2016 Breakthrough Awards Booklet by VPResearch

2016 Breakthrough Awards University of South Carolina / Office of Research

At USC, we talk a lot about the exceptional experiences we provide to our students, and with good reason. There is much to be proud of here at the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s premier Carnegie tier-one research university. Something we should talk about more often is the source of that excellence, our exceptional faculty and graduate students. They work every day, both in and out of the classroom, teaching, building and enriching relationships with colleagues and generating new discoveries in the lab, the field and beyond. Celebrating these exceptional researchers and educators is what the Breakthrough family of awards is all about. In this booklet, we honor Breakthrough Leadership in Research awardees who, over the course of productive careers, have made major impacts on their fields of study and on those coming up behind them. We applaud early-career faculty who have built impressive scholarly momentum in relatively short time frames with Breakthrough Stars awards. And, we look ahead to the bright horizons that await our Breakthrough Graduate Scholars whose outstanding work shows the promise of amazing things to come.

Contents LEADERSHIP IN RESEARCH HONOREES | pg. 4

BREAKTHROUGH STARS | pg. 18

GRADUATE SCHOLARS | pg. 44

PRAKASH NAGARKATTI, PH.D. VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA WWW.SC.EDU/VPRESEARCH

Leadership in Research Honorees Seasoned faculty who have succeeded at every level in their professions are a priceless asset, especially those who lead by example. At the University of South Carolina, the Office of Research recognizes that leaders in research make all the difference in mentoring new generations of faculty and make the institution a better place for everyone.

KIRSTIN DOW PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY College of Arts and Sciences

Since joining the geography faculty 20 years ago, Kirstin Dow’s research on human adaptation to climate change has thrived, thanks to the opportunities afforded by working at a public university and in a department that values public service. Dow is the lead investigator of the Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments, a 12-year-old interdisciplinary project that works with decision makers in the Carolinas to produce decision-relevant climate science and build adaptive capacity in the Carolinas to better prepare for climate variability and long-term changes. In 2006, Dow co-authored “The Atlas of Climate Change,” a distillation of the science of climate change now in its third edition in more than 10 languages. Dow was previously faculty principal of Carolina’s Green Quad and has served on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group 2 on Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptation. “Kirstin has immense energy and resilience herself and a huge dedication to using science to make a difference in environmental policy and environmental outcomes,” says Carol Boggs, director of USC’s School of the Earth, Ocean & Environment. 4

JAMES HÉBERT HEALTH SCIENCES DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND BIOSTATISTICS Arnold School of Public Health

James Hébert, director of USC’s Cancer Prevention and Control Program, first envisioned the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) in 2004. Designed to assess the inflammatory potential of an individual’s overall diet, the DII has been used to predict a range of chronic diseases by researchers at 108 different institutions in 36 countries. Hébert and his USC colleagues are publishing a DII-based paper every nine days. As Hébert explains, the DII has been refined by several Arnold School researchers, including faculty, staff and students working on doctoral dissertations and masters theses. “Although it might have been my idea originally,” Hébert says, “these other people helped it to evolve in wonderful ways. I think this shows the inventiveness of the group.” Hébert’s deference to the group can be credited for helping spawn a culture of leadership, mentorship and collaboration. “One of the things I like about USC is that it’s very openminded in terms of research,” Hébert explains. “If you’re in an environment that encourages open-mindedness and deep questioning, you’ll cultivate a cadre of people that are willing to take the risks needed to assume leadership roles.” 6

ANGELA LIESE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND BIOSTATISTICS Arnold School of Public Health

In her 16 years at the Arnold School of Public Health, Angela Liese has done not only groundbreaking research in nutrition, food security and diabetes, but also mentored dozens of junior faculty in the Arnold School and in other USC colleges. “Mentoring is about helping others reach their goals,” Liese says. “I see mentoring as an extension of my teacher role.” When she served as director of the university’s Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, Liese created a network of interdisciplinary faculty and staff working on collaborative and individual research projects. Liese has been an author on more than 140 peer-reviewed publications and has been involved in millions of dollars of funded research proposals. Her work has affected nutritional epidemiology methods, diabetes prevention and public health nutrition recommendations. She also has worked to establish the university as a national leader in the area of food security. “What sets Angela apart is her continued interest in helping others to succeed, and in identifying and building new initiatives for research success,” says epidemiology associate professor Susan E. Steck. 8

DAN REGER CAROLINA DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY College of Arts and Sciences

