Five faculty members in the College of Natural Science have recently received National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Awards, totaling $2.8 million. CAREER awards are one of the NSF’s most prestigious and competitive awards for junior researchers.
Chemistry professor Xuefei Huang received $525,000 for his work studying carbohydrates and the ability to easily create these complex sugar molecules which then are used for cell recognition. Huang’s research has significant implications for medicine as these complex molecules can be used to better deliver medicine and to identify diseased cells. The award for “Syntheses of Hyaluronan Oligosaccharides (sHA) as Biological Probes” will allow Huang to assemble a library of the complex carbohydrates for experiments aimed at advances in medicine such as the suppression of tumor cell growth, the sensitization of multi-drug resistant cancer cells, and the growth of new blood vessels (or angiogenesis).
Zoology professor Elena Litchman received $530,000 to study how global environmental change is altering communities of tiny algae, or phytoplankton, in lakes around the world and affecting water quality and aquatic ecosystem health. She will use lake sampling, laboratory experiments and mathematical models to investigate how global warming and changing nutrient inputs promote growth of toxic cyanobacteria responsible for most harmful algal blooms in freshwaters. Her research will connect physical processes in lakes with ecological and evolutionary responses of harmful algae and other phytoplankton to changing climate. This research has implications for water quality, as well as for our understanding of responses of aquatic ecosystems to global change.
Litchman, who also is part of MSU’s Kellogg Biological Station, will be working with Michigan residents in sampling their lakes. She will build on a previous network of volunteers that worked on a program through the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the MSU Extension Office. Together, with teachers from rural schools, she will develop educational modules on global environmental change and water quality.
Mathematics professor Jeff Schenker received $479,000 to study the behavior of waves traveling through different forms of imperfect media. The award for “Analysis of disordered systems” allows for better understanding of how waves scatter from imperfections while passing through complex materials. The findings could make for further advances in semiconductors and provide fundamental knowledge for theoretical physics.
Zoology professor Alex Shingleton received a NSF CAREER award for $590,000 for his work studying the relationship between organ size and body size, called allometry. Little is known of the processes that regulate allometry and Shingleton seeks to uncover the developmental mechanisms. The award, titled “Size Matters – The regulation of allometry in insects,” will take a molecular genetic approach to identify the genes that regulate size and examine these genes during development as they determine organ size as related to body size.
Chemistry and Biochemistry professor Kevin Walker received a $700,000 award for his work studying plant enzymes that are key to the biosynthesis of chemicals with therapeutic properties. The award “Molecular and Biochemical Evaluation of a Phenylalanine Aminomutase” will lead to a better understanding of the underlying mechanism that define how biocatalysts function, regarding substrate selectivity and regiochemistry (i.e., chemistry at a particular reaction center). This research will advance the construction of novel pharmaceuticals via enzyme catalysis, a process that has less-harmful environmental impact.
“These awards exemplify the commitment of Michigan State and its faculty to the core missions of excellence in research and in education,” said R. James Kirkpatrick, Dean of the College of Natural Science. “CAREER Awards require commitment from the faculty member to integrating these tow missions at the highest level. These awards will provide a strong foundation for many future scientists and pave the way for advances in areas of science ranging from health care and medicine to climate change and improved electronics.”
The CAREER awards recognize faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through the integration of education and research. Each 5-year award provides the faculty member a firm foundation for a lifetime of integrated contributions to research and education.
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