FacultyNews
Four ENG Faculty Win NSF CAREER Awards The National Science Foundation (NSF) has named assistant professors Hatice Altug (ECE), Sean Andersson (ME), Luca Dal Negro (ECE) and Katherine Yanhang Zhang (ME) recipients of its prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award in recognition of their outstanding research and teaching capabilities. The five-year, $400,000 award funds high-impact projects that effectively combine research and educational objectives. Altug will use her award to advance new bio-detection platforms for the large-scale study of proteins, from their detection and quantification to the determination of their functions and interactions. Such systems could lead to a better understanding of cellular physiology, improve diagnostic tools and accelerate the discovery of new drugs for cancer, Alzheimer’s and other complex diseases. They could also be adapted for the study of other biological molecules, chemicals and gases and the development of public health and national security applications. In his research, Andersson seeks to establish a theoretical and experimental foundation for tracking single and multiple particles on the nanometer scale. Measurements at this scale often rely on a pointlike sensor that is scanned across the sample. Turning to tracking rather than scanning, Andersson hopes to create clearer,
more precise algorithms for the study of dynamics on the nanoscale. If successful, Andersson’s research could facilitate advances in numerous scientific fields, including molecular biology, medicine and neurobiology. Dal Negro’s CAREER Award supports his efforts to advance nanophotonics by developing a new class of light-emitting devices that will enable unprecedented control and enhancement of certain light-emitting nanoparticles. Dal Negro’s research aims to enhance electromagnetic fields to the point where the radiation properties of the silicon nanostructures can be changed to emit light efficiently and rapidly for on-chip light emitters and lasers applications. Zhang is creating a novel experimental method to investigate mechanical properties and forces within the extracellular matrix (ECM), a network of proteins that provides structural support and facilitates communication between tissues and cells. She is also assessing the impact of tissue-level mechanical loading on these properties and forces. Communication signals between cells and tissues play key roles in establishing tissue structure-function relationships and controlling cell fate, but scientists know little about how mechanical forces are translated within the ECM from the tissue to cellular level.
S P R I N G 2 010 M A G A Z I N E
Assistant Professor Katherine Yanhang Zhang (ME) (Photo courtesy of Professor Zhang.)
Zhang’s experimental method seeks to improve our understanding of the mechanisms by which ECM mechanics influence cell and tissue behavior— and the onset of pathology in which altered mechanics play important roles. This new knowledge could generate advances in cellular and tissue engineering, biomaterials and other fields. —Mark Dwortzan and Jason L. London
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