The Research Technical Staff Award recognizes staff for their distinguished service to the University of Minnesota (UMN) research community and celebrates exemplary leadership that positively impacted their colleagues and advanced the University's mission.
Each of the 10 recipients below was awarded a personal honorarium of $2,000. Selected quotes are taken from the nomination materials.
Jason Agnich is the marine technician aboard the UMN’s research vessel, the RV Blue Heron, and has been a vital part of its operations since 1998. He manages the complex scientific instrumentation on this million-dollar research platform, which supports investigators from across the country. Jason is responsible for installing, operating, and maintaining all ship-provided technical systems, including meteorological, water sampling, and geophysical equipment. He also designed and built the vessel's computer network and satellite communications systems. His role is critical in assisting visiting scientists, ensuring their diverse instrumentation can be seamlessly integrated with the ship’s power and data systems for projects on the Great Lakes and in expeditions as far as East Africa and Kyrgyzstan.
“Last year, the RV Blue Heron traveled on all of the Great Lakes and Jason supported three National Science Foundation (NSF) projects with over $2.8 million in research funding. These projects investigated a wide range of subjects, from harmful algal blooms, to the release of methane from lacustrine systems, to collecting sediment to look at past environmental conditions. Non-NSF funded work on board the vessel studied the presence of microplastics in Lake Superior water and sediment, the health of the Lake Superior fisheries, and the deployment and recovery of meteorological buoys that feed weather data to the National Weather Service. Jason’s vast experience and technical know-how allows him to assist scientists with an extremely large breadth of technological needs.”
Joe Dalluge is the director of the Department of Chemistry’s Mass Spectrometry Laboratory (MSL), a position he has held for over fifteen years. In this role, he manages a suite of six leading-edge mass spectrometry platforms, providing critical expertise to academic and industrial researchers across the UMN and beyond. A prolific collaborator, Joe has co-authored 23 publications with UMN researchers from eight different departments. Under his leadership, the MSL was recognized as a Waters Center of Innovation, helped to attract top faculty, and he has been a principal investigator on grants totaling $1.2 million. He also serves on multiple NSF and NIH grant review panels and has developed laboratory modules to improve the STEM pipeline from local two-year colleges to the UMN.
"Joe’s work is highly valued, not only for his excellent leadership of the MSL, but for his support hiring new faculty and staff and perhaps most importantly for his generosity with his expertise and mentorship teaching students and young faculty. In so doing, Joe has helped many individuals establish successful careers in mass spectrometry and analytical chemistry."
Amy Gower is a research associate and methodologist recognized for her extraordinary contributions within the Medical School’s Department of Pediatrics. Her scholarly record is exceptional, with 83 peer-reviewed articles, three book chapters, and over 60 professional presentations—a level of productivity that exceeds many tenured faculty. Demonstrating remarkable leadership, Amy was recently named co-lead for a competitive Hennepin-University Collaborative Grant. She is renowned for her deep and thoughtful engagement in research design, consistently strengthening projects by championing more innovative and socially conscious statistical methods. Amy is also extremely generous with her time and expertise and works closely with postdocs and students to train them on advanced statistical methodology.
"One of the things I value most about Amy is her commitment to doing research that matters in the real world. Our work focuses on ways in which families, teachers, school programming, community organizations, policy and other aspects of the social structure can support young people, with an emphasis on reducing bullying and promoting mental health among youth. To make a difference, this work must come off the pages of academic journals and get into the hands of parents, school administrators, health care providers, and policymakers. Amy has purposefully sought out opportunities to share our results (in a translated form that is broadly accessible) in order to make a true impact.”
Michael Leiseth is the research plot manager for the Northwest Research and Outreach Center (NWROC) in Crookston. Since starting as a Research Plot Technician in 2016, Michael has shown a remarkable learning curve, earning two promotions to his current leadership role overseeing the 186-acre North Farm. A forward-thinking innovator, Michael developed a data-tracking program that has been adopted system-wide across all 10 Research and Outreach Centers (ROCs). This tool has grown to become a huge asset used to track research activities, equipment maintenance, and staff time that in turn, provides detailed reports that are used to demonstrate the productivity and value of the entire ROC system.
"Michael’s attention to detail is impressive. He often states, ‘details matter, even the smallest details matter.’ He encourages others to understand the importance of those words, especially in research... Michael does not just train employees to do research; he educates them in every aspect of research."
Cori Mattke is the associate director of the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center (MAISRC), where for the past seven years she has been vital to the center's success. She manages a complex portfolio that includes supervising staff, engaging external stakeholders, overseeing a large annual budget, and supporting center principal investigators. An exceptional supervisor and colleague, Cori is recognized for her thoughtful, solutions-oriented approach to challenges. She skillfully navigates the center’s administrative and compliance needs, stewarding its mission with a calm and effective leadership style that enables researchers and staff to thrive.
