RCSA Announces 2019 Cottrell Plus IMPACT and STAR Awards
Research Corporation for Science Advancement announces that Keivan Stassun (CS 2006), astronomy, Vanderbilt University, is the 2019 Cottrell Plus Impact Award recipient. In addition, three Cottrell Scholars are recipients of 2019 Cottrell Plus STAR Awards – Sarah Keller (CS 2003), chemistry, University of Washington; Andrew Ellington (CS 1995), chemistry, University of Texas, Austin; and Stephen Bradforth (CS 1999), chemistry, University of Southern California.
“The IMPACT Award recognizes the work of outstanding Cottrell Scholars who have had a national impact in science through leadership and service activities,” notes RCSA President Dan Linzer. “The STAR Award recognizes the outstanding research and educational accomplishments of Cottrell Scholars.” Both STAR and IMPACT awards include a $5,000 cash prize.
The awards will be presented at the July 2019 Cottrell Scholar Conference in Tucson, Ariz., where recipients will give brief acceptance talks. During 12 months following the award presentation, STAR and IMPACT winners will be available for mentoring young Cottrell Scholars, according to RCSA Senior Program Director Silvia Ronco.
Keivan Stassun’s IMPACT Award is due largely to his two decades of work to advance diversity in the physical Sciences at Vanderbilt University, and nationally through his leadership and service activities. Stassun has sought to identify and develop novel solutions to stem the “leaky” pipeline in the physical sciences experienced by minority, female, and disabled students. He has developed innovative approaches focused on recruitment, holistic evaluation, research immersion, mentoring, and community building that have been successfully implemented at Vanderbilt and are now being emulated across the country. Stassun’s work has challenged long-held assumptions, such as his efforts, published in Nature, to develop holistic approaches that go beyond standardized tests. He has rallied professional organizations such as the American Astronomical Society and the American Physical Society who have adopted his “bridge program” model and tools for minority inclusion. His work has assisted changes in the strategic vision of federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation. He is also helping to establish new paradigms for how scientists engage the fullness of human diversity with the newly established Center for Autism & Innovation at Vanderbilt. In his scientific work, Stassun is a leader in discovering and analyzing exoplanets. He is a coinvestigator on the newly launched NASA TESS mission to discover other Earth-like planets orbiting other Sun-like stars, through which he is involving a large and diverse team of undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs.
STAR Award winner Sarah Keller and her associates work to discover physical mechanisms that cause spatial organization in cell membranes, which affects the function of membrane proteins and cells. Her research is question-based rather than technique-based, and calls for continually introducing new methods to the lab. Simultaneously being experts in membrane biophysics and novices in each new technique creates opportunities -- she says her team’s most important discoveries arise from creativity unconstrained by assumptions about how risky and challenging their experiments may be. “This type of science attracts new talent: researchers who embrace uncertainty and may not fit in traditional physics labs,” Keller maintains. She also leads educational initiatives in teaching, chemical education research, and mentoring both students and faculty, including work with international mentoring networks. “My central motivation is to cultivate talent from all backgrounds, because excellent science requires excellent scientists,” Keller says.
STAR Award Winner Andrew Ellington is committed to developing molecules, assays, and devices that put diagnostics capabilities into the hand of the ordinary citizen. The Ellington lab has previously figured out how to adapt strand exchange reactions that were originally developed for nucleic acid computation schemes to molecular diagnostics. Ellington and his associates have shown that loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) can be combined with strand exchange oligonucleotide probes to detect very small quantities (down to 20 copies) of many pathogens within 30-60 minutes in wastewater, mosquito lysates, and saliva. His work translates to a wide variety of platforms, including off-the-shelf diagnostics such as glucometers and pregnancy test kits. Ellington’s educational goal has been to improve experiential learning that can lead to job-ready skillsets and entrepreneurship.
STAR Award winner Stephen Bradforth is best known for developing femtosecond spectroscopies to elucidate fundamental mechanisms in liquid-phase photochemistry. Understanding how the electronic structure of a molecule is intricately tied to the arrangement and dynamics of its condensed phase host provides fundamental insight into how chemical transformations are controlled by the immediate environment. On this foundation Bradforth and his associates examine both energetics and mechanisms to determine how UV or higher-energy ionizing radiation induces primary damage in DNA and the aqueous medium that surrounds it. “We use this knowledge to establish pathways for scintillating nanoparticle conjugates to enhance cancer radiation therapies with existing hospital therapeutic sources,” he says, adding, “We also employ ultrafast methods to characterize and optimize light harvesting in molecular, nanoparticle- and polymer-based materials for solar energy.” In his education-related work, Bradforth serves as divisional dean of natural sciences in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. There he is helping guide a complete overhaul of USC’s undergraduate science degree programs.
Nominees for the Cottrell Plus IMPACT and STAR Awards must be at least 12 years beyond the year of their Cottrell Scholar Award and hold an academic position at a research university or primarily undergraduate institution. Cottrell Plus Awards are aimed at advancing the skills, knowledge and experience of Cottrell Scholars toward attaining leadership roles in their institutions. With Cottrell Plus, RCSA is extending its commitment to Cottrell Scholars throughout their careers, a unique aspect of the Cottrell Scholar Program.
The competitive Cottrell Plus Awards portfolio offers several additional opportunities to post-tenure Cottrell Scholars beyond IMPACT and STAR. Additional awards include the Cottrell SEED (Singular Exceptional Endeavors of Discovery) and Cottrell FRED (Frontiers in Research Excellence and Discovery) awards.
