College of Science Accolades: December 2020 - February 2021
Winning first place in the second annual College of Science Door Decoration Contest was Frannie Dove, College of Science. In second place was Kelly Knight, Forensic Science, and tied for third place was Caitlyn Ford, College of Science, and Ginny Scott, Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience.
College of Science staff members identified as eligible for the 2020 College of Science Annual Reconciliation Recognition Award for being 98% compliant and on time with completing reconciliations were Frannie Dove, College of Science, Jessica Hanna, Physics and Astronomy, Andrea Nikoi, School of Systems Biology, Ginny Scott, Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, and Fabiola Suarez, Chemistry and Biochemistry. Of those eligible, Scott was randomly selected as the recipient of the 2020 College of Science Annual Reconciliation Recognition Award.
Tina Bell, Biology, STEM Accelerator, was awarded $9,000 for “National Ocean Sciences Bowl - Regional Competition (Chesapeake Bay Bowl)” by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, Inc. Prime Sponsor: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Zafer Boybeyi, Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, who is a member of the advisory board of the Air Pollution Scientific initiative recently interviewed Pal Arya of North Carolina State University, one of the pioneering scientists in the field of air pollution and quality, and was a member of Boybeyi’s dissertation committee.
Steve Burmeister, Forensic Science, was the recipient of the 2020 College of Science Dean’s Creative Educator Award. The Dean’s Creative Educator Award is presented to a faculty member who has engaged in efforts in cross-disciplinary education, innovative approaches to education, enrichment of students’ educational experience outside the classroom, and the embedding of entrepreneurship as an integral part of students’ academic experience.
Liping Di, Geography and Geoinformation Science, Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, along with Co-PI Liying Guo, Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, was awarded $39,575 for “Research on Geospatial Information Technology and Standards” by the U.S. Geological Survey. Di, along with Co-PIs Eugene Yu and Liying Guo, Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, was awarded $500,000 for “FACT: Machine-learning- based in-season crop mapping and associated cloudbased bigdata cyberinfrastructure to support USDA NASS decision making” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Joseph DiZinno, along with Co-PI Anthony Falsetti, Forensic Science, was awarded $2,000,000 for “NIJ National Center on Forensics” by the U.S. Department of Justice (Office of Justice Programs).
Teri Fede, College of Science, was the recipient of the 2020 College of Science Dean’s Award for Distinctive Service. The Dean’s Award for Distinctive Service is presented to any classified staff member who has demonstrated excellence to students, faculty, and administration in meeting the vision of their home unit and the College of Science since January, 2020.
Nirmal Ghimire, Physics and Astronomy, was the recipient of the 2020 College of Science Dean’s Award for Early Career Excellence. The Dean’s Award for Early Career Excellence is presented to a tenure-track faculty member who has achieved notable success and has increased the profile for their Department and the College. The faculty member must show exceptional accomplishment in teaching and/or research, thus clearly establishing themselves as an excellent faculty member.
Kerin Hilker-Balkissoon, Student Academic Affairs, was the recipient of the 2020 College of Science Dean’s Award for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion. The Dean’s Award for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion is presented to a faculty or staff member who has demonstrated excellence in this area through their teaching, research, community outreach, or other efforts.
Paul Houser, Geography and Geoinformation Science, along with Co-PI Viviana Maggioni, Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, was awarded $282,850 for “Development of a multidecadal land reanalysis over High Mountain Asia” by the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.
Saleet Jafri, School of Systems Biology, Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, along with Jason Kinser, Computational and Data Sciences, and student Eric Munger, Biology, published an article entitled “Application of Machine Learning in Understanding Atherosclerosis: Emerging Insights” by APL Bioeng, and the article was an editor’s pick for APL Bioeng.
Hao Jing, Chemistry and Biochemistry, was the recipient of the 2020 College of Science Dean’s Research Scientist Award. The Dean’s Research Scientist Award is presented to a candidate in recognition of their research excellence evidenced by the discovery of new knowledge as demonstrated by published work in books, journals, and leading conferences; invited talks, prizes, inventions, patents, and other recognitions; and, as appropriate, the track record of their competitive research funding.
