College of Science Accolades: September to December 2021

The following College of Science faculty have been recognized by students, through the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning’s Thank-a-Teacher program, for making a significant difference in their lives: Gabriele Belle, Ana Maria Berea, Michael Coleson, Zachary Combs, John Cressman, Karen Crossin, Megan Erb, Rebecca Ericson, Samuel Fairchild, Gwendolyne Fondufe, Gregory Foster, Donna Fox, Bruno Franco, Jinghao Huang, Rebecca Jones,Rosanne Jones, Hamdi Kavak, Malda Kocache, Kim Largen, Gwendolyn Lewis, Sara Makarem, Lori Mandable, Alexandra Masterson,Jordan Miller, Otome Okoromoba, Mikell Paige, Esther Peters, Mariaelena Pierobon, David Rockwell, Ralph Romanelli, Don Seto, Matthew Sheik, Jennifer Sklarew, Lee Solomon, Ben Stablow, Allison Tomson, Stacey Verardo, Anne Verhoeven, and Rokhila Zakirova.

College of Science staff members deemed eligible for the 2021 College of Science Annual Reconciliation Recognition Award for being 98% compliant and on time with completing reconciliations were Jennifer Fraze, College of Science, Jessica Hanna, Physics and Astronomy, Andrea Nikoi, School of Systems Biology, Ginny Scott, Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, and Rhonda Troutman, College of Science. Of those eligible, Troutman was randomly selected as the recipient of the 2021 College of Science Annual Reconciliation Recognition Award.

Farhang Alem,Center for Infectious Diseases Research (CIDR), was awarded $9,936 for “Environmental COVID-19 Detection System Test” by Opteev Technologies Inc.

Christine Amaya, Mathematical Sciences, was the recipient of the 2021 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.

Ali Andalibi,College of Science, along with Co-PI Farhang Alem, Center for Infectious Diseases Research (CIDR), was awarded $29,810 for “Yersinia pestis in vitro and mouse efficacy studies” by Hackensack Meridian Health. Andalibi and Alem were also awarded $3,330,000 for “Facility and building System Upgrades support for the Mason Biomedical Research Laboratory” by US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Taylor Anderson, Geography and Geoinformation Science, was a recipient of the 2021 College of Science Dean’s Award for Early Career Excellence. The Dean’s Award for Early Career Excellence is presented to a tenure-track (non-tenured) 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, this clearly establishing themselves as an excellent faculty member.

Harbir Antil, Center for Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence (CMAI), Mathematical Sciences, was awarded $340,000 for “Algorithms and Numerical Methods for Optimization with Partial DifferentialEquation Constraints” by National Science Foundation (NSF).

Bok Haeng Baek, Center for Spatial Information Science and System (CSISS), was awarded $159,225 for “Neurological Effects of Environmental Styrene and BTEX Exposure in a Gulf of Mexico Cohort – Year 2” by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prime Sponsor: Department of Health and Human Services (NIH).

Elisa Baldelli, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM), School of Systems Biology, was the recipient of the 2021 College of Science Dean’s Research Support Award. The Dean’s Research Support Award is presented to a candidate actively involved in supporting a solid research program in basic or applied sciences that has gained significant national and international attention.

Ancha Baranova, School of Systems Biology, was awarded $14,471 for “NIAID/GPP Graduate Student Financial Support for Maryonne Snow-Smith” by US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Baranova was also awarded $7,409 for “NINDA and NCATS/GPP Graduate Student Financial support for Matthew Lefkowitz” by US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Barney Bishop, Chemistry and Biochemistry, was awarded $165,000 for “Collaborative Research: NSF – BIO/BBSRC: The amphibian skin microbial-immune interface and its impact on infection outcome” by National Science Foundation (NSF).

Zafer Boybeyi, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, organized and chaired the 25th Annual George Mason University Conference on Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion Modeling. 

Natalie Burls, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, along with Peter Jacobs, Environmental Science and Policy PhD Alumni, co-authored a paper entitled “Pliocene decoupling of equatorial Pacific temperature and pH gradients” in Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03884-7

Rocío Paola Caballero-Gill, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, was one of twelve elected, from over 80 applicants, to be part of the inaugural cohort of Academy Fellows for AGU LANDInG. This is a unique two-year professional development program for current and aspiring diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) leaders in the Earth and space sciences. 

Benjamin Cash, Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA), Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, was awarded $4,873 for “CISESS: George Mason University Dynamics Enhancements and Subseasonal to Seasonal (S2S) Numerical Weather Prediction Experiments with the Unified Forecast System (UFS)” by State of Maryland. Prime Sponsor: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Cash also co-chaired the Weather and Climate session of the 2nd Workshop on Knowledge Guided Machine Learning (KGML2021).

