science and Botanicals-4th Interim ASP meeting held from April 30th – May 3rd 2008 at the University of Mississippi
  • 2007 Natural Products Neuroscience Fellow, The Center of Research Excellence in Natural Products Neuroscience (CORE-NPN), The University of Mississippi
  • First place graduate student oral presentation in the Health Sciences division, 2007 Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences, Starkville, MS, February 21-23
  • Thomas L. Lemke Outstanding Poster Presentation Award for best poster, Thirty-Fourth Annual MALTO Medicinal Chemistry-Pharmacognosy Meeting in-Miniature, Monroe, LA, May 20-22, 2007.
  • Selected as only student to represent the state of Mississippi to present a poster at the NSF EPSCoR National Meeting, November 2007, Hawaii.
  • Graduate Research Award/Nobles-Sam Award, for the best MALTO presentation by a University of Mississippi Department of Medicinal Chemistry Graduate Student at the annual MALTO conference (May 2007) for the year 2006-2007
  • Poster award at the 14th Conference on Current Trends in Computational Chemistry, Jackson, MS, November 2005.
  • Honor Society Membership: Rho Chi (2008)