Rebecca Jones, Chemistry and Biochemistry, edited a book entitled “Advances in Teaching Inorganic Chemistry Volume 1: Classroom Innovations and Faculty Development,” published by the American Chemical Society. Jones also edited a book entitled “Advances in Teaching Inorganic Chemistry Volume 2: Laboratory Enrichment and Faculty Community,” published by the American Chemical Society.
Fatah Kashanchi, School of Systems Biology, was awarded $132,130 for “Cocaine induces production of infectious large extracellular vesicles (lEV) and regulates neuro-inflammation” by Beth Israel. Prime Sponsor: Department of Health and Human Services (NIH).
Dmitri Klimov, School of Systems Biology, along with Saleet Jafri, School of Systems Biology, Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, and students John Hamre, and M. D. McCoy, published an article entitled “Understanding Proteins Through the Crystal Structure” by the Biophysical Society.
Lance Liottaalong with Co-PI Emanual “Chip” Petricoin, School of Systems Biology, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, was awarded $1,339,358 for “"W81XWH2110044/HER2 phosphorylation and dimerization with EGFR predict neoadjuvant HER2+ pCR for personalized (escalation or de-escalation) breast cancer therapy” by the U.S. Department of the Army.
Thomas Lovejoyalong with Co-PI Cecilia Barriga Bahamonde, PhD Candidate, Environmental Science and Policy, was awarded $7,532 for “Conflicting ecosystem services in the Peruvian Amazon: Indigenous communities and fruit-eating mammals: Fellowship Cecilia Barriga” by The Rufford Foundation.
Igor Mazin, Physics and Astronomy, co-authored a paper entitled “Anomalous gap ratio in anisotropic superconductor: aluminum under pressure” in Physical Review B 103. Mazin also co-authored a paper entitled “Direct-Write of Nanoscale Domains with Tunable Metamagnetic Order in FeRh Thin Films” in ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. Mazin also co-authored a paper entitled “Ultrafast dynamics in the high-symmetry and in the charge density wave phase of 2H- NbSe2” in Physical Review B 102.
Aarthi Narayanan, Biology, National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases was the recipient of the 2020 College of Science Dean’s Big Challenge Award. The Dean’s Big Challenge Award is presented to a faculty member in the College who best contributed to solving one of the world’s big problems. Narayanan, was awarded $573,552 for “Fighting the Cytokine Storm of COVID-19 Using Microphysiological Systems” by Vanderbilt University. Prime Sponsor: Department of Health and Human Services (NIH). Narayanan, along with Co- PI Lance Liotta, School of Systems Biology, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, was also awarded $103,620 for “Assessment of therapeutic efficacy of candidate interventions for COVID-19 in mouse models” by Targeted Pharmaceuticals, LLC.
Dusan Odstrcil, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $78,166 for “Next Generation 3D Solar Wind Interactive Data Visualizations” by the University of Colorado. Prime Sponsor: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Edward Oughton, Geography and Geoinformation Science, was awarded the Charles Benton Early Career Scholar Award at the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC48) for his paper entitled “Policy options for digital infrastructure strategies: A simulation model for broadband universal service in Africa,” that was developed as part of the World Bank’s Digital Economy for Africa program.
Mikell Paige, Chemistry and Biochemistry, along with Co-PI Thomas Huff, Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center, was awarded $117,750 for “Pilot Study to Determine Health Effects of e-cigarette in Healthy Young Adults” by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. Prime Sponsor: Department of Health and Human Services (NIH).
Rachel Pepin, National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, was the recipient of the 2020 College of Science Dean’s Research Support Award. The Dean’s Research Support Award is presented to faculty or staff member actively involved in supporting a solid research program in basic or applied sciences that has gained significant national and international attention.
Emanual “Chip” Petricoin, School of Systems Biology, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, along with Co-PI Julia Wulfkuhle, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, was awarded $64,019 for “I-SPY2 +: Evolving the I-SPY 2 TRIAL to include MRI-directed, adaptive sequential treatment to optimize breast cancer outcomes” by the Regents of the University of California. Prime Sponsor: Department of Health and Human Services (NIH). Petricoin, along with Co-PI Lance Liotta, School of Systems Biology, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, was also awarded $273,125 for “Murtha Cancer Center Clinical Proteomics Platform – RPPA Assessment in the APOLLO Program - 2020-2021” by the Henry M. Jackson Foundation. Prime Sponsor: Department of Defense (USUHS).