Dan Reger has published 225 papers to-date and won a slew of awards for teaching, research and service, and his contributions to the field of inorganic chemistry have been significant. Reger’s leadership in research is perhaps best evidenced by the federal EPSCoR grants he has helped secure and for the effects those grants have had on the chemistry department’s reputation and diversity. EPSCoR grants in the 1990s supported the hire of a number of junior chemistry faculty who have had outstanding careers, including the department’s first two female tenure-track professors. Nine additional new faculty were hired while he was department chair from 2001 to 2008, including four additional female tenure-track faculty. There has been significant diversity in his own research program; half of the latest 12 Ph.D. students were female and three were African Americans. Reger’s greatest professional satisfaction has come from teaching and mentoring the next generation of chemists. “If you ask what I’m proudest of, it’s the fact that I’ve had 35 students start the Ph.D. in my research program, and 33 have Ph.D.s. Those people are now out there in the world — working for companies, teaching and doing their own research.” 10

IGOR RONINSON SMARTSTATE ENDOWED CHAIR IN TRANSLATIONAL CANCER THERAPEUTICS S.C. College of Pharmacy

He brought 10 scientists and Senex Biotechnology, a cancer drug discovery company, to USC in 2011 when he was named the new SmartState Endowed Chair in Translational Cancer Therapeutics. But for Igor Roninson, he was just getting started in building infrastructure that would enhance cancer research throughout the state. Just three years after his arrival, Roninson’s leadership bore the fruit of one of the largest grants the university had ever received — $11.3 million from the National Institutes of Health for a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence. As director of the Center for Targeted Therapeutics, Roninson is able to extend his reach in developing young talent that will elevate Carolina’s reputation as a center for drug discovery research nationally and internationally. “His scientific contributions to the field of cancer research over the years are exhaustive, have had great impact, and are published in the top journals in his field,” says Kim Creek, chair of the Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences. “And he is not only a top-class scientist, but also a tireless leader and mentor of junior scientists and junior faculty.” 12

RALPH WHITE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING College of Engineering and Computing

Ralph White’s story could be told in numbers: 328 journal papers, 89 graduate students who completed their degrees under his guidance, five years as dean of the College of Engineering and Computing. Or it could be told in international honors: the Olin Palladium Award and the Vittorio de Nora Award, both from The Electrochemical Society. White is only the second person to receive both, which are based on contributions in academia and industry. “My personal view is that Prof. White is the most sought-after consultant and collaborator by those working on electrochemical energy storage devices within the automotive community,” says General Motors’ Mark Verbrugge, a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Chemical engineering professor James Ritter succinctly sums up White’s leadership at Carolina: “We went from being very near the bottom of 103 Ph.D.-granting chemical engineering departments in the U.S. to being ranked at No. 29 in the country. Ralph set the standard very quickly and the bar very high for his young faculty, and we all strived to meet his mark.” 14

Breakthrough Stars Every cohort of junior faculty has them — the rising stars whose research, teaching and scholarly efforts rise to the top. The University of South Carolina’s 2016 Breakthrough Stars represent the very best among the ranks of the university’s assistant and associate professors. Their success will help propel USC forward for years to come.

Nutrition & Exercise

MICHAEL BEETS ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF EXERCISE SCIENCE Arnold School of Public Health

An apple a day helps keep childhood obesity at bay. A banana works, too — or just about any other fruit or vegetable. Michael Beets has built a research agenda that’s focused on working with practitioners to achieve healthy eating and physical activity standards in places that care for children beyond regular school hours. Good policies and standards already exist, Beets says, but the real challenge is helping practitioners find practical ways to meet them. Beets isn’t working alone; he has authored or co-authored nearly 130 peer-reviewed papers in seven years at USC, many of them with students or mentees as first authors. He’s also garnered more than $7.5 million for his research, which is helping inform the national conversation on which nutrition programs should be adopted and how best they can be implemented. “Most people think that we’re just going to create healthier trashcans because kids will throw this stuff away,” Beets says, but his research has proven that’s not true. “Most kids are hungry and are going to eat what you put in front of them. They also enjoy it.” 18

Environmental Contaminants

SAURABH CHATTERJEE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES Arnold School of Public Health

Drinking too much is a well-known pathway to liver disease, but even teetotalers aren’t immune to cirrhosis — particularly if they’re overweight. Saurabh Chatterjee’s Environmental Health and Disease Laboratory has shown how obesity elevates susceptibility toward a contaminant that is common in the developed world’s water supply. The result can be a liver that resembles that of a long-term alcoholic. Discovering that a low-level byproduct of a common method of municipal water treatment in the U.S. elevates health risks for the obese is just one step forward in a more general search for Chatterjee, who is an NIH Pathway to Independence grant awardee. His laboratory is working to understand how environmental contaminants — agents in the common built environment of the modern world that are at such low concentrations as to often be termed “nonhazardous” — might work in concert with obesity to create health risks never before documented. “My goal is to define the role of environmental contaminants in the development of metabolic syndrome, the pathological consequences resulting from obesity and lifestyle changes,” he says. “It is a major public health challenge.” 20

