11 Chemistry Researchers Win 2024 Cottrell SEED Awards
Top row: Erin Carlson, Bert Chandler, Robert Gilliard, Darren Johnson, Ognjen Š. Miljanić, Jill Millstone. 2nd row: Eric Schelter, Paulo Almeida, Aaron Leconte, George Shields, Adam Urbach.
Research Corporation for Science Advancement has chosen 11 accomplished researchers to receive its Cottrell Plus SEED (Singular Exceptional Endeavors of Discovery) Awards for 2024. Each award is $60,000.
The competitive Cottrell SEED Award is designed to support members of the Cottrell Scholar community in high-impact research activities. This year, RCSA expanded SEED Awards to include two categories: New Research Directions, and Exceptional Opportunities.
New Research Directions awards, for innovative research projects with potential to lead to a transformative line of inquiry, were open to Cottrell Scholars and Holland Award recipients from research universities and primarily undergraduate institutions. This year, chemistry proposals were accepted. Astronomy and physics proposals will be accepted in odd-numbered years.
Exceptional Opportunities awards, to advance existing research projects at primarily undergraduate institutions to higher levels of innovation and impact, were open to Cottrell Scholars and Holland awardees at non-doctoral departments. In 2024, preference was given to chemistry proposals, though physics proposals were accepted. In odd-numbered years, preference will be given to physics and astronomy proposals.
“RCSA had tested two pandemic initiatives that proved extremely helpful to teacher-scholars at PUIs: instrumentation supplements and postbac awards,” said Senior Program Director Silvia Ronco. “Adding a new track with those elements to the SEED Awards is a way for us to extend those successful initiatives and expand opportunities for more Cottrell Scholars excelling in research.”
Recipients of RCSA’s 2024 SEED Awards for New Research Directions are:
Erin Carlson, CS 2012, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Eradication of Bacterial Resistance Mechanisms
Bert Chandler, CS 2001, Pennsylvania State University
Beating Thermodynamics: Understanding How Spillover Protons Weaken CO2 Binding in Carbon Capture Materials
Robert Gilliard, HOL 2023, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Transition Metal-Free Reactivity of Redox-Activated Carbon Dioxide
Darren Johnson, CS 2006, University of Oregon
Supramolecular Capture and Release of PFAS: SEEDing the Center for Aqueous Supramolecular Chemistry
Ognjen Š. Miljanić, CS 2013, University of Houston
Putting Water to Work: Binding of Methane Hydrates in Cyclobenzoin Supramolecular Hosts
Jill Millstone, CS 2015, University of Pittsburgh
Using Photocatalytic Reduction to Isolate and Study Intermediates in Nanoparticle Formation Reactions
Eric Schelter, CS 2013, University of Pennsylvania
New Directions for Sustainable Separations of Battery Materials
Recipients of RCSA’s 2024 SEED Awards for Exceptional Opportunities are:
Paulo Almeida, CS 2005, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
Quantitative Approach to Peptide-Lipid Interactions in Membranes
Aaron Leconte, CS 2016, Scripps College
Towards XNA PCR: Evaluating the Potential of Fusion Domains to Improve XNA Polymerases
George Shields, CS 1994, Furman University
Peptide Formation in Nanoclusters of Water in the Prebiotic Atmosphere
Adam Urbach, CS 2005, Trinity University
Order from Disorder: Programmable Induction of Polypeptide Folding with Synthetic Receptors
Since 1994, the Cottrell Scholar program has honored and helped to develop outstanding teacher-scholars who are recognized by their scientific communities for the quality and innovation of their research programs and their potential for academic leadership. The active, multigenerational community of more than 500 academic scientists also includes recipients of RCSA’s Robert Holland Jr. Award, senior scientists recognized for excellence in research and teaching along with their contributions to increasing diversity in the physical sciences.
The SEED Award is among a suite of Cottrell Plus Awards offered to support members of the Cottrell Scholar community at various stages throughout their careers.
Research Corporation for Science Advancement is a private foundation that funds basic research in the physical sciences (astronomy, chemistry, physics, and related fields) at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
