Dr. Sandoval was one of the 36 awardees of the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. The honor is given by ORAU, (Oak Ridge Associated Universities), of which Tulane is a sponsoring member. ORAU's mission is the advancement of scientific research and education.

The award was given for the Sandoval Lab's research on overcoming current barriers to the production of biofuels from waste biomass streams. The Sandoval Lab works toward this goal through the construction of high throughput methods of assessing the link between genes and levels of tolerance to chemicals that slow growth and production of biofuels.

The award will go toward new equipment that will help increase the scope and speed of work done in the lab!