RCSA Directors Approve 48 Research Awards
The Board of Directors of Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) has approved a total of $2,445,000 in awards for 48 innovative research projects proposed by early career scientists at American colleges and universities. The awards cover a wide range of research in astronomy, chemistry, and physics.
“RCSA has always been about finding and supporting the next big scientific paradigm, the theory or discovery that will revolutionize and advance an entire field of study,” said RCSA President Robert N. Shelton.
He noted that all RCSA awards are subject to a critical peer-review process, which tends ensure that funding goes to the best and brightest among America’s young academic scientists, the men and women who are likely to be leaders in their fields in the coming decades. Over the past century, 40 scientists receiving RCSA support have also earned the Nobel Prize, and many others have received significant honors in the physical sciences.
In its most recent action, the RCSA Board approved 15 Cottrell Scholar awards, for a total of $1,125,000, and 33 Cottrell College Science Awards for a total of $1,320,000.
The awardees are:
Cottrell Scholar Awards
Aaron P. Esser-Kahn, chemistry, University of California, Irvine, Activation of the Innate Immune System with Light: A Chemical Biology Approach to Improving Vaccination
M. Lisa Manning, physics, Syracuse University, Using Single-Cell Mechanical Properties to Predict Pattern Formation and Mechanical Response in Biological Tissues
Luis M. Campos, chemistry, Columbia University, Development of Polymers for Next-Generation Singlet Fission Solar Cells
Kai-Mei C. Fu, physics, University of Washington, Zinc Oxide Impurity-Bound Electrons for Optics-Based Quantum Information
Emily P. Balskus, chemistry, Harvard University, Chemically-Guided Enzyme Discovery: An Approach to Identifying New Biological Reactions and a Tool for Inspiring Future Scientists
Thomas E. Markland, chemistry, Stanford University, Unraveling Quantum Fluctuations in Charge and Energy Transport
Jeffery A. Byers, chemistry, Boston College, Redox Switchable Iron Catalysts for the Synthesis of Biodegradable Polymers
Jennifer M. Heemstra, chemistry, University of Utah, Fluorescent Biomolecular Labeling to Image RNA Localization and Promote Independent Learning
Catherine L. Grimes, chemistry, University of Delaware, Remodeling Bacterial Cell Walls and Biochemistry Laboratory Curriculum
Gary A. Baker, chemistry, University of Missouri-Columbia, Tailoring Bacterial Cellulose Ionogels for Diverse Chemical Tasks
James F. Cahoon, chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Designing Photocathode Materials for Solar Fuel Photoelectrosynthesis: From the Lab to the Classroom
Jill E. Millstone, chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Using Metal-Ligand Chemistry to Understand, Form, and Tailor Nanoscale Alloys
Timothy J. Atherton, physics, Tufts University, Predicting the Stability of Pickering Emulsion through Computer Simulations
Eric S. Toberer, physics, Colorado School of Mines, Embracing Asymmetry - Designing Materials for Thermoelectric Power Conversion
Stefan Stoll, chemistry, University of Washington, Quantifying the Conformational Landscape of Maltose Binding Protein
Cottrell College Science Awards
Jonathan Paul Wrubel, physics, Creighton University, Precision Measurement of the Microwave Fano-Feshbach Resonance in Ultracold 41K Atoms
Kerstin M. Perez, physics, Haverford College, Developing Novel Detectors to Search for the Particle Origins of Dark Matter with the GAPS Experiment
Paul Cadden-Zimansky, physics, Bard College, Quantum Hall Effects in Hybrid Graphene
Tatiana Kuriabova, physics, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Fundamental Studies in Quasi-two-dimensional Hydrodynamics
Dipannita Kalyani, chemistry, Saint Olaf College, Nickel-Catalyzed Decarboxylative Carbon-Carbon Bond Formation
John M. Antos, chemistry, Western Washington University, Profiling the In Vitro Reactivity of Sortase Homologs for Use in Protein Modification
