The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) presented its first Sapphire Excellence Awards April 2, 2026, in the UAH Student Services Center ballroom. Recipients of the awards, which honor outstanding alumni, partners and supporters, are, front row left to right, Anvi Dalal, Caroline McAnally, Michelda Johnson, Kathy Chan, Prabodh Satyal, Lauren Bowers and Shannon Collins Shaver, and, back row left to right, Shane Davis, Amir Deylami, Brad Hill, Taylor Reed, Matthew Gardner, Gerald Smith and Jeff Samz.
The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) continues to thrive thanks, in large part, to its vibrant network of off-campus connections: the alumni, partners and supporters who advance the university and its impact through their outstanding achievements and contributions. On April 2, UAH expressed deep appreciation to a select group from this community at the inaugural Sapphire Excellence Awards gala.
“At UAH, we are home to the brightest and most innovative students, faculty, staff and alumni,” said Kristina Hendrix, UAH vice president for strategic communications and emcee for the evening.
“Our more than 50,000 alumni are living all across the globe supporting nonprofits, universities, hospitals, businesses and government. Tonight, we will be celebrating alumni and friends of the university who have made a significant impact on our beloved institution.”
The event began with cocktails at 5:30 p.m. followed by dinner and the awards ceremony at 6 p.m. in the Student Services Building ballroom on the campus of UAH, a part of The University of Alabama System.
The Sapphire Excellence Awards program is a reimagined expansion of the university’s previous Alumni of Achievement Awards. Two of the five Sapphire categories – Distinguished Alumni Fellows and Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD) – focus on alumni nominated by UAH’s colleges. The other three – Presidential Community Award, Charger Champion Award and Research Impact Award – are chosen by university leadership.
Presidential Community Award
UAH President Charles Karr, left, greets award recipients Kathy Chan, Charger Champion Award; Jeff Samz, Presidential Community Award for Huntsville Hospital Health System, and Sujit Roy, Research Impact Award.
The Presidential Community Award, UAH’s highest honor, is presented by the university president to an individual or organization whose service has enhanced UAH and strengthened Huntsville, Madison County or the state of Alabama.
Huntsville Hospital Health System (HH Health System), represented by CEO Jeff Samz, received the inaugural Presidential Community Award. With 20,000 employees caring for more than 136,000 inpatients and 382,000 emergency patients each year, HH Health System is one of the region’s largest employers and contributes more than $4.2 billion annually to the North Alabama economy.
UAH College of Nursing Dean Dr. Karen Frith recommended the system for the award and outlined the relationship between the HH Health System and UAH in her nomination letter:
“For more than half a century, the HH Health System has exemplified what an enduring university-community partnership should look like: sustained, mission-aligned collaboration that expands access to high-quality education, strengthens the health care workforce, advances clinical excellence, and improves community health outcomes across North Alabama. The HH Health System’s service has measurably enhanced UAH by making high-quality clinical education possible at scale, investing in students through scholarships and paid apprenticeship pathways, and partnering in research and quality improvement that elevates outcomes.”
Frith also pointed out the system’s vital role in the communities it serves:
“Just as importantly, the HH Health System strengthens Huntsville, Madison County, and the state of Alabama through long-standing commitments to prevention, workforce development, innovation, and community trust. As a public hospital system, the HH System provides care to individuals, regardless of their ability to pay, offers free health screenings to unhoused populations, brings mobile medical units to shelters, churches, and rural areas to extend health care services, and has funded over $14 million in grants via its Community Health Initiative.”
Charger Champion Award
The Charger Champion Award honors individuals or families who exemplify exceptional dedication to the university. The first two Charger Champions are Dr. Kathy Chan and Dr. Francisco Collazo.
Dr. Kathy Chan is an internationally known jewelry designer with works on display in the UAH M. Louis Salmon Library, but she is perhaps better known around campus for her dedicated service to the UAH Greenhouse in the College of Science.
She was born in China, grew up in Brazil, studied in England and the United States, and is now an American citizen living in Huntsville. She holds two degrees from UAH, a B.A. in arts, 1981, and a B.A. in modern foreign language, 1979. In 2008, UAH awarded her an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy of Humane Letters.
Her husband, Dr. C.H. “Tony” Chan, is a retired UAH professor from the College of Science, UAH Foundation emeriti and an honorary degree recipient. Their children are David, Debora and Gregory. Kathy and Tony Chan are among UAH's largest and most supportive donors, having provided funds for multiple scholarships, endowments and current-use projects.
Dr. Francisco Collazo and his wife, Carmen, started the engineering and support services company COLSA Corporation in the garage of their southeast Huntsville home in 1980. Before founding one of Huntsville’s premier defense contractors, the Puerto Rican native served more than 30 years in the U.S. Army.
