Xiuling Lu, (Ph.D.) has been awarded the 2025 Michael J. Pikal NIPTE Distinguished Scholar in Pharmaceutical Processing Award for her excellent efficiency and contributions in pharmaceutical sciences. The National Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Education (NIPTE) is a non-profit scientific and analysis and growth group with members of main institutes within the pharmaceutical space. This NIPTE Award is the best recognition each two years introduced to a senior school member at a NIPTE member establishment.
Xiuling Lu with graduate college students at her lab (Sean Flynn)
An Associate Director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Processing Research (CPPR) and a Professor within the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UConn, Xiuling Lu has excelled in conserving Pikal’s imaginative and prescient, which led to the founding of the National Insitute for Pharmaceutical Technology & Education (NIPTE) and the event of freeze-drying know-how. Serving as Past Chair of the NIPTE school committee (2020-2021) and co-chair of the primary NIPTE Nanotechnology focus group, Lu continues to advance pharmaceutical processing analysis. She additionally served as the important thing organizer for the NIPTE Pathfinding Workshops in 2023 and 2024 and the editor for the NIPTE Special Issues. Her newest analysis publications discover supply methods for concentrating on tumors via intraperitoneal supply and the analysis of mRNA lipid nanoparticles.
In receiving the best recognition awarded by NIPTE, given for excellent scientific achievements in pharmaceutical science and know-how, Lu stays deeply honored. She seems to Pikal as a job mannequin who has impressed her to excel.
“While it is challenging to follow in his [Pikal] footsteps, and certainly not close to reaching his powerful voice, I will continue to work toward his vision and contribute more to the pharmaceutical sciences and the NIPTE community.”
Lu has additionally obtained the American Association of University Professors-UConn Excellence in Research and Creativity: Early Career Award in 2016 and the Dean Robert L. McCarthy Faculty Service Award in 2019 in addition to the 2023 Research Advising Award within the School of Pharmacy. Additionally, Lu was elected because the American Association of Pharmaceutical Sciences (AAPS) Fellow in 2023, obtained the nineteenth Annual Women of Innovation Award in Research Innovation and Leadership, Connecticut Technology Council and Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology in 2024, and was elected as a member of Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering in 2025.
In addition to this prestigious award, Lu was additionally elected to be a Fellow of the Controlled Release Society (FCRS). Receiving recognition throughout an award ceremony on the 2025 CRS Annual Meeting and Exposition, Lu’s work has sustained contributions to the sector of supply science and know-how whereas remodeling her into a pacesetter and an inspiration to others.