College of Science Accolades May 2020
Ancha Baranova, Systems Biology, was interviewed twice by "Voice of America", an international news and broadcast organization. Baranova and Shan Zaidi, an undergraduate student in Biology and advisee of Baranova, co-authored the manuscript in Biochemie. Baranova and Kamil "John" Kural, a PhD student in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and advisee of Baranova, co-authored the manuscript in Oncology Letters. Baranova,along with SashaStoddard, a PhD student in Biosciences and advisee of Baranova, Andrew Riggleman and Ashley Callen (Carpenter), both Biology alums, co-authored the manuscript in Advance in Experimental Molecular Biology.
Natalie Burls, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, was awarded $87,880 for Collaborative Research: Quantifying the sea-surface temperature pattern effect for LGM and Pliocene constraints on climate sensitivity by National Science Foundation.
Benjamin Cash, Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies, has been named as a team lead for the NOAA Unified Forecast System (UFS) System Architecture and Infrastructure Cross Cutting Team. Cash was also chair of the organizing committee for the highly-successful UFS Workflows Workshop in May 2020.
Nirmal Ghimire, Physics and Astronomy, Quantum Science and Engineering Center, co-published an article titled “Fermi surface topology and nontrivial Berry phase in the flat-band semimetal Pd3Pb” in Physical Review B.
Fatah Kashanchi, Systems Biology, along with Co-PI Lance Liotta, Systems Biology and Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, was awarded $447,103 for Effect on CBD on Exosome release from CNS infected cells by US Department of Health and Human Services.
Barry Klinger, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, was commended by the National Science Foundation for his service on the National Science Foundation’s Physical Oceanography Virtual Panel to review and evaluate proposals submitted to the Ocean Sciences Research Section.
Zhong Liu, Geography and Geoinformation Science, Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, published an article titled “Creating Data Tool Kits That Everyone Can Use” in EOS. Liu also published another article titled “Improving Reproducibility in Earth Science Research” in EOS.
Chao Luo, Chemistry and Biochemistry, published a paper titled “A chemically stabilized sulfur cathode for lean electrolyte lithium sulfur batteries” in PNAS. Luo also published a paper titled “A Covalent Organic Framework for Fast-Charge and Durable Rechargeable Mg Storage” in Nano Letters.
Igor Mazin, Physics and Astronomy, with Japanese collaborators, published a paper titled “Unusual electronic state of Sn in AgSnSe2” in Physical Review B. In addition, with external colleagues, he published “SrRuO3-SrTiO3 heterostructure as a possible platform for studying unconventional superconductivity in Sr2RuO4
PHYSICAL REVIEW B.
Aarthi Narayanan, National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, along with Co-PI Remi Veneziano, was awarded $314,000 for DNA-Nanoparticles (DNA-NP) for antigen presentation and vaccine design for aerosolized pathogens by the US Department of the Army. Narayanan was also awarded $369,944 for Proteomic studies of coronavirus infected cells by Emergex Vaccines Holding Ltd. Lastly, Narayanan was also awarded $35,000 for The application of Brilacidin for the treatment of coronavirus infections by Innovation Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Peter Plavchan, Physics and Astronomy, published an article titled “The Case for Cohorts” in Inside Higher Ed. Plavchan, along with Co-PIs Shobita Satyapal, Physics and Astronomy, and Peter Pachowicz, was awarded $6,200 for Remote Occulter – Laser/Ao sub-system by the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.
Mark Uhen, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, was awarded $625,596 for Collaborative Research: Geoinformatics: Facility: Paleobiology Database: Preserving and Presenting Ancient Data For Future Research by National Science Foundation.
Petrus Johannes Van Oevelen, Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies, was awarded $566,667 for Continuation of Base Level Support for the GLOBAL ENERGY AND WATER EXCHANGES CORE PROJECT (GEWEX) INTERNATIONAL PROJECT OFFICE (IGPO) by the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.
Faculty and Staff News
Marie Calle (Connole), College of Science Development Team, got married on May 2nd in her parent’s backyard in Alexandria in an intimate ceremony consistent with the guidelines posted by the CDC. Congratulations to Marie and her husband on their marriage.
Congratulations to all of the faculty (and their graduating students) who worked to ensure their students completed their studies for a May 2020 graduation regardless of the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic.