He attended many technical schools and earned sufficient credit hours to earn the Department of the Army equivalent of a bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science. Based on this technical coursework and his military and technical experience with missile weapons systems, UAH bestowed him an honorary doctorate in 2003.
COLSA committed $1 million to UAH to establish the Collazo Endowment for the recruitment and retention of engineering students at the university. COLSA has also made a generous contribution to the Jones Engineering Building.
Research Impact Award
The Research Impact Award celebrates partners whose work expands and strengthens UAH’s research enterprise. The inaugural award goes to the NASA Surya Heliophysics Foundation Model Team, which draws on the expertise of individuals from different institutions, including UAH, to fuel NASA’s solar artificial intelligence (AI) model.
Dr. Sujit Roy, a principal research scientist in the Lab for Applied Science at UAH and the lead AI researcher for NASA IMPACT’s AI4Science team at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center – Office of Data Science and Informatics, received the award on behalf of the team.
Roy led the effort to secure a major research resource grant funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation NAIRR pilot in partnership with dozens of federal agencies and non-governmental organizations. He collaborated with UAH researchers in the Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR) to submit a proposal for access to computational resources needed to develop and train the first AI foundation model for heliophysics. The model aims to enhance space weather forecasting as well as push the boundaries of what is currently possible in predicting and studying solar activities and their effects on space weather.
Along with Roy, UAH researchers on the Surya team are Vishal Gaur, Rohit Lal, Nikolai Pogorelov, Dinesha V. Hegde and Kshitiz Mandal.
Distinguished Alumni Fellows
The Distinguished Alumni Fellows award went to, left to right, Gerald Smith, Shane Davis, Michelda Johnson, Brad Hill, Amir Deylami and Prabodh Satyal.
The Distinguished Alumni Fellows award recognizes outstanding UAH graduates who have made a lasting impact in their professions, in society or at the university through exceptional achievement, philanthropic leadership and meaningful service.
- Shane Davis – College of Engineering, B.S. in civil engineering, 1997; director of urban and economic development, City of Huntsville
- Amir Deylami – College of Business, BSBA, 2009, and MBA, 2011; associate center director, NASA Ames Research Center
- Brad Hill – College of Engineering, M.S. in electrical engineering, 1990; vice chairman, Board of Directors, Valkyrie Enterprises, and founder, Hill Family Foundation
- Michelda Johnson – College of Nursing, B.S. in nursing, 2012; chief executive officer, HAPPI Health
- Dr. Prabodh Satyal – College of Science, M.S. in chemistry, 2012, and Ph.D. in biotechnology, 2015; head of essential oil science, doTerra International, and founder and chief scientific officer, Aromatic Plant Research Center
- Gerald Smith – College of Business, Master of Administrative Sciences (MBA precursor), 1977; retired executive director, National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) at UAH, and former president, ATK Thiokol
Graduates of the Last Decade
The Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) awards went to, left to right, Anvi Dalal, Matthew Gardner, Shannon Shaver, Taylor Reed, Caroline McAnally and Lauren Bowers.
GOLD awards recognize alumni who have graduated within the last 10 years and who have demonstrated significant professional success, community engagement and commitment to UAH.
- Lauren Bowers, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, B.A. in writing, 2022; regional director, East Tennessee Girl Scouts of Southern Appalachians
- Anvi Dalal, College of Engineering, B.S. in chemical engineering, 2020; global supply manager at Ford Motor Co.
- Matthew Gardner, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, B.A. in music, 2017; choir director, Austin High School
- Caroline Dodd McAnally, College of Education, Sport, and Human Sciences, B.S. in kinesiology, 2018, and M.E. in differentiated instruction, 2019; physical education teacher at Hazel Green Elementary School
- Taylor Reed, College of Engineering, B.S. in mechanical engineering, 2016; executive director of Livin’ Room, chief operating officer of Shower Up Huntsville, and outreach pastor of Life Church Huntsville
- Shannon Collins Shaver, College of Nursing, M.S. in nursing, 2023; director of nursing, Clearview Cancer Institute
“It is nights like this that we are able to see the best of our institution,” said UAH President Dr. Charles Karr after congratulating each award winner.
“We have nearly 2,000 students join you as alumni every year. While you were here, you had opportunities that were endless. Now that you are in your careers and some of you are retired, you are able to help those students to find their passion. I hope that you will continue to think of UAH and how you can give back to our students and to our campus. We need you as mentors. We need you as employers. Above all, we need you to continue to be a part of the UAH family.
“This has been an awesome evening. I hope you all enjoyed it. Go Chargers!”
For more information on the UAH Sapphire Excellence Awards and UAH Alumni Relations, visit the Alumni page on the UAH website.
Contact
Julie Jansen
256.824.6926
julie.jansen@uah.edu
Ann Marie Martin
(256) 824-5294
annmarie.martin@uah.edu
