Grants, Honors & Awards

Major Grants and External Funding

NSF Award #2319157 (PI)
ATD: Stochastic Obstacle Scene Problem with Adversarial Agents
$300,000 (2023–2026)
ONR Grant #N00014-22-1-2572 (PI)
Adversarial Risk Analysis for Optimal Obstacle Evasion
$358,000 (2022–2024)
Simons Collaboration Grant (MPS-TSM-00855850)
Graph Theoretic Learning and Spatial Methods
$42,000 (2021–2026)
NSF Award DMS-1638521 (Co-PI & Deputy Director, SAMSI)
Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute
$3,097,333/year (2017–2020)
Marie Curie IOF (EU-FP7)
PRinHDD – Pattern Recognition in High Dimensional Data
€233,921 (2013–2015)
TÜBİTAK 1001 Research Grant (PI)
July 2012 – July 2013
TÜBİTAK Career Development Grant (PI)
February 2008 – February 2011

Marguerite Scharnagle Endowed Professorship
College of Sciences and Mathematics, Auburn University (2024)
Marie Kraska Award for Excellence in Teaching
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Auburn University (2024)
Phi Kappa Phi Love of Learning Award (2024)
Member, Global Teaching Academy and Phi Beta Delta Honor Society (2024)
TWAS Young Affiliate Fellow (2012–2016)
Elected Member, International Statistical Institute (ISI) (since 2011)
Global Young Academy Member (2013–2018)
Research Fellow, SAMSI (2013–2014)
Abel Wolman Fellowship, Johns Hopkins University (2000–2001)
Harvard–Koç Visiting Scholarship (Summer 2007)

Featured in Auburn Stories as part of AI Across Campus series for my two AI-integrated teaching contributions to “AI in Teaching and Learning Showcase” with the title "Faculty implementations leading curriculum advancement", Auburn News, June 23, 2025, which was also highlighted in AU Wire.
Organizing Chair, ASA AL–MS 2025 Annual Meeting
Featured in MSU News and NewsBreak: MSU News | NewsBreak
Contributor, Biggio Center AI Showcase (2025)
Reflections: “Compare Traditional Computational Results to AI-Enhanced Analysis” and “Student Perspectives on AI in Education”
Featured Article, VerticalNews for Computational Geometry publication (2010)
Statistician Job of the Week, Statistics2013.org (Oct 2013)
Featured in: Marie Curie Alumni Association Newsletter (2015), KU Alumni E-Bulletin (2005), and Kule Magazine (2009)
Marquis Who’s Who listings:
Who’s Who in the World (2010–2016), Who’s Who in America (2018), Lifetime Achievement Award (2017)

Funded attendance at ISI World Congresses: Durban (2009), Hong Kong (2013), Rio (2015)
Participant: Global Young Academy Meeting, Santiago, Chile (2014)
European Science Foundation Scholarship — IASC-ERS Summer School, Pamporovo, Bulgaria (2009)