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Marquette Research News
CAREER consistency Dr. Jier Huang’s NSF grant continues a stellar streak When Dr. Jier Huang, assistant professor of chemistry, received a $555,600 CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation this winter, she became the fifth faculty member at Marquette with an active research project supported by NSF’s most prestigious award program for junior faculty. At his annual university address in January, President Michael R. Lovell proudly The number of hailed this as Marquette faculty the first time members to receive university a CAREER NSF grant faculty had in a five-year period, achieved this a first in the distinction. university’s history. With her Also the number of award, Huang years that Huang will will conduct a be conducting her five-year study study using the funds examining from the grant. the potential for porous structures — known as photoactive zeolitic imidazolate frameworks or ZIFs — to be used as catalysts in solar energy conversion. Composed of metals like iron, cobalt, copper or zinc, ZIFs potentially could be used as catalysts in photocatalytic reactions, and Huang’s research could kick-start more interest in the use of porous materials for sustainable energy. “Our goal is to develop new, efficient materials that can be used in solar power,” Huang says. In Marquette’s Chemistry Department, Huang is joined by two associate professors
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who are CAREER recipients, Drs. Qadir Timerghazin and Adam Fiedler, Arts ’10. (At work on it since 2011, Fiedler actually completed his award in February.) Others with active CAREER awards are Dr. Marta Magiera, associate professor of mathematics, statistics and computer science, and Dr. Brooke Mayer, P.E., assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering (see story on page 19). When it comes to CAREER success, Marquette has actually left little to chance. Five years ago, the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs began a CAREER Cohort program, which coaches junior faculty members on CAREER application requirements and NSF best practices, encouraging them to start preparations early enough to ensure competitive submissions. Could Marquette possibly receive more than one award per year and have more than five active at a time? “That’s the goal,” says Kathy Durben, ORSP executive director.
UPDATES Cleaning up the antibacterial soap mess The Food and Drug Administration’s September decision to ban common antibacterial agents such as triclosan and triclocarban in soaps and body washes caught many people off guard. After all, the personal care industry had spent years on a marketing blitz promoting germ-zapping products.
But followers of the research of Dr. Patrick McNamara, Eng ’06, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, were primed for the decision. Readers of Discover first met McNamara in 2014, when he was newly returned to Marquette from earning his doctorate at the University of Minnesota. At that time, he and colleagues were studying triclosan’s disruption of the microbial communities used in wastewater treatment facilities. Published in Environmental Science & Technology later that year, his team’s findings showed that triclosan washed down the drain with soap suds caused a spike in the presence of genes in sewagedigesting bacteria that help them defend against both triclosan and common antibiotics. A study published in the same journal in 2016 indicted triclocarban (common in bar soaps) for playing a similar role in antibiotic resistance. Faculty colleagues from engineering, Dr. Daniel Zitomer, and biological sciences, Dr. Krassimira Hristova, co-authored that study, along with then-doctoralcandidate Dr. Dan Carey. With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributing 23,000 deaths annually to antibiotic resistance, this research contributed to the FDA’s decision. It also made McNamara a go-to source for resulting global media coverage, including a story in the Guardian shared 27,000 times and viewed several times that number. “Since (these chemicals) do not offer added