More information on the Distinguished Research Award (DRA) program
| Awardee | Department | Year |
| Vahe Bandarian | Chemistry | 2021 |
| Jorge L. Contreras | Law | 2021 |
| Mia Hashibe | Public Health Huntsman Cancer Institute |
2021 |
| William A. Smith | Education Culture & Society Ethnic Studies |
2021 |
| Cornelia Ulrich | Population Health Sciences Huntsman Cancer Institute |
2021 |
| Jeffrey Weiss | Biomedical Engineering Orthopaedics Computing/SCI |
2021 |
| David Bowling | Biological Sciences | 2020 |
| Bruce Gale | Mechanical Engineering | 2020 |
| Shelley D. Minteer | Chemistry | 2020 |
| Feng Liu | Materials Science and Engineering | 2019 |
| Valeria Molinero | Chemistry | 2019 |
| Lisa Diamond | Psychology Gender Studies |
2019 |
| Mladen Bestvina | Mathematics | 2019 |
| Marc Porter | Chemistry Chemical Engineering |
2018 |
| Patricia Kerig | Psychology | 2018 |
| Christoph Boehme | Physics | 2018 |
| Barbara B. Brown | Family and Consumer Studies | 2017 |
| Kelly T. Hughes | Biology | 2017 |
| Paul Bressloff | Mathematics | 2017 |
| Cynthia Berg | Psychology | 2016 |
| Dale H. Clayton | Biological Sciences | 2016 |
| Eric Schmidt | Medicinal Chemistry | 2016 |
| Christopher D. Hacon | Mathematics | 2015 |
| M. Colleen McDannell | History | 2015 |
| Wayne K. Potts | Biological Sciences | 2015 |
| Denise Dearing | Biological Sciences | 2014 |
| Andres Villu Maricq | Biological Sciences | 2014 |
| Katharine Coles | English | 2013 |
| Davied B. Kieda | Physics & Astronomy | 2013 |
| Bert N. Uchino | Psychology | 2013 |
| Kenneth M. Golden | Mathematics | 2012 |
| Gary E. Keck | Chemistry | 2012 |
| Hong Yong Sohn | Metallurgical Engineering | 2012 |
| Erik M. Jorgensen | Biological Sciences | 2011 |
| Matthew S. Sigman | Chemistry | 2011 |
| John S. Sperry | Biological Sciences | 2011 |
| Brenda L. Bass | Biochemistry | 2010 |
| Glenn D. Prestwich | Medicinal Chemistry | 2010 |
| David L. Strayer | Psychology | 2010 |
| Pauline W. Wiessner | Anthropology | 2009 |
| Michael S. Zhdanov | Geology & Geophysics | 2009 |
| Alan D. Fogel | Psychology | 2008 |
| Mikhail E. Raikh | Physics | 2008 |
| Gregory A. Voth | Chemistry | 2008 |
| Scott Anderson | Chemistry | 2007 |
| Chris Ireland | Medicinal Chemistry | 2007 |
| Ken Smith | Family and Consumer Studies | 2006 |
| Donald Revell | English | 2006 |
| Cynthia J. Burrows | Family and Consumer Studies | 2005 |
| Alexei L. Efros | Physics | 2005 |
| John B. Hibbs | Internal Medicine | 2004 |
| Henry S. White | Chemistry | 2004 |
| William H. Breckenridge | Chemistry | 2003 |
| Jacqueline Osherow | English | 2003 |
| Morris Rosenzweig | Music | 2003 |
| P. Craig Taylor | Physics | 2003 |
| Orest G. Symko | Physics | 2002 |
| Andrei Y. Yakovlev | Oncological Sciences | 2002 |
| Elaine Cohen | Computing | 2001 |
| Kent G. Golic | Biological Sciences | 2001 |
| Joel S. Miller | Chemistry | 2001 |
| William H. Barry | Internal Medicine | 2000 |
| Raymond P. Kesner | Psychology | 2000 |
| Dennis L. Parker | Radiology | 2000 |
| Brad Anderson | Pharmaceutics | 1999 |
| John Parkinson | Biological Sciences | 1999 |
| Pierre Sokolsky | Physics | 1999 |
| Thure Cerling | Geology & Geophysics | 1998 |
| Timothy Smith | Psychology | 1998 |
| Frank Stenger | Computer Science | 1998 |
| Peggy Battin | Philosophy | 1997 |
| Michael Morse | Chemistry | 1997 |
| Zeev Valentine Vardeny | Physics | 1997 |
| Phyllis D. Coley | Biological Sciences | 1996 |
| Karel V. Kuchar | Physics | 1996 |
| Richard A. Normann | Bioengineering | 1996 |
| William Higuchi | Pharmaceutics | 1995 |
| Wesley G. Bentrude | Chemistry | 1995 |
