##  [UBC Engineering profs receive UBC Faculty Research Awards](/news/2022/ubc-engineering-profs-receive-ubc-faculty-research-awards) 

   Posted March 29, 2022 

 

/sites/default/files/announcement-images/2022-03/panorama_0.jpg

Nemkumar Banthia, Gwynn Elfring and Anna Blakney

Three UBC Engineering researchers are among this year's UBC Faculty Research Award recipients, who were announced by the [Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation (VPRI)](https://research.ubc.ca/) today.

Professor of civil engineering [Dr. Nemkumar Banthia](https://civil.ubc.ca/faculty/nemkumar-banthia/) has been awarded the Jacob Biely Research Prize, UBC's "premier award for research". Dr. Banthia, who also serves as a Senior Canada Research Chair and the Scientific Director and CEO of [IC-IMPACTS](https://ic-impacts.com/), is an internationally recognized leader in the field of concrete materials and structures whose innovations have made a significant impact around the world.

Image

 ![Nemy Banthia](/sites/default/files/styles/original_image/public/2022-03/NemkumarBanthia2.jpg.webp?itok=FN5QtZM2)

 



  
Associate mechanical engineering professor [Dr. Gwynn Elfring](https://mech.ubc.ca/gwynn-elfring/) received a UBC Killam Accelerator Research Fellowship, which aims to support "early-career researchers ready to launch the next stage of their careers." The leader of the Soft Matter Group in UBC's [Laboratory for Complex & Non-Newtonian Fluid Flow](http://www.math.ubc.ca/~FluidLab/), Dr. Ewing is working to illuminate the mechanics of soft matter such as liquids.

[Dr. Anna Blakney](https://www.bme.ubc.ca/person/anna-blakney/), an assistant professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering and Michael Smith Laboratories, was recognized for her "active and creative sharing of research expertise through news media" with a President's Award for Public Education through Media. Dr. Blakney, who joined UBC in January 2021, was part of a team that developed an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 at Imperial College London and became a trusted source of information about mRNA technology during the pandemic.

Image

 ![Anna Blakney](/sites/default/files/styles/original_image/public/2022-03/AnnaBlakney2.jpg.webp?itok=W_KeKxwt)

 



  
The Faculty Research Awards seek to "recognize the research excellence and scholarly achievements of faculty from across all disciplines", according to the VPRI. A reception in honour of the recipients will be held on June 3, 2022.

For more information about the awards and their recipients, please see the [announcement](https://prizes.research.ubc.ca/news-announcements/faculty-research-award-winners-2021) on the VPRI website.



- Awards
- Engineering
- Research Excellence
- Women in Engineering