Contact: Robbie Ward
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Three Mississippi State faculty members are being honored with distinguished National Science Foundation awards.
Assistant professors Alicia M. Beatty of the university's chemistry department, Adrienne Minerick of chemical engineering and Keith Walters of mechanical engineering recently were selected for 2007 Faculty Early Career Development Program awards.
Also known as NSF CAREER Awards, they are considered by many in academia to be the most prestigious recognition for young faculty members. In 2006, only 413 awards were granted from nearly 2,600 submissions.
Kirk H. Schulz, interim vice president of research and economic development, said having multiple members earn the highly competitive awards exemplifies the quality of MSU's faculty.
"This represents the first time that MSU has received three CAREER awards in one year," Schulz said. "It is a testament to the outstanding quality of young faculty who are teaching and working with our students."
Each honoree receives a project award spread over five years. The minimum amount is $400,000, while the average is about $500,000, said Elizabeth VanderPutten, program director for the NSF's division of research, evaluation and communication.
All proposals are reviewed on the basis of intellectual merit and broader impacts. The program also requires the selected scientists to include education and research components in their proposals.
Beatty's research involves the synthesis and structural-functional relationships of clay mimics for applications such as catalysis, molecular storage, molecular separations, and molecular sensors. The award also will support Beatty's visits to Mississippi high schools, where she will involve chemistry students and teachers in her research and develop a continuing education course on instructional materials for their continuing use.
Minerick's research seeks to determine the healthy-vs.-infected ratio of blood cells using electrokinetic microdevice technology. This process of analyzing a single drop of blood would take less than five minutes and could, as a result, revolutionize medical diagnostic practices. Her project also involves educational aspects for students to connect research by developing and disseminating Desktop Experiment Modules.
Walters' project involves computational fluid dynamics--the use of high-performance computers to simulate and predict different aspects of the flow of gas and liquid. Specifically, his research includes development of mathematical algorithms that form the basis of the computational simulations. His project focuses on the development of a new class of algorithms that reduce errors in the simulations without significantly increasing their costs in terms of memory or computational time.
Walters also will be working to expose high school students to the study of mathematics, science and engineering, with the goal of encouraging more to consider careers in the various science and engineering fields.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information, contact Beatty at 662-325-0032 or ab279@ra.msstate.edu; Minerick at 325-7323 or minerick@chemistry.msstate.edu; and Walters at 325-8231 or walters@me.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu