Here's a look at promotions, hirings, movers and newsmakers in the Memphis area business scene:

Larryn Peterson and Will Eckenhoff, both associate professors of chemistry at Rhodes College, have been awarded a National Science Foundation grant for $399,999. The grant began Oct. 1 for the project titled “Acquisition of 400 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectrometer Console and Probe to Bolster Excellence in Undergraduate Research.” Professors Roberto de la Salud Bea, Kim Brien, Dana Horgen and Miguel Mendez Polanco also will be users of the NMR and senior personnel on the grant. Eckenhoff joined the faculty in 2015, and his research focuses on the synthesis of iron, cobalt, nickel, and molybdenum complexes for use as hydrogen production catalysts in artificial photosynthesis. Peterson has been a member of the Rhodes faculty since 2011. Research in her lab uses an interdisciplinary approach to understand important biological processes by utilizing tools from synthetic organic chemistry, chemical biology, biochemistry and molecular biology.

SurgePays Inc., a technology and telecommunications company focused on the underbanked and underserved, appointed Jeremy Gies as president of the company’s subsidiary SurgePays Fintech Inc. Gies has more than 25 years’ experience in supporting businesses in the telecom, fintech and prepaid channels. He will be responsible for developing and expanding the nationwide network of convenience stores channel with the primary focus of adding stores transacting on the SurgePays network while increasing sales per store. Most recently, Gies was Senior Channel business manager and senior account manager for Honeywell Voice Solutions.

Rhodes College’s 2022 alumni awards were presented during the college’s Homecoming/Reunion Weekend Oct. 28-29. Russell T. Wigginton Jr. from the Class of 1988 received the Distinguished Alumni Award; Brad Hensley ('12) was presented the Young Alumni Award; and Kathy Moore Cowan (from the Class of 1978) the Black Student Association Distinguished Alumni Award.

• The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes alumni who have brought honor to Rhodes College through extraordinary achievement in their profession and community. Wigginton is president of the National Civil Rights Museum. After earning a bachelor’s degree, he returned to his alma mater in 1996 to teach in the history department. In 2003, President Emeritus Bill Troutt tapped him to serve as special assistant to the president to build meaningful partnerships in the Memphis community. His more-than-20-year career at Rhodes also includes serving as vice president for college relations, vice president of external programs, and vice president of student life.

• The Young Alumni Award is presented to young alumni who have brought honor to Rhodes through achievement in their profession and community. Systems engineer Hensley graduated from Rhodes in 2012 with a double major in biology and physics, and earned a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado–Boulder. While working in the aerospace industry, he has led efforts to develop advanced deployable structures for defense and commercial spacecrafts. He also is an inventor with multiple patents in a technology called slit-tube boom, which has been adopted by the space industry to deploy spacecraft systems. He was involved in a NASA-simulated mission to Mars during the summer of 2022.

• The Black Student Association’s Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes African American alumni whose record of personal achievement and service to others has inspired Rhodes students and brought honor to their alma mater. Memphian Cowan graduated from Rhodes in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and anthropology/sociology, and she went on to earn a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She has spent more than two decades driving high-impact community investment activity and currently serves as executive director of the Memphis office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, which supports community development initiatives across the country. She also has served as vice president/community development manager for Regions Bank-West Tennessee, Southwest Kentucky, North Arkansas; senior community development specialist for the Memphis Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; and president/CEO of The Works, a nonprofit community development corporation serving South Memphis.

— Compiled by Daniel Ginsburg

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This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis business news: Promotions, hirings, achievers and company news