Allergens & Antimicrobials

MAKSYMILIAN CHRUSZCZ ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY College of Arts and Sciences

As a structural biologist, Maksymilian Chruszcz is uniquely positioned to collaborate widely across the university, and he’s made the most of that potential at USC. Since his arrival in 2012, Chruszcz has used his expertise in protein crystallography to develop collaborations with colleagues in chemistry and biochemistry, medicine, public health, biology and chemical engineering. The breadth of his research connections is partly a consequence of the success in allergy research Chruszcz had already achieved before coming to Columbia. And his interdisciplinary work is by no means limited to allergies and the sometimes fatal immune responses they can elicit. Chruszcz is working with Carolina faculty on research involving agricultural pests as well as new approaches to developing antimicrobial compounds, contributing new structural biology approaches to solving problems. “He is an outstanding new researcher,” says department chair Ken Shimizu. “He has put USC on the world map of structural biology.” 22

Combustion Modeling

TANVIR FAROUK ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING College of Engineering and Computing

The U.S. oil shale mining boom has made natural gas both plentiful and cheap. Now Tanvir Farouk’s combustion modeling research is helping to make the gas an even cleaner fuel for electricity generating turbines. That research has become even more important in recent years with EPA requirements for lower emissions levels from power plants. Farouk grew up and earned his bachelor’s degree in Bangladesh where high levels of air pollution are linked to asthma and other breathing diseases. “Then I got my master’s at the University of Toronto, and you could feel the difference in air quality there,” he says. “That’s when I began to realize that we have to take care of our environment. In the end, we want our next generation to have a cleaner world.” Farouk teaches thermo-fluids, aerodynamics, and aircraft and rocket propulsion. He likes to tell the story of one of his students, an athlete with a baseball scholarship, who landed a job after graduation — not in baseball, but with Boeing. 24

Memory & Mental Illness

MICHY KELLY ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACOLOGY, PHYSIOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE School of Medicine

Michy Kelly’s fascination with how brains work began in high school when she noticed that she and her brother were polar opposites when it came to cognitive abilities. “Our memories are the framework for our existence,” Kelly says. “Memory storage by the brain is turning things that can’t be touched into things that can be touched, namely our synaptic connections.” Kelly already has made one major discovery while trying to develop a treatment for devastating cognitive conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and bipolar disorder. She has found that a previously discovered protein enzyme is present in the brain and required for social memories to form properly. Her research now focuses on how that enzyme can be harnessed as a therapeutic target. Kelly came to USC in 2012 after five years as a pharmaceutical researcher, so she understands the slow process from theory to real-world applications. She says her work right now is in the proof-of-concept stage. “You do one experiment to find the cool thing, then 10 control studies to convince yourself you’ve got it right,” she says. 26

Abolitionism & Reconstruction

J. BRENT MORRIS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, HISTORY, DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES USC Beaufort

By any standard J. Brent Morris produces a tremendous amount of original research. His 2014 study of the antebellum anti-slavery movement, “Oberlin, Hotbed of Abolitionism,” has been nominated for eight awards. And his follow up, “Yes, Lord, I Know the Road: A Documentary History of African Americans in South Carolina, 1526-2008,” will arrive in 2017. Morris is also knee-deep into a third project — this one on the fugitive slave populations of the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North Carolina. Morris also serves as director of the National Endowment for the Humanities teachers’ institute, “America’s Reconstruction: The Untold Story.” “I don’t really draw a line that separates teaching and research,” he says. “Everything I do that turns into a research project in some way had its origins in the classroom. If a student asks me a question and it sticks with me, I will look it up. It’s useful to me, not just as a scholar but as a teacher, to involve my students in my research as much as possible.” 28

Infectious Disease Modeling

KASIA PAWELEK ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE USC Beaufort

Mathematics involves a lot of abstract thinking, but its potential can be quite solid. Kasia Pawelek’s research in modeling infectious diseases caused by influenza and West Nile viruses is the manifestation of that potential. With a research objective to provide a better understanding of the spread and control of infectious diseases, her work has been funded by a number of grants, including a current South Carolina IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Collaborations might range as far as China, but Pawelek doesn’t neglect her home state, working for the betterment of her community to develop West Nile virus abatement strategies with Beaufort County authorities. Furthermore, she endeavors to keep students at USC Beaufort involved in the research enterprise, taking particular satisfaction in knowing the majority of her mentees are first-generation and under-represented college students. “Her drive and talent in research in the area of mathematical biology is simply marvelous,” says Manuel Sanders, chair of mathematics and computational science. “She brings a phenomenal presence to the department and the university.” 30