"Cori is invariably helpful, responsive, and solutions oriented. I would never hesitate to bring a problem to her... because I know she will respond in a thoughtful way, considering multiple dimensions of the challenge and arriving at a strategic solution. She stands out among all the colleagues I have had in my academic career in her calm demeanor and emotional intelligence. She is the type of person that makes all of our jobs a little better."
Tracy Otterson is the assistant manager of Molecular Diagnostics and the technical manager for test improvement and development at the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VDL). A pillar of innovation for over 26 years, Tracy leads a team of 17 scientists and has spearheaded the development or refinement of over 50 diagnostic assays. Her expertise in championing advanced sequencing technologies is crucial to the VDL's ability to perform over half a million diagnostics annually with speed and precision. Beyond the VDL, she plays a key leadership role for the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN), where she co-advises over 60 U.S. laboratories on diagnostic standards for major threats like Avian Influenza.
"A true expert in her field, Tracy is the laboratory’s go-to resource for troubleshooting complex issues... She leads the Validation and Development team with integrity and openness, reviewing projects collectively and empowering staff to share ownership of scientific progress."
Anita Porath-Krause is a research scientist and lab manager in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, where she has made exceptional contributions for over a decade. She is a cornerstone of internationally recognized research, helping coordinate a global ecological experiment spanning nearly 40 countries. In this role, she helps manage one of the most comprehensive ecological soil datasets in existence, developing protocols used by researchers worldwide and ensuring the high-quality data that has led to over 100 publications. In addition, Anita manages a shared analytical facility that supports researchers across multiple colleges, including the College of Biological Sciences, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources Sciences, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. She is also a dedicated mentor who has trained dozens of undergraduate and graduate students, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in science and medicine.
"What distinguishes Anita is not just the breadth of her contributions, but the way she exceeds expectations at every level. Her leadership and problem-solving extend well beyond her formal role—and the ripple effects are felt throughout the University." A recent undergraduate trainee added, “Anita was my first scientific mentor at the college level. I would not be the scientist I am today without her.”
Kirsten Sharpe Moser is a researcher 2 with the Dairy Program at the West Central Research and Outreach Center (WCROC) in Morris. A vital leader in the program, Kirsten has been instrumental in the tremendous growth of the organic dairy's research activity. She successfully oversees multidisciplinary projects focused on dairy management and the emerging field of agrivoltaics—the co-location of agriculture and solar panels. Her vision and expertise have been a key factor in helping the WCROC dairy program acquire over $10 million in research funding. Kirsten also excels at translating research into practical information for farmers and industry partners, coordinating the annual WCROC Organic Dairy Day and hosting numerous tours for professionals and K-12 school groups.
“Kirsten recognizes that the success of all the WCROC research programs only strengthens the impact and visibility that the WCROC has within the livestock and dairy industry. Without her ideas and collaboration, the dairy research programs would not be as strong and effective as they are today. Additionally, Kirsten is thinking forward and is always searching for ideas that will increase the dairy research capabilities at the WCROC.”
Ke Shi is the facility manager of the Nanoliter Crystallization Facility in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics. Since the facility's inception in 2009, Ke has been its sole staff member, single-handedly performing over 600 high-throughput crystallization screening experiments each year for more than 50 labs across five colleges and transforming the facility into a high-throughput structure-generation platform supporting structural biology research university-wide. His role extends far beyond technical service; leveraging his deep expertise, Ke serves as a key collaborator for researchers, guiding projects through the entire structure determination process—from harvesting crystals and collecting data at national synchrotron facilities to refining the final structures. His essential contributions have been instrumental in numerous high-impact publications, including a landmark 2020 Nature paper detailing the first crystal structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in complex with the human ACE2 receptor.
"Ke has been doing much beyond what the facility was originally meant to provide... he has served as a key collaborator in so many projects rather than simply providing technical assistance. Ke does a beautiful job in macromolecular structure modeling and refinement – he is truly an asset to the UMN structural biology community."
Lori Strayer is a data manager with the Masonic Cancer Center, where she has been an invaluable team member for nearly 20 years. She provides highly skilled data management for numerous NIH-funded grants, specializing in complex, multi-site randomized clinical trials for the Tobacco Research Programs. Her expertise in utilizing REDCap for designing and securing data collection tools is exceptional, and she is frequently sought for consultation by researchers both within and outside the UMN. Her meticulous work has been crucial to the success of studies that have contributed to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s consideration of life-saving public health policies, such as reducing nicotine in cigarettes.
"The quality of Lori’s contributions to the University’s research enterprise as a data manager is second to none. Her extraordinary dedication to excellence and her meticulous approach... have earned her a reputation as a highly skilled and sought-after professional. We recently heard leadership at the Masonic Cancer Center say, ‘the best support we could provide to all of our researchers is to provide them a Lori’."