RCSA Names 2021 Class of Cottrell Scholars
Research Corporation for Science Advancement has named 25 outstanding teacher-scholars in chemistry, physics, and astronomy as recipients of its 2021 Cottrell Scholar Awards. Each award is $100,000.
“In these challenging times, more than ever, science needs young faculty with fresh ideas and a commitment to student success,” said RCSA President & CEO Daniel Linzer. “The 2021 class is a diverse, dedicated, and welcome addition to the Cottrell Scholar community.”
Recipients are chosen through a rigorous peer-review process of applications from top research universities, degree-granting research institutes, and primarily undergraduate institutions in the United States and Canada. Their award proposals incorporate both science education and research.
As their careers advance, Cottrell Scholars become eligible to compete for several additional levels of funding to further their academic careers. They meet each July at the annual Cottrell Scholar Conference to network, exchange ideas, and develop collaborative projects to tackle pressing educational issues with potential national impact.
“Since the first class of Cottrell Scholars in 1994, this community has provided leadership and guidance that has made a big impact on science, on students, and across academia,” said RCSA Senior Program Director Silvia Ronco.
This year’s Cottrell Scholars are:
Vinayak Agarwal, chemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology – Unlocking Marine Eukaryotic Natural Product Biosynthetic Schemes in Research and Education
Jeanine Amacher, chemistry, Western Washington University – Investigating Sortase Enzyme Activity and Specificity Using Natural Sequence Variation and Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction
Jeffrey Bandar, chemistry, Colorado State University – Salt-Promoted Electron Transfer Processes for Reductive Cross-Coupling Reactions
Rachel S. Bezanson, astronomy, University of Pittsburgh – Building Bridges in the Steel City: Leveraging the Nearby to Follow Galaxies Across Cosmic Time
Laura Blecha, physics, University of Florida – The Making of a Gravitational Wave Source: Probing the Role of Galaxy Assembly in Black Hole Binary and Triple Formation
Justin R. Caram, chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles – Chemical Physics Informed Design of SWIR Emissive Molecules
Joel F. Destino, chemistry, Creighton University – Bottoms Up: Investigating the Growth and Glass-Forming Properties of Germania-Containing Colloids
Daniela Fera, chemistry, Swarthmore College – Dissecting the Interactions and Conformations of Protein Kinases to Understand Biochemical Signaling
Alex Frañó, physics, University of California, San Diego – Creating Artificial Angstrom-scale Periodic Potentials Using X-ray Standing Waves and Enhancing Creativity in Physics Education
Thomas L. Gianetti, chemistry, University of Arizona – Developing a Photo-Rechargeable and Symmetrical Organic Redox Flow Battery
Natalie M. Gosnell, astronomy, Colorado College – Constraining the Complexities of Stellar Activity with Sub-Subgiant Stars
Christopher H. Hendon, chemistry, University of Oregon – Inorganic Defects in Metal-Organic Frameworks
Alexis C. Komor, chemistry, University of California, San Diego – Harnessing Precision Genome Editing Tools to Study DNA Repair Proteins in Live Cells
Eli M. Levenson-Falk, physics, University of Southern California – Creating Custom Quantum Environments with Superconducting Circuits (For Beginners)
Rosario Porras-Aguilar, physics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte – Label-Free Reconfigurable Microscopy with High Specificity
Davit Potoyan, chemistry, Iowa State University – Uncovering Principles of Bio-molecular Condensation: from Single Molecules to Cellular Organelles
Tyler D. Robinson, astronomy, Northern Arizona University – Understanding the True Utility of Prior Mass Constraints in Characterizing Exoplanet Atmospheres and Diversifying STEM at NAU
Brian J. Shuve, physics, Harvey Mudd College – Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry from Dark Matter Freeze-In
Marcelle Soares-Santos, physics, University of Michigan – Cosmology with Merging Black Holes and Neutron Stars
Ruby May A. Sullan, chemistry, University of Toronto – Scarborough – Multifunctional and Stimuli-Responsive Nanotherapeutic Platform for Targeted Disruption of Bacterial Biofilms
Alexandra Velian, chemistry, University of Washington – Synthesis of Functional Metal Chalcogenide Lattices Using Symmetry-Encoded, Atomically Precise Clusters
Rongsheng (Ross) Wang, chemistry, Temple University – A Fluorine Displacement Based Bioorthogonal Labeling Approach to Interrogate Non-Histone Substrates of “Histone” Deacetylases
Leah S. Witus, chemistry, Macalester College – Investigation of Beta-Hairpin Hydrolytic Peptides and Development of an Advanced Undergraduate Scientific Communication Course
Joseph M. Zadrozny, chemistry, Colorado State University – Harnessing Ligand-Shell Nuclear Spins to Control Molecular Spin Coherence
Gail Zasowski, astronomy, University of Utah – Understanding the Chemical Enrichment of Our Universe: Unifying Evidence from the Milky Way and Other Galaxies