Ylenia Chiari, Biology, along with Co-PI Scott Glaberman, Environmental Science and Policy, was awarded $15,000 for “Conservation genetics of the endangered and Kemp’s ridley sea turtle” by US Geological Survey.

Susan Crate, Environmental Science and Policy, authored a book entitled “Once Upon the Permafrost: Knowing Culture and Climate Change in Sibera,” published by Critical Green Engagements.

Anneke DeLuycker, Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation, published a manuscript entitled “Diet and feeding ecology of critically endangered San Martín titi monkey (Plecturocebus oenanthe) in Peru” in International Journal of Primatology. 

Iulia Stefanova Deneva, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $75,000 for “TIMING NEW PULSARS FOUND IN JERK SEARCHES OF FERMI UNASSOCIATED SOURCES” by NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.

Kenneth Dere, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $33,000 for “CHIANTI database and software maintenance” by NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.

Liping Di, Center of Spatial Information Science and Systems (CSISS), was awarded $3,189,597 for “Joint Geoinformatics Laboratory (JGIL), Phase Vii Cooperative Geoinformation Research with NASA GSFC Earth Sciences Data and Information Service Center (GES DISC)” by NASA – Goddard Space Flight Center.

Paul Dirmeyer, Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA), Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, was awarded $822,886 for “Land-Boundary Layer Coupling Processes from Models and Observations” by NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.

Virginia ‘Ginny’ Espina, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM), was awarded $3,000 for “Clinical Evaluation of Dotz Rapid SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostic” by Caerus Discovery, LLC. Espina was also awarded $37,662 for “Autophagy modulation using Chloroquine and cannabinoids in breast cancer cell lines” by Targeted Pharmaceuticals, LLC.

Gregory Foster,Chemistry and Biochemistry, along with Co-PIs Thomas Huff,Randolph McBride, Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center (PEREC), Scott Glaberman, Environmental Science and Policy, was awarded $92,054 for “Survey of Micropollutants in Fluvial Sediments and Water from Hunting Creek and the Freshwater Tidal Potomac River for 2020-2022” by Alexandria Renewal Enterprises.

Nirmal Ghimire, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $563,714 for “CAREER: Synthetic design of structure-inspired magnetic topological materials” by National Science Foundation (NSF). Ghimire, along with Xiaoyan Tan, Chemistry and Biochemistry, and postdoctoral fellow Peter Siegfried, co-authored a paper entitled “Iridate Li8IrO6: An Antiferromagnetic Insulator” in Inorganic Chemistry. 

Scott Glaberman, Environmental Science and Policy, was awarded $11,715 for “Developing a Nematode High-Throughput Toxicity System” by Bayer AG.

Jules Goldspiel, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, authored an article entitled “Mars Paleolakes” for the next edition of the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology.

Ramin Hakami, Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR), Biology, was awarded $25,000 for “Development of a stable cell line for production of exosomes carrying EIAV gp90 glycoprotein for vaccine development” by Virongy LLC.

Daniel Hanley, along with undergraduate student Beheshteh Moghaddame-Jafari, Biology, co-published a paper entitled “Could diffuse coevolution explain the generic eggshell color of the brown-headed cowbird?” in Current Zoology. https://academic.oup.com/cz/article/67/6/645/6374451

Kerin Hilker-Balkissoon, College of Science, along with Padhu Seshaiyer, Mathematical Sciences, co-published a case study entitled “George Mason University - The Scientific Community of Transfer Researchers: Holistic Career Readiness for STEM Undergraduate Students Who Transfer” in the volume Career Advising as a Tool for Student Success and Educational Equity. 

Carissa Hunter, College of Science, was a recipient of the 2021 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, 2021.

Christian Jones, Environmental Science and Policy, along with Co-PIs Randolph McBride, Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center (PEREC), Benoit Van Aken, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Amy Fowler, Environmental Science and Policy, was awarded $140,187 for “An Ecological Study of Hunting Creek 2021-2022” by Alexandria Renewal Enterprises.

