Penn State university’s Indian American President Neeli Bendapudi has received the 2026 Impact Innovations Award for her leadership in making real-world impact a central part of the University’s research mission.
The award from Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS), a national organization dedicated to strengthening the societal benefits of research recognizes Bendapudi’s Penn State Presidential Strategic Initiative for Public Impact Research (PSI-PIR).
The initiative promotes research in partnership with government, businesses and communities, reinforcing the essential role of universities in serving the public good, according to a university release.
“Penn State’s Presidential Strategic Initiative for Public Impact Research represents exactly the kind of institutional leadership the Impact Funders Forum seeks to elevate,” said Angela Bednarek, director of scientific advancement at The Pew Charitable Trusts and chair of the Impact Funders Forum.
“PSI-PIR moves beyond individual projects to redesign the systems that enable research to inform policy, practice and community outcomes. Through President Bendapudi’s leadership to bring together her peers and align internal incentives and national collaboration, Penn State is demonstrating how universities can operationalize research impact at scale.”
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Since its launch, PSI-PIR, led by the Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative, has supported interdisciplinary teams across 11 campuses in Pennsylvania, engaging more than 200 students in applied research addressing environmental sustainability, public health, workforce development, cybersecurity, education and public well-being.
“Public research universities exist to serve society and at Penn State we approach this mission through an interdisciplinary lens focused on solving our world’s most pressing challenges,” said Bendapudi. “Through the Presidential Strategic Initiative for Public Impact Research, we are proud to build upon our land-grant mission to recognize the power of research that benefits the places we live, work and study.”
The PSI-PIR advances public impact through two flagship efforts: the Presidential Public Impact Research Awards (PPIRA) and the Presidents’ and Chancellors’ Council for Public Impact Research.
Among its efforts, PSI-PIR projects have contributed to new harm-reduction models serving hundreds of community members, developed tools to strengthen nonprofit cybersecurity readiness statewide, advanced environmental monitoring partnerships with state agencies and produced workforce data now used to guide retraining and economic development strategies.
Beyond individual projects, PSI-PIR integrates learning-oriented evaluation to assess how institutional incentives influence research productivity and societal outcomes.
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Evaluation findings indicate that faculty participating in PPIRA significantly increased subsequent research proposal submissions, demonstrating that structured support for public impact can catalyze sustained scholarly activity while strengthening societal benefit.
Prior to joining Penn State, Bendapudi served as president of the University of Louisville. She has also served as provost and executive vice chancellor and as dean of the School of Business at the University of Kansas, and held faculty and leadership roles at Texas A&M, The Ohio State University, and the University of Kansas.
Outside higher education, she served as executive vice president and chief customer officer for Huntington National Bank and has consulted for some of the world’s largest companies, including AIG, Procter & Gamble, and the U.S. Army. Her academic research focuses on consumer behavior in service contexts, with an emphasis on customer relationships with brands, employees, and institutions.
Bendapudi earned her bachelor’s degree in English and her MBA from Andhra University in India, and her PhD in marketing from the University of Kansas. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum, a board member of the American Council on Education and Internet2, and a former Leadership Foundation Fellow.