Moumita Das, physics, Rochester Institute of Technology, The Cell as an Adaptive Composite Material: Mechanics and Force Transmission
Robert P. Owen, physics, Oberlin College, Spin and Horizon Multipoles in Numerical Relativity, and the Visualization of Dynamical Spacetimes
Desika Narayanan, astronomy, Haverford College, Forming the Most Luminous Galaxies in the Universe
Rebecca Lyn LaLonde, chemistry, Reed College, Bismuth (III)-Chiral Anion Complexes: Creating an Environmentally-Friendly, Versatile, Chiral Catalyst
Sudeep Bhattacharyay, chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Towards Developing a Computational Inhibitor Screening, Method for Quinone Reductase
Xiaopeng Li, chemistry, Texas State University, San Marcos, Self-Assembly of Supramolecular Fractals with Self-Similarity
Yu Gu, Physics, Saint Joseph's University, Investigation of Magnetoviscous and Viscoelastic Properties of Micro to Nanoliter Ferrofluids
Laura M. Wysocki, chemistry, Wabash College, From Dark to Light: Versatile Synthesis of Fluorogenic Small Molecule Sensors and Enzyme Substrates
Matthieu JP Rouffet, chemistry, Point Loma Nazarene University, Design and Synthesis of Anthrax Lethal Factor Inhibitors Containing a Novel and Specific Zinc Binding Group Based on a 2-2-arylsulfonamidophenylbenzimidazole Backbone
Ashley R. Carter, physics, Amherst College, Optical Trapping Assay to Study Histone Replacement during Spermiogenesis
Stephen C. Doret, physics, Williams College, Thermal Conductivity on the Nanoscale: Measuring Quantum Heat Transport with Chains of Trapped Ions
Michael S. Pierce, physics, Rochester Institute of Technology, In-situ Study of Metal and Metal-oxide Gas Phase Catalysts Using Surface X-ray Scattering
Tanay Kesharwani, chemistry, University of West Florida, Development of Environmentally Benign Electrophilic Chlorocyclization Reactions Using Table Salt and CuSO4 for the Synthesis of Diverse Heterocycles
Louise Charkoudian, chemistry, Haverford College, Characterizing the Molecular Interactions between Carrier Proteins and Oxygenases in Natural Product Biosynthesis
Eliza Kempton (formerly: Miller-Ricci), astronomy, Grinnell College, Exoplanet Science with Grinnell's Grant O. Gale Observatory
Robert F. Berger, chemistry, Western Washington University, Efficient Computational Screening and Chemical Understanding of Oxide Nanostructures for Energy Applications
Grace Brannigan, physics, Rutgers University, Camden, Effects of Cholesterol and Lipid Sorting on Aggregation of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors
Seth Rittenhouse, physics, Western Washington University, Transport and Disorder in Simple Lattices with Overlapping Orbital Impurities
Richard L. Lord, chemistry, Grand Valley State University, Towards a Chemical Rationale for Redox-Induced Electron Transfer
Andre K. Isaacs, chemistry, College of the Holy Cross, Synthesis of Beta-lactams by a Cu-catalyzed Cyclization Reaction of Siloxyalkynes and Ketenimines
John P. Lee, chemistry, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, Acrylic Acid From CO2 and Ethylene Catalyzed By Cyclopentadienyl-Co(III) With Bidentate N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands That Contain a Bridging Amine
Jeremy P. Carlo, physics, Villanova University, Neutron Scattering and Muon Spin Relaxation Studies of Geometrically Frustrated Double Perovskites
James Battat, physics, Wellesley College, Improving Directional Dark Matter Detectors through Advanced Tracking and Genetically Multiplexed High Spatial Resolution Readouts
Rachel M. Mitton-Fry, chemistry, Denison University, Structure-function Studies of RNA Thermosensors Using Selective 2´-Hydroxyl Acylation Analyzed by Primer Extension (SHAPE)
Christopher R. Graves, chemistry, Albright College, Aluminum-nitroxide Complexes: New Redox-Active Aluminum Complexes for Applications in C-H Activation
Jinglin Fu, chemistry, Rutgers University, Camden, An Enzyme-Powered Nanomotor Propelled by Chemical Fuels
Daniel A. Kraut, chemistry, Villanova University, Do Proteasomal Motor Proteins Have Separable Functions? The Effect of Aromatic Paddle Mutations on Proteasomal Processivity
