The exceptional quality of nominations for the Spring 2026 cycle of the Core Staff Recognition Awards made this one of the most competitive periods in the program’s history. While nomination itself is a significant honor, the award review committee was tasked with the difficult challenge of weighing a record number of high-caliber submissions against rigorous award criteria to identify the degrees of separation necessary to select our final recipients.
Deeply impressed by the caliber of work being performed across campus, the selection committee has opted to award cash prizes to both our winners ($1,000) and our runners-up ($250) in each category this year. It is our pleasure to announce the six award recipients from this cycle:
Category: Performance Excellence
Winner: Liz Anderson (Division of Comparative Medicine, Preclinical Research Unit)
Nominators celebrated Liz as a champion of rigor and reproducibility who proactively identifies and resolves data variability concerns while establishing “best practice” guidance for investigators. Her leadership and operational support during a core merger was also noted as critical to support the seamless transition in services during the transition. One nominator said “Liz Anderson exemplifies performance excellence through precise, strategic execution in some of the most technically complex research environments at UNC-CH. Her work is defined by careful planning, rigorous implementation, and disciplined follow through.” Finally, her nominators spoke of development of comprehensive training programs that ensure personnel are competent and compliant before entering high-containment environments, effectively building institutional resilience and supporting high-impact research safely.
Runner-Up: Viktoriya Nikolova (Psychiatry, IDDRC Mouse Behavioral Phenotyping Core).
Viktoriya’s nominators also highlighted her impact to the core facility during a period of transition. Her operational leadership of the core after the retirement of the core director ensured that despite transitional upheaval, core customers were met with the same unwavering technical and service-oriented support across a variety of research platforms.
Category: Customer Service
Winner: Cristina Arciniega (Chemistry, Chemistry Mass Spectrometry Core)
Cristina’s nominators spoke to the critical impact of her presence on the Chemistry Mass Spectrometry Core-highlighting her service-oriented mindset, flexibility in navigating changing customer needs, and ability to seamlessly support a diverse clientele. One nominator highlighted: “Cristina expertly recognizes the scientific background of each customer and tailors her communication style accordingly… Her grounded communication not only reflects a high degree of scientific integrity but is also essential in providing the
best possible outcomes for each client.” Multiple nominators, including faculty members trainees, spoke to her desire to fully understand the research project tin order to get the customer what they need to answer their research questions; further, her lab-mates in the core not only take notice of this as well but also view her as a role model for providing excellent service in the core facility.
Runner-Up: Hao Zhou (Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC), LCCC Bioinformatics Core
Hao’s nominators highlighted his support not only of individual investigators but also of other core facilities. They recognized his essential impact, reliability and institution-wide value-add of working tirelessly behind the scenes to support research within the cancer center. To quote one nominator: “His ability to plan and execute complex changes without disrupting users has been critical to maintaining trust in our services… [He is] an outstanding team member who contributes to a collaborative and effective core environment.”
Category: Technical Achievement
Winner: Simone Frank (NC TraCS Instittue, TraCS Protocol Pipeline Core)
Simone’s nominators highlighted her end-to-end development and operationalization of Community Feedback Sessions (CFS) at UNC within the NC Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, leadership of the PaCER program to result in a 97% researcher satisfaction rate, and her contribution to science through scholarly authorship and willingness and enthusiasm for mentorship and training of her colleagues in the methods she has established. One nomination stated that “[Simone Frank] has translated engagement science into a reproducible, efficient service model that researchers consistently rely on to improve study design, recruitment strategies, and funding competitiveness.”
Runner-Up: Clara Lenger (Med Administration, Cryo-EM Core)
Clara Lenger’s nominators highlighted her personal development of Ni-NTA lipid affinity grids, resulting in high-impact scholarly publications and a forthcoming authorship for a methods paper. Clara also has demonstrated significant professional growth in serving a broad customer base, always willing to go above and beyond to help support research questions as they arise.
We also want to recognize the other nominees during this cycle:
- Ayrianna Woody (Flow Cytometry Core)
- Anna Jojic (NCTraCS Informatics and Data Science Core)
- Baba Mass (Nutrigenomics Core)
- Casey Lunkley (BRIC Human Imaging)
- Gabriela de la Cruz (Pathology Services Core)
- Janette Goins (NC TraCS Clinical and Translational Research Center)
- Joshua Strauss* (Cryo-EM Core)
- Kaitlin Calhoun (NC TraCS)
- Mark Ross (Preclinical Research Unit)
- Mike Vernon (Functional Genomics Core)
- Robert Immormino (Flow Cytometry Core)
- Samantha Carroll (NORC Clinical Research Core)
- Tessa-Jonne Roppe (Neuroscience Microscopy Core, Carolina Microscopy)
- Venkata Chirasani* (R.L. Juliano Structural Bioinformatics Core)
*Nominated but ineligible for consideration
The next cycle of the Core Staff Recognition Program will be open for nomination from November 1-30, 2026.