The Office of Research and Innovation presented two employees with NC State University’s Award for Excellence, the most prestigious honor bestowed annually upon nonfaculty personnel, on April 29.

Dave Shaw, a science writer for North Carolina Sea Grant and the Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI) and the editor of Coastwatch magazine, won in the SHRA employee category, and Aleem Mohammed, the data analytics and systems lead at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE), won in the EPS employee category.

Dave Shaw

Dave Shaw, who joined NC Sea Grant in 2017, was nominated in the category of Outstanding State Government Service, which recognizes employees who demonstrate an unselfish devotion to duty far and above the normal requirements and contribute significantly to the advancement of state service to the citizens of North Carolina.

Under Shaw’s leadership, Coastwatch magazine has earned 25 state and national honors. Since coming on board, he’s played an instrumental role in transforming NC Sea Grant’s online presence. By supplementing its print publication with a digital magazine, Coastwatch has amplified its reach to more than 2 million readers annually.

“While Dave prefers to remain ‘behind the scenes,’ his work is vital to sharing critical ideas with the citizens of North Carolina and training future science writers who will continue this work both in our state and around the country,” Rebecca Jones, NC Sea Grant and WRRI’s communications director, wrote in her nomination letter.

To engage the next generation of STEM scientists and leaders earlier, Shaw started a program to provide 60 schools across the state with print editions of Coastwatch — for free. Thanks to the STEM engagement program Shaw started, NC Sea Grant has so far supplied three issues of Coastwatch to over 5,000 middle- and high-schoolers in North Carolina.

Shaw’s “real gift,” however, is as Sea Grant and WRRI’s primary internship supervisor, Jones said. “He works with young writers to help them hone their skills. This is a slow, patient process.”

Shaw typically manages three interns each semester. Of the dozens of students he’s mentored since 2017, many have gone on to successful careers — becoming editors at the U.S. State Department, writers for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and communication specialists at several universities.

“Dave’s work multiplies — millions of readers, thousands of curious young minds. It is state workers like Dave, behind the scenes guiding ideas into the world, that make our state outstanding,” Jones said.

Aleem Mohammed

Aleem Mohammed, a member of ITRE’s Geospatial and Data Analytics (GADA) team, was nominated in the Efficiency and Innovation category, which recognizes employees who make a significant contribution in improving the efficiency of state government services by establishing new and improved methods, practices, plans or designs resulting in innovation, savings and/or efficiency.

When Mohammed joined ITRE in 2024, the institute was facing a challenge. Despite a significant reduction in staff, ITRE needed to continue providing accurate, uninterrupted analytics that law enforcement partners depend on.

In merely four months, Mohammed managed to modernize the North Carolina State Highway Patrol’s commercial vehicle enforcement tracking applications. And within a year, Mohammed successfully migrated 36 production dashboards to a new data visualization and business intelligence platform. These efforts resulted in annual savings of over $110,000, largely in licensing fees.

“Aleem is regarded by our law enforcement partners and colleagues as a rare combination of trusted technical expert, highly responsive collaborator, and innovative leader,” Greg Ferrara, Mohammed’s supervisor at ITRE, wrote in his nomination letter. “He didn’t simply keep services running — he modernized them, reduced recurring costs, and created a scalable platform that enabled ITRE to serve North Carolina and expand nationally.”

As part of the supporting statement Ferrara provided, he included praise received straight from an NCSHP State Trooper.

“Aleem’s exceptional service to the NCSHP, through its partnership with ITRE, allows our members to consistently improve upon their ability to provide efficient and effective traffic enforcement efforts to the citizens of North Carolina,” 1st Sgt. Brandon Vick said in a written statement sent via email. “Aleem took the initiative to create a dashboard for Operation Safe D.R.I.V.E., a high-visibility enforcement campaign, not only for the NCSHP but for 25 other states to use for data collection and analysis.”

Vick said that the “Operation Safe D.R.I.V.E.” dashboard — data from which is used by participating states to help save lives by reducing collisions involving commercial motor vehicles — has even garnered the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s attention.

All Nominees

A total of 19 ORI employees, across several centers, institutes and offices, were nominated for this year’s Awards for Excellence. 

The nominees included:

• James Anheuser, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies
• Marlu Bolton, Center for Marine Sciences and Technology
• Lisa Callister, Institute for Transportation Research and Education
• Michelle Frick, Proposal Development Unit
• Eric Herbst, NC Sea Grant
• Sarah Kinlaw, Animal Welfare and Science
• Amanda Krentzel, Proposal Development Unit
• Martina Krzywicki, Sponsored Programs and Regulatory Compliance Services
• Katlyn May, Center for Human Health and the Environment
• Mia Mitchell, Institute for Transportation Research and Education
• Aleem Mohammed, Institute for Transportation Research and Education
• Carla Monroe, Proposal Development Unit
• June Morton, Integrated Support Service Center
• Patricia Mulligan, Genetic Engineering and Society
• Lauri Salovaara, Institute for Transportation Research and Education
• Dave Shaw, NC Sea Grant
• John Slankas, Laboratory for Analytic Sciences
• Erika Wagner, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies
• Kyle Wodzicki, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies

NC State’s Awards for Excellence are the most prestigious honor bestowed upon nonfaculty employees. The awards, given annually, recognize both SHRA and nonfaculty EHRA employees for accomplishments and contributions that go above and beyond normal job responsibilities. Employees can be nominated under the criteria of one of six categories: Customer Service, Efficiency and Innovation, Human Relations, Outstanding State Government Service, Public Service, Safety and Heroism, and Spirit of North Carolina.

As winners of the Awards for Excellence at the college/unit level, Shaw and Mohammed are automatically nominated for the university-level awards — which will be presented Tuesday, June 2, at the Stewart Theater in Talley Student Union.