Climate & Fisheries

RYAN RYKACZEWSKI ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, MARINE SCIENCE PROGRAM College of Arts and Sciences

Fishing with his family along the southern California coast, Ryan Rykaczewski would wonder why the fish would bite some days but not others. Rykaczewski’s curiosity broadened as he grew older, and now as a marine scientist he asks large-scale questions about ecosystem dynamics. He focuses on changes — both man-made and natural — that affect commercial fisheries, such as ocean pH, temperature and oceanic oxygen levels. “It’s difficult to separate anthropogenic and natural effects. Variability can be natural — El Niño has been around for millennia — but it can also be manmade. Overfishing is a factor, too,” he says. Rykaczewski wants his students to be curious when studying global climate and oceanic change. “If you want to be successful in my class, ask questions,” he tells them at the beginning of each semester. Rykaczewski involves undergraduates in his work because he sees that as an important part of their academic education. “Mentoring undergraduates is the most important thing I do,” he says. “That’s what separates their science learning experience in high school from college.” 32

Climate Change

HOWIE SCHER ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, EARTH AND OCEAN SCIENCES College of Arts and Sciences

Howie Scher fell in love with marine science as an undergrad and still has that passion in his research and teaching. “In my first course in geology I went on a research expedition to the high Canadian arctic,” says Scher. “One of the grad students tripped over a rock. When we turned it over, we found a massive femur, then all these other fossils.” The remains were about 92 million years old, but the important discovery was that the frozen area once had a subtropical climate. “Rocks have a memory, and you can tell all kinds of things by studying them.” Today, Scher studies the planet’s ice sheets. “We hear so much about climate change,” Scher says, “but a lot of people don’t have the perspective of a geologist.” Scher likes to share that perspective, especially in Marine Science 101. “Students come in thinking the ocean is about whales and dolphins,” he says. “What I love is when students realize how much more there is.” 34

Nuclear Forces

MATTHIAS SCHINDLER ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY College of Arts and Sciences

In everyday life, it’s easy to tell the difference between left and right and past and future, but most physical laws make no such distinction. Physicists call this “parity and time-reversal invariance.” It is the few exceptions to the norm, however, that are help account for why we and the universe we live in exist. Matthias Schindler uses parity and time reversal as tools to better understand details of the nuclear force, which underpins nuclear power. Since arriving at Carolina in 2011, Schindler has established himself as a leader in this field, garnering a highly competitive $750,000 Department of Energy Early Career Research Award. “He is already an international star,” says Milind Purohit, chair of physics and astronomy. And research success has not come at the expense of teaching. Schindler’s graduate courses have elicited rave reviews, and he has co-authored a graduate-level textbook. “We are studying tiny effects that require enormous efforts to even be seen in the laboratory,” Schindler says. “But they have immense consequences — our universe and everything in it exists because of them.” 36

Smart Electronics

GUOAN WANG ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING College of Engineering and Computing

The first five years of Guoan Wang’s professional career were in industry, where he developed insight proving invaluable at a major research university. “Having spent time at IBM before joining USC, Dr. Wang understands the workforce needs in advanced technology,” says electrical engineering faculty colleague MVS Chandrashekhar. And the commercial experience has only enhanced Wang’s success in the academic arena, where he has already garnered more than $1 million in grant funding since joining the faculty in 2011, including a prestigious NSF Early Career Development award. Director of the Laboratory of Smart Microwave and RF Technologies that he founded on arrival at Carolina, Wang is focused on work at the intersection of two distinct fields: materials science and communications. His research on how nanometer-thin films of ferromagnetic materials can be harnessed in new ways for better radio- and microwave-frequency communications is on the cutting edge and widely recognized. “We are working to develop smart electronics,” Wang says, “which can be used to make smarter medical, sensing and wireless communications systems.” 38

Nano-thin Membranes

MIAO YU ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING College of Engineering and Computing

Miao Yu’s research might focus on the ultra-thin, but his record of accomplishment at USC is nothing of the sort. He has garnered more than $2.5 million in research funding, including an NSF Early Career Development award, since arriving at the university in 2012. A chemical engineer studying coatings and membranes just nanometers thick, he has achieved newsworthy success in developing filters suitable for a range of applications, including natural gas storage, air separation, water purification, carbon dioxide capture and renewable fuel catalysis. In addition to media notice, his research has attracted commercial interest: a startup company based in the U.K. has licensed patents on his membranes, which it terms a transformative technology for water purification and environmental remediation. Industry-standard polymer membranes will soon be rendered obsolete by the inorganic membranes Yu is developing, says John Regalbuto, Smartstate Endowed Chair and Director of the Center for Catalysis for Renewable Fuels, calling the technology a “truly disruptive innovation.” 40

Graduate Scholars Successful graduate students are the lifeblood of every top-tier research university, bringing energy and curiosity that fosters a vibrant learning environment. The University of South Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2016 Breakthrough Graduate Scholars epitomize these qualities. Their participation in the life of the university raises the bar for everyone.