Cing-Dao ‘Steve’ Kan[MA1] , Center for Collision Safety and Analysis (CCSA), along with Co-PI Dhafer Marzougui, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $1,202,240 for “Research Assistance to the Department of State (DOS) to Develop & Optimize Effective Anti – Ram Devices” by US Department of Transportation (US DOT). Kan, along with [MA2] Rudolf Reichert, Center for Collision Safety and Analysis (CCSA), was awarded $8,000 for “ADAC Research Program” by Allgemeiner Deutscher automobile-Club e.V. (ADAC)

Fatah Kashanchi, School of System Biology, had multiple students, graduate student James Erickson, doctoral student Pooja Khatkar, doctoral student Yuriy Kim, doctoral student Gifty Mensah, graduate student Anastasia Williams, School of Systems Biology, and graduate student Fatemah Debhandi, Biology, successfully present their posters at the 1st meeting of the American Society of Intercellular Communication (ASIC) in Potomac, Maryland.

Hamdi Kavak, Computational and Data Sciences, was a recipient of the 2021 College of Science Dean’s Award for Early Career Excellence. The Dean’s Award for Early Career Excellence is presented to a tenure-track (non-tenured) 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, this clearly establishing themselves as an excellent faculty member.

William Kennedy, along with Co-PI Hamdi Kavak, Computational and Data Sciences, was awarded $9,717 for “Modeling Human-Infrastructure Interactions following Nuclear Detonations” by Applied Research Associates, Inc. Prime Sponsor: US Department of Defense (DOD).

James Kinter, Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA), Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, along with Ed Maibach, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, was featured in a 30-minute television special presentation entitled ‘Climate Smart: Crisis in Communication’ on WPMT, Fox43 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Lance Liotta, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM), School of Systems Biology, was the recipient of the 2021 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.

Rainald Lohner, Center for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $45,000 for “FEFLO Support -2021-2022” by US Department of the Navy.

Alessandra Luchini, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM), was awarded $3,500 for “Adrenocortical carcinomas serum proteomics project” by Queen Mary University of London.

Chao Luo, Chemistry and Biochemistry, was the recipient of the 2021 College of Science Dean’s Research Scientist Award. The Dean’s Research Scientist Award is presented to a candidate in recognition off 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. Luo was selected as a Emerging Investigator 2021 by Journal of Material Chemistry A.

Igor Mazin, Physics and Astronomy, along with postdoctoral fellow Suvadip Das, co-authored a paper entitled “Quantitative assessment of the role of spin fluctuations in 2D Ising superconductor NbSe2” in Computational Materials Science 200. Mazin co-authored a paper entitled “Prediction of unconventional magnetism in doped FeSb2” in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 118. Mazin, along with postdoctoral fellow Mahdi Afshar, co-authored a paper entitled “Spin spiral and topological Hall effect in Fe3Ga4” in Physical Review B 104. Mazin co-authored a paper entitled “Strongly anisotropic antiferromagnetic coupling in EuFe2As2 revealed by stress detwinning” in Physical Review B 104. Mazin also co-authored a paper entitled “Field-tunable toroidal moment in a chiral-lattice magnet” in Nature Communications 12.

Nathalia Morales, Physics and Astronomy, was a recipient of the 2021 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, 2021.

Dusan Odstrcil,Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $80,000 for “The STERO IMPACT (In-situ Measurements of Particles and CME Transients) Investigation: At the Onset of the New Solar Cycle with New Perspectives” by University of California at Berkeley. Prime Sponsor: National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA).

Valerie Olmo, Biology, was the recipient of the 2021 College of Science Dean’s Creative Educator Award. The Dean’s Creative Educator Award is presented to a candidate 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.

Kathleen Pegion,Center for Ocean–Land–Atmosphere Studies (COLA), Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, was awarded $97,466 for “CISESS: George Mason University SubX” by State of Maryland. Prime Sponsor: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Emanuel ‘Chip’ Petricoin,along with Co-PI Valerie Calvert, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM), was awarded $81,954 for “Mechanistic dissection and inhibitor targeting of autophagy in RAS driven cancers” by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prime Sponsor: Department of Health and Human Services (NIH). Petricoin was awarded $31,780 for “Protein pathway activation mapping of tissues cells treated with molecular inhibitors” by University of Northern Carolina at Chapel Hill. Petricion was awarded $19,985 for “Proteomic Analysis of NanoTrap(TM) Processed Samples” by Ceres Nanosciences, Inc. Petricion was also awarded $16,801 for “Reverse Phase Protein Arrays (RPPA) on CD71 cell lines using PTK7 antibody and positive and negative controls for CD71” by AbbVie Inc.