| David C. Ailion | Physics | 1995 |
| Peter B. Armentrout | Chemistry | 1994 |
| Baldomero Olivera | Biological Sciences | 1994 |
| Anil V. Virkar | Material Science and Engineering | 1994 |
| Eugene Loh | Physics | 1993 |
| Susan Miller | English | 1993 |
| Jindrich Kopecek | Pharmaceutics & Pharmaceutical Chemistry | 1993 |
| John A. Gladysz | Chemistry | 1992 |
| Janos Kollar | Mathematics | 1992 |
| Yong-Shi Wu | Physics | 1992 |
| Edward M. Eyring | Chemistry | 1991 |
| Gerald W. Hohman | Geology & Geophysics | 1991 |
| William G. Pariseau | Mining Engineering | 1990 |
| Donna Gelfand | Psychology | 1990 |
| David W. Pershing | Chemical Engineering | 1990 |
| Raymond L. White | Human Genetics | 1990 |
| James A. McCloskey | Medicinal Chemistry | 1989 |
| Jan D. Miller | Metallurgical Engineering | 1989 |
| Gerald B. Stringfellow | Material Science & Engineering | 1989 |
| James R. Ehleringer | Biological Sciences | 1988 |
| Joel M. Harris | Chemistry | 1988 |
| Richard F. Riesenfeld | Computer Science | 1988 |
| Mario Capecchi | Biological Sciences | 1987 |
| Sung Wan Kim | Pharmaceutics | 1987 |
| Peter J. Stang | Chemistry | 1987 |
| Francis H. Brown | Geology & Geophysics | 1986 |
| Michael E. Lamb | Psychology | 1986 |
| John Roth | Biology | 1986 |
| Russel W. Belk | Marketing | 1985 |
| Stephen C. Jacobsen | Mechanical & Industrial Engineering | 1985 |
| Jack Simons | Chemistry | 1985 |
| John A. Herbst | Metallurgy | 1984 |
| Fritz Luty | Physics | 1984 |
| C. Dale Poulter | Chemistry | 1984 |
| C. Herbert Clemens | Mathematics | 1983 |
| Richard W. Grow | Electrical Engineering | 1982 |
| Donald J. Lyman | Materials Science & Engineering | 1982 |
| Eric L. Charnov | Biological Sciences | 1981 |
| Joseph D. Andrade | Bioengineering | 1980 |
| Carl H. Durney | Electrical Engineering | 1980 |
| Robert B. Smith | Geology & Geophysics | 1980 |
| Om P. Gandhi | Electrical Engineering | 1979 |
| J. Calvin Giddings | Chemistry | 1979 |
| Homer R. Warner | Medical Biophysics | 1979 |
| Irwin Altman | Psychology | 1978 |
| Richard H. Boyd | Materials Science & Engineering | 1978 |
| Josef Michl | Chemistry | 1978 |
| Frank H. Tyler | Internal Medicine | 1977 |
| E. B. Christiansen | Chemical Engineering | 1977 |
| K. Lawrence DeVries | Mechanical and Industrial Engineering | 1977 |
| J. A. Abildskov | Internal Medicine | 1976 |
| George E. Cartwright | Internal Medicine | 1976 |
| Stanley H. Ward | Geology & Geophysics | 1976 |
| Ivan B. Cutler | Materials Science and Engineering | 1975 |
| E. Wayne Thode | Law | 1975 |
| Sidney F. Velick | Biochemistry | 1975 |
| George F. Edmunds Jr. | Biological Sciences | 1974 |
| Carlos Eyzsaguirre | Physiology | 1974 |
| Thomas E. Dougherty | Anatomy | 1973 |
| Norman W. Ryan | Chemical Engineering | 1973 |
| Dixon M. Woodbury | Pharmacology | 1973 |
| Jack H. Adamson | English | 1972 |
| John D. Spikes, Biology | Biology | 1972 |
| Milton E. Wadsworth | Metallurgy and Metallurgical Engineering | 1972 |
| David M. Grant | Chemistry | 1971 |
| William F. Prokasy | Psychology | 1971 |
| Francis D. Wormuth | Political Science | 1971 |
| William F. Christensen | Ballet | 1970 |
| Charles E. Dibble | Anthropology | 1970 |
| Jesse D. Jennings | Antrhopology | 1970 |
| Armand J. Eardley | Geology | 1969 |
| Maxwell M. Wintrobe | Medicine | 1969 |
| Ewart A. Swinyard | Biopharmaceutical Sciences | 1968 |
| Brewster Ghiselin | English | 1967 |
| Louis T. Goodman | Pharmacology | 1967 |
| Henry J. Eyring | Chemistry | 1966 |
| Jacob Geerlings | Languages | 1966 |
| Leroy J. Robertson | Music | 1965 |