91制片厂

Three听professors from the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (CEPS) at 91制片厂 have been awarded the esteemed National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Development (CAREER) award.

Chemistry鈥檚 Nate Oldenhuis and mechanical engineering鈥檚 Nathan Laxague and Tracy Mandel听were selected for the program that supports 鈥渆arly-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organizations.鈥�

The three听grants, totaling $2.5听million over five听years, are expected to improve parameterizations of the interaction between atmosphere and ocean, protect marine ecosystems and to develop new chemistries to make into materials.

Tracy Mandel

Tracy Mandel ($1.17 million grant) plans to further her research in protecting marine ecosystems like seagrass meadows and coral reefs from disease outbreaks.

Mandel studies fluid mechanics in the natural environment. She says a large portion of her work is focused on the interactions between water flow and coastal ecosystems, particularly vegetation like seagrass and marshes.

With this grant, Mandel will conduct experiments in 91制片厂鈥檚 Chase Ocean Engineering Lab by exposing models of seagrass and coral reef ecosystems to different types of flows. In doing so, she hopes to understand how these diseases spread from organism to organism and how to prevent the spread of marine ecosystem diseases in the future.

In addition to the research portion of Mandel鈥檚 funded project, she will be undertaking several educational efforts with a focus on training the next generation in the marine workforce.

Mandel is developing a new 91制片厂 course on science writing to train students in communicating marine science and engineering research to the public, along with several educational modules related to marine health for her current classes.

听鈥淚 am incredibly honored and excited to receive this award, and I am grateful to work at a place like 91制片厂 that has such a strong environment for multidisciplinary ocean research like this,鈥� she says.听

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Nate Oldenhuis

Oldenhuis ($707,830 grant) plans to further research in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) based materials. His research entails making large quantities of DNA using a bioreactor, developing new chemistries to make into materials, and ultimately studying those materials鈥� properties.

Oldenhuis鈥� research utilizes the same technology that produces nucleic acids for the COVID vaccine, creating gram scale amounts of DNA for non-traditional applications in a simple and cost-effective way.

鈥淢uch like how a sweater is a result of knitted threads, we use DNA鈥檚 unique ability to be moved around by proteins to understand how the orientation of 鈥榯hreads鈥� contributes the resulting material (sweater),鈥� says Oldenhuis.

Oldenhuis鈥� research could lead to materials with 鈥渦nmatched toughness and resilience.鈥� He says it will help further our understanding of fundamental bio-physics questions, like why DNA doesn鈥檛 get tangled or torn during cell replication in the nucleus.

鈥淚 am so happy to receive such an award and would like to thank all of my connections at 91制片厂 for helping me accomplish this feat,鈥� he says.

Nathan Laxague

Laxague鈥� research ($738,012 grant) plans to further understand air-sea interaction, a subdiscipline of geophysical fluid dynamics which overlaps with physical oceanography, boundary layer meteorology and ocean engineering.

The grant will allow Laxague to perform field observations of the interactions of wind, waves听and currents off the New Hampshire seacoast using an instrumented air-sea flux buoy and an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) with a custom-built payload.

鈥淭his region (the New Hampshire seacoast) is well-suited to our projects because of the strong diurnal (daily) oscillation in wind forcing and wave states which result from sea breeze,鈥� says Laxague.

His goal is to improve parameterizations of the interactions between atmosphere and ocean, provide a greater understanding of the growth and development of surface waves, and 鈥渉opefully reduce uncertainties in numerical weather/wave forecasts.鈥澨�

In addition, Laxague鈥檚 project will support听collaboration with the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, New Hampshire, in the development of new exhibit and public engagement activities. 听

鈥淭his is a tremendous honor, and I鈥檓 thrilled to receive the opportunity to perform activities I proposed, with the help of my research group members," Laxague听says.