Doctoral advisers for each of this year’s cohort of Graduate Scholars comment on the qualities

JENNIFER BLEVINS

KEITH BRAZENDALE

DIPTADIP DATTAROY

STEPHANIE DEJONG

AMIN GHADERI

PH.D. IN ENGLISH College of Arts and Sciences

PH.D. IN EXERCISE SCIENCE Arnold School of Public Health

PH.D. IN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES Arnold School of Public Health

PH.D. IN CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY College of Arts and Sciences

PH.D. IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING College of Engineering and Computing

“She is both a smart feminist critic of modern and contemporary literature and a gifted writer. Her students benefit from her liveliness and humor as well as her intellectual rigor and writing feedback.”

“He has an outstanding ability to be a high-performing research scientist, take initiative and successfully complete high-quality research, and meaningfully contribute to his scientific discipline. Mr. Brazendale demonstrates all the qualities I would want to see in every Ph.D. student.”

“Diptadip is a thinker, [he] tries new things and understands that failure in science is always a new beginning. He is a great scientist in the making!”

“Stephanie’s work puts her at the cutting edge of using spectroscopy in forensic science. [Her] manuscripts have enormous depth and elegance of analysis, among the best that has ever come from my laboratory.”

“Amin’s effort within our research team has made a significant contribution toward maintaining the leadership of USC in the area of electrical power systems. [His] devotion to learning and attention to detail indicate that he will excel in any endeavor.”

that make their respective students outstanding.

— Catherine Keyser

— Saurabh Chatterjee

— Michael L. Myrick

— Herbert Ginn III

— Michael Beets

ROBERT GREENE

JUSTIN HARDEE

LI HUANG

ALLISON MANUEL

ALEXANDRIA McCOMBS

PH.D. IN HISTORY College of Arts and Sciences

PH.D. IN EXERCISE SCIENCE Arnold School of Public Health

PH.D. IN MARKETING Darla Moore School of Business

PH.D. IN BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES School of Medicine

PH.D. IN GEOGRAPHY College of Arts and Sciences

“Robert Greene is a real prodigy, extremely talented and with an enormous capacity for work. His accomplishments as a graduate student are remarkable including an impressive list of professional presentations and publications in his fields of study.”

“Justin is an extremely dedicated and hard worker, as are many graduate students. What separates Justin from the others is the quality of his productivity related to published papers, original grants, awards at scientific meetings and diverse research experiences.”

“She is an extremely intelligent, hardworking and independent researcher who is able to come up with novel and intriguing ideas, build theoretically grounded frameworks to understand these ideas, and conceive elegant experimental designs that can test her hypotheses.”

“Allison is talented and dedicated, always at the bench forging ahead. Her research efforts were rewarded with an NIH predoctoral fellowship, and I have no doubt that she will continue to excel as she moves forward.”

“I would rank Alex among the best students in all aspects of intellectual ability, creativity and critical thinking skills. She is by far the most motivated and independent graduate student I have met.”

— James Carson

— Priyali Rajagopal

— April Hiscox

— Norma Frizzell

— Marjorie Spruill

CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

MARY ANN PRIESTER

AARON PROVENCE

DANIELLE SCHOFFMAN

PH.D. IN SOCIAL WORK College of Social Work

PH.D. IN DRUG DISCOVERY AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES S.C. College of Pharmacy

PH.D. IN HEALTH PROMOTION, EDUCATION AND BEHAVIOR Arnold School of Public Health

“Mary Ann’s ability to easily identify problems in the research literature and see studies that need to be conducted is a skill that will allow her to continue to be incredibly successful as a social work scholar.”

“Overactive bladder is a pressing medical issue for which effective therapeutics are lacking. Results from Aaron’s research have greatly contributed to our understanding of urinary bladder function and dysfunction and have been published in a premier journal in pharmacology.”

“Danielle is skilled at managing and accomplishing several projects at once. In addition to her impressive research, Danielle is also very involved in service and leadership both within the USC community and the national research community.”

— Bethany Bell

— Brie Turner-McGrievy

— Georgi Petkov