Mariaelena Pierobon, School of Systems Biology, and her team co-authored a manuscript entitled “PD-L1 quantification across tumor types using the reverse phase protein microarray: implications for precision medicine” in Journal of Immunotherapy of Cancer. Pierobon and her team co-authored a manuscript entitled “Wild-Type KRAS Allele Effects on Druggable Targets in KRAS Mutant Lung Adenocarcinomas” in Genes. Pierobon and her team also co-authored a manuscript entitled “Multi-omic molecular profiling guides efficacious treatment selection in refractory metastatic breast cancer: a prospective phase II clinical trial” in Molecular Oncology. Pierobon, along with Emanuel ‘Chip’ Petricoin, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, School of Systems Biology, co-authored a manuscript entitled “CHK1 protects oncogenic KRAS-expressing cells from DNA damage and is a target for pancreatic cancer treatment” in Cell Reports. Pierobon and Petricoin also co-authored a manuscript entitled “The KRAS-regulated kinome identifies WEE1 and ERK coinhibition as a potential therapeutic strategy in KRAS-mutant pancreatic cancer” in Journal of Biological Chemistry. Pierobon, along with a group from Georgetown University, co-authored a manuscript entitled “Regulation of Chemosensitivity in Human Medulloblastoma Cells by p53 and the PI3 Kinase Signaling Pathway” in Molecular Cancer Research. Pierobonhad a student, doctoral student Emna El Gazzah, present her work entitled “Different oncogenic KRAS mutations produce distinct heterogeneous outcomes in signaling pathways of isogenic mouse embryonic fibroblasts” at the Commonwealth of Virginia Cancer Research Conference 2021. Pierobon also had a student, graduate student Bryce Dunn, present his work entitled “Automated Segmentation of Lung Tumor Subtypes Using the Multiple Resolution Residual Network” at the Commonwealth of Virginia Cancer Research Conference 2021.

Peter Plavchan, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $5,000 for “RVxTESS: Characterizing Steller Activity on M dwarfs with Simultaneous TESS and NEID Observations” by Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Prime Sponsor: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Shobita Satyapal, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $137,920 for “Academic Fellowship Program for the US Naval Observatory – TO 591” by US Department of the Navy. Satyapal was also awarded $176,198 for “Academic Fellowship Program for the US Naval Observatory – TO 548” by US Department of the Navy.

Ziheng Sun, Center of Spatial Information Science and Systems (CSISS), was awarded $57,641 for “CyberTraining: Implementation: Medium: GeoSMART: Developing a Machine Learning workforce earth science studies through training and curriculum development” by University of Washington. Prime Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF).

Monique Sweeney, School of Systems Biology, was recognized as George Mason University’s Employee of the Month for September 2021.

Fadi Tahan,Center for Collision Safety and Analysis (CCSA), along with Co-PI Dhafer Marzougui, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $200,000 for “FRA Crashworthiness” by KEA Technologies, Inc. Prime Sponsor: US Department of Transportation (US DOT).

Daniel Tong, Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems (CSISS), Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, was awarded $3,185 for “Evaluating the Health Benefits of Congestion Pricing” by New York University.

Monique van Hoek, School of Systems Biology, was the recipient of the 2021 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, 2021.

Lillian Virgil, College of Science, was the recipient of the 2021 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.

Patrick Vora,Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $50,000 for “I-Corps: Scalable Quantum Hardware: Customer Discovery in the Quantum Computing and Quantum Communications” by National Science Foundation (NSF).

Robert Weigel, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $149,687 for “Extensions and Use of the Heliophysics Application Programming Interface (HAPI) to Higher-Level interfaces and Machine Learning Applications” by NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.

Konrad Wessels, Geography and Geoinformation Science, was awarded $179,914 for “Savanna-Bio: Biomass Estimation with New Spaceborne Missions for MRV in Tropical Dry Forests and Savannas” by State of Maryland. Prime Sponsor: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

David Wong, Geography and Geoinformation Science, was awarded $50,000 for “An intersectional approach to improve family and social support measures of county health – Incorporating racial-ethnic and age dimensions” by University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Chaowei Yang, Geography and Geoinformation Science, Center for Intelligent Spatial Computing (CISC), Geography and Geoinformation Science, was awarded $20,000 for “NCCS STC membership” by NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.

Ruixin Yang, Geography and Geoinformation Science, was awarded $55,000 for “Relationships between Climate, Crop Yield and TFP” by US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Andreas Züfle, Geography and Geoinformation Science, joined the team for PREPARE, a virtual organization supported by the NSF for pandemic research preparedness and resilience. PREPARE is organizing workshops to foster collaborations between hundreds of principal investigators of NSF awards across directorates. Find out more about PREPARE events. Züfle, along with Xu Teng and Goce Trajcevski from Iowa State University, received the Best Poster Award Runner-Up at ACM SIGSPATIAL 2021 for a paper entitled “Semantically Diverse Paths with Range and Origin Constraints.”