Faculty and Staff September Accolades 2018

Ancha Baranova, School of Systems Biology, proposed a novel function for adipose tissue and co-authored an article entitled “Adipose may actively delay progression of NAFLD by releasing tumor-suppressing, anti-fibrotic miR-122 into circulation” in Obesity Reviews.

Barney Bishop, Chemistry and Biochemistry, along with co-PIs Kylene Kehn-Hall, School of Systems Biology, National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, and Paul Russo, National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, were awarded $506,750 for BioProspecting for Antiviral Peptides by the U.S. Department of the Army.

Charles Bailey, School of Systems Biology, National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, was awarded $1,743,488 by American Type Culture Collection. Prime Sponsor: Department of Health and Human Services.

College of Science faculty were recognized by students for teaching outstanding Mason Core courses during the 2018 Summer semester receiving a rating of 4.75 out of 5 on the element “My Overall Rating of Teaching.” Faculty associated with courses in Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Computational and Data Sciences, Environmental Science and Policy, Geology, Geography, and Geoinformation Science, Honors, Mathematical Sciences and Physics were recognized: Jasmine Amirzadegan, Silvia Auffret Ayala, Michelle Burke, Flavia Colonna, Paul Cooper, Zachary Combs, Lorelei Crerar, Desiree Di Mauro, Branislav Djordjevic, Gautami Erukulla, James Glasbrenner, Keith Higginbotham, Paul Houser, Nicholas King, Daniel Pinto, Alexander Robillard, Daniel Sklarew, Michael Summers, Minghzen Tian, Stacy Verardo, Anna Wyczalkowski, Sherry Young. (Includes TAs).

College of Science faculty who received a Mason Thank-a-Teacher recognition from the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning were: Mark Anders, Natalie Burls, Laura Lukes, and Cristiana Stan, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences. Connor Alexander, Sarah Bui, Gwendolyne Fondufe, Denise Hunnell, Marieke Jones, Malda Kocache, Charles Madden, Alexandra Masterson, James Munse, Valerie Olmo, and James Reid Schwebach, Biology. Siliva Auffret Ayala, Paul Cooper, Megan Erb, Greg Foster, Daniel Harrison, Rebecca Jones, Malda Kocache, Aaron Newborn, and Benoit Van Aken, Chemistry and Biochemistry. Joseph Marr, Muffarah Mar, and Daniel Sponseller, Computational and Data Sciences. Susan Howard, Thomas Lovejoy, Chris Parsons, Dann Sklarew, and Nicholas Walker, Environmental Science and Policy. Emily Rancourt, Forensic Science. Fernando Camelli, Benjamin Dreyfus, and Jie Zhang, Physics and Astronomy. Ron Mahabir, Geography and Geoinformation Science. Karen Crossin, Keith Fox, Glenn Preston, Samah Mahmoud, and Mary Nelson Mathematical Sciences. Jim McNeil, Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation. (Includes TAs).

Rebecca Forkner, Biology, authored a project titled “Stunning fall foliage. Blame it on the bugs?” featured in National Science Foundation.

Amy Fowler, Environmental Science and Policy, was awarded $13,722 for Impacts of two functionally distinct invaders on facilitation and community succession by the State of Maryland. Prime Sponsor: U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife.

Cing-Dao (Steve) Kan, Computational and Data Sciences, Center for Collision Safety and Analysis, was awarded $371,976 for Crash Simulations between Non-Occupied Automated Driving Systems & Roadside Hardware by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Frank Krueger, School of Systems Biology, was awarded $1,493,288 for examining oxytocin as a causal mechanism for long-term bonding by the U.S. Department of the Air Force.

Joris Leander van der Ham, Environmental Science and Policy, was awarded $149,815 for Fish and Wildlife Adaptation Fellowship Program by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Harold Geller, Physics and Astronomy, presented a public lecture at George Mason University’s Observatory titled “The Debate Regarding Whether or Not Viking Lander Discovered Life on Mars.” He was also interviewed by a reporter from WAMU radio regarding the astronomical significance of Stonehenge, and the part he played in consulting on the placement of the Styrofoam “stones” of Foamhenge, now available for viewing at Cox Farms in Centreville, Virginia.

James Kinter, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies, published an article in which he discussed how better fuel efficiency does (and doesn’t) fit into global warming discussions; his work was featured in George Mason University’s News.

Sean Lawton and Anton Lukyanenko, Mathematical Sciences, co-authored an article titled “Geometry Lab United: An Invitation” about the nationwide network of geometry labs, featured in Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

Lance Liotta, School of Systems Biology, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, along with co-PI Alessandra Luchini, School of Systems Biology, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, were awarded $361,466 for Validate urinary LAM in a large, geographically diverse, confirmatory cohort by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Emanuel 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, were awarded$244,206 for Protein Pathway Activation Mapping of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Tissue to Discover Biomarker Candidates that Associate with Response to Ipatasertib by Genentech, Inc.

John Qu, Geography and Geoinformation Science, along with co-PI Xianjun Hao, Environmental Science and Technology Center,were awarded $100,000 for Extending the Atmospheric Temperature Climate Data Record from POES Microwave Sounders to JPSS/ATMS by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.

Ling Ren, Environmental Science and Policy, was awarded $59,852 for Characterization of Phytoplankton Community Changes in Barnegat Bay Related to the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, Combining Next Generation Sequencing and Microscopic Analysis by New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium.

Shobita Satyapal, Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $152,625 by the Academic Fellowship Program for the U.S. Naval Observatory – TO 711, TO 984 by the U.S. Department of the Navy.

Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, College of Science, Mathematical Sciences, was awarded $80,201 for Collaborative Research: RoL: FELS: Workshop – Rules of Life in the Context of Future Mathematical Sciences by the National Science Foundation.

Monique Van Hoek, School of Systems Biology, was awarded $14,816 for Development of a Material for Reduction of Infections in Orthopedic Implants by Blue Point Materials Research, LLC.

Iosif Vaisman, School of Systems Biology, was awarded $10,000 for Graduate Student research project support by Leidos, Inc.

Joe Weingartner, Physics and Astronomy, presented a public lecture at George Mason University’s Observatory titled “The Dusty Universe.”

Ruixin Yang, Geography and Geoinformation Science, was awarded $140,000 for Maintaining and Upgrading Capability of the Data Aggregation and Output Handling of the Country-Commodity Linked System (CCLS) for Use in USDA Projections and Associated ERS Scenario Analyses by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).