South SFV Today

Elizabeth "Beth" Ponder, executive director of Sarafan ChEM-H and the Stanford Innovative Medicines Accelerator, and Mary Tang, managing director of the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility, have been honored with the 2023 Marsh O’Neill Award for Exceptional and Enduring Support of Stanford University’s Research Enterprise. The award is administered by the Office of the Vice Provost and Dean of Research and recognizes outstanding contributions to Stanford’s research mission.

Inspired by the career of Marsh O’Neill, who served as associate director of the W.W. Hansen Laboratories from 1952 until 1990 and managed over 700 research projects, the award is presented annually to university staff members along with a $5,000 cash prize. This year, more than 20 staff members were nominated and endorsed by nearly 100 faculty colleagues.

Ponder earned her PhD in microbiology and immunology at Stanford in 2009 and returned to the university in 2014 as the founding associate director of an interdisciplinary institute now known as Sarafan ChEM-H. In this role, Ponder has combined her subject knowledge and skill sets to “set a new standard for future leaders of Stanford’s cross-school, cross-disciplinary, and cross-cultural initiatives,” said Chaitan Khosla, professor of chemistry, chemical engineering, and biochemistry.

Ponder said she was drawn to work with ChEM-H after seeing Khosla's vision of “building an institute where people do and think about science differently.”

“It’s exciting for me to come back and be part of building an institute that wants to make the environment different for graduate students," Ponder said. "ChEM-H really embodies that spirit."

Ponder also embraced a second full-time role as executive director of the Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA), which launched as the COVID-19 pandemic began. In doing so, she cultivated new relationships within the university and hospitals while recruiting diverse teams of industry professionals.

“While addressing COVID was not the original vision of the IMA," Ponder said. "We also helped rebuild the Biosafety Level-3 Service Center to accommodate COVID research.”

Colleagues praised Ponder’s mentorship skills; her nomination included 13 faculty testimonials. Ponder expressed gratitude for her team at Stanford: “Chaitan Khosla and Carolyn Bertozzi are just wonderful mentors.”

For 25 years, Tang has devoted herself to uplifting Stanford’s research community through shared facilities, said Debbie G. Senesky in Tang’s nomination letter. Tang joined the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility (SNF) in 1998 and eventually became its managing director.

“I joined Stanford on a two-year appointment," Tang said. "As someone who thrives on execution, I appreciate that Stanford has many opportunities."

Under her leadership, SNF supports thousands of researchers worldwide across various disciplines.

“Mary is truly a star staff member on campus,” said Jennifer Dionne in a nomination letter.

Tang co-chairs the data management working group for Stanford’s Community of Shared Research Platforms (C-ShaRP) initiative. She has also helped establish Microelectronics Commons California-Pacific-Northwest AI Hardware Hub through funding from CHIPS Act.

“Fabrication is making," Tang said. "All are welcome."

Tang champions experiential learning through SNF’s internship programs and fosters industry-academic collaborations through events like open houses.

SNF colleagues say Tang has created a collaborative research environment: “Research is a creative endeavor," Tang said. "It also just makes it a fun place to work.”

Tang expressed feeling “surprised, honored, and quite humbled” by receiving this award.

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