Peter Plavchan, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $50,000 for “MASS MEASUREMENTS OF TESS TRANSITING CANDIDATE COMPANIONS” by the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center. Plavchan was also awarded $11,250 for “Precision modeling of telluric absorption features through the retrieval of atmospheric trace gases and spectroscopy update toward Extreme Precision Radial Velocity (EPRV) measurements” by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Prime Sponsor: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Jennifer Salerno, along with Co-PI Esther Peters, Environmental Science and Policy, was awarded $67,560 for “Continuation of Microscopic and Microbial Insights into the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) Outbreak Across Multiple Coral Species on Florida’s Coral Reef” by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Shobita Satyapal, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $174,199 for “Academic Fellowship Program for the U.S. Naval Observatory - TO 148” by the U.S. Department of the Navy. Satyapal was also awarded $130,226 for “Academic Fellowship Program for the US Naval Observatory - TO 134” by the U.S. Department of the Navy.
Padhu Seshaiyer, College of Science, was the recipient of the 2020 College of Science Dean’s Impact Award. The Dean’s Impact Award is presented to any faculty member who has achieved particular success, has made a notable impact, and has brought recognition to our College since January, 2020.
Lee A. Solomon, Chemistry and Biochemistry, was awarded $453,233 for “CAREER: Developing Peptide Amphiphiles into Next-Generation Electronic Materials and Model Systems to Study Protein Functions” by the National Science Foundation.
Cristiana Stan, Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, published a paper entitled “Sources of Subseasonal Predictability over CONUS during Boreal Summer” by the American Meteorological Society, which was highlighted in an article by the Unified Forecast System (UFS).
Ziheng Sun, Geography and Geoinformation Science, Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, along with Co-PI Daniel Tong, Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, was awarded $870,785 for “GeoWeaver: Building An Open-Source Platform for Enabling Ad Hoc Management, Open Sharing, and Robust Reuse of NASA Earth Data-driven Hybrid AI Workflows” by the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.
Lee Talbot, Environmental Science and Policy, was recognized with a 2020 College of Science Dean’s Career Achievement Award. This is award is not given annually but is a recognition of a faculty member who has made significant contributions in science during a substantial career.
Daniel Tong, Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, was awarded $33,600 for “Public Health Surveillance 3:0: Harnessing Novel Environmental and Economic Data and Methods to Guide Public Health Practice” by New York University.
Monique van Hoek, School of Systems Biology, along with her student Samantha Hitt, published an article entitled “Komodo-dragon cathelicidin-inspired peptides are antibacterial against carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia” by the Journal of Medical Microbiology, and their article was selected as editor’s choice in the journal.
Robert Weigel, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $74,996 for “3-D Heliosphere Data and Model Visualization using Python” by the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.
Konrad Wessels, Geography and Geoinformation Science, was awarded $187,498 for “The impact of investment on irrigated rice, dryland agriculture and afforestation in Senegal using SAR and optical time-series imagery in data fusion approaches” by the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center. Wessels, along with Co-PIs Andreas Zufleand Dieter Pfoser, Geography and Geoinformation Science, was also awarded $589,315 for “Distributed Semi-Supervised Temporal Learning for Global Change Monitoring (DiSSTL)” by BlackSky Geospatial Solutions, Inc. Prime sponsor: Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity.
Kamica Wilson, College of Science, was the recipient of the 2020 College of Science Dean’s Outstanding Staff Award. The Dean’s Outstanding Staff Award is presented to a staff member who has been recognized for their dedication to the well-being and operation of the college and the administrative units thereof, and who exemplifies strong capability, commitment, and service to the College and the University community.
Yuntao Wualong with Co-PI Ramin Hakami, School of Systems Biology, National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, was awarded $97,724 for “In vivo Therapeutic Studies against COVID-19 using the K18-hACE2 Transgenic Mouse Model” by Dejia Harmony.
Jie Zhang, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $230,727 for “Understanding the Physical Processes that Govern the Structure and Dynamics of Coronal Mass Ejections” by Predictive Science, Inc. Prime Sponsor: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
