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NSF PR 99-4 - January 25, 1999
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NSF'S Highest Honor For New Faculty Fosters Integration
of Research and Education
The National Science Foundation (NSF) honored 338 outstanding
new science and engineering faculty members nationwide
in fiscal year 1998 with Faculty Early Career Development
(CAREER) awards totaling approximately $80 million.
CAREER awards support exceptionally promising college
and university junior faculty who are committed to
the integration of research and education. The awards
range from $200,000 to $500,000 for a period of four
to five years. The 1998 awardees were selected from
among more than 1,600 applicants.
Wishing to nurture professorial career development,
NSF places a high value on the synthesis of research
and education as integral to stimulating the discovery
and learning process. Career awardees also become
eligible to receive the White House's highest honor
for new scientists and engineers, the Presidential
Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
"The synergy of frontier-level discovery skills with
the learning process and continuous educational innovation
lies at the heart of these awards," said NSF Acting
Deputy Director Joseph Bordogna. "The nation's cumulative
experience in science, mathematics, engineering and
technology education tells us that serious discovery
and learning skills are interdependent. Engaging students
and faculty in integrated inquiry-based research and
education experiences thus ensures a world-class science
and engineering workforce for the nation."
NSF established the CAREER grants program to help top-performing
scientists and engineers develop simultaneously their
contributions and commitment to research and education
early in their careers. There are nearly 1,400 total
CAREER and PECASE award recipients to date.
The CAREER program rewards academic talent in all areas
supported by NSF's research and education programs
in science, mathematics, engineering and technology.
With the establishment of the award in 1995, it supplanted
other NSF award programs with similar goals. Beginning
in 1997, CAREER awardees became the talent pool for
NSF's PECASE nominations.
Attachment: EXAMPLES OF
1998 NSF CAREER AWARDS
Editors: For a complete list of FY 1998 CAREER
award recipients and their project titles, see: http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/career/start.htm
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Examples of 1998 National Science Foundation Career
Awards
The National Science Foundation (NSF) honored 338 outstanding
faculty members nationwide in fiscal 1998 with Faculty
Early Career Development (CAREER) grants. The awards
help scientists and engineers develop simultaneously
their contributions to research and education early
in their careers. Here are examples of the 1998 awardees'
plans for their awards:
Thomas J. Royston
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering
University of Illinois-Chicago
Nonlinear Dynamics of Smart Materials Used for Structural
Vibro-acoustic Control Thomas Royston's research addresses
the complex problem of modeling, analysis, and experimental
investigation of nonlinear characteristics of smart
materials, such as piezo-ceramic composites, and investigates
their application in vibro-acoustic energy conduction,
transduction, dissipation and excitation. The education
plan includes outreach activities involving inner-city
youth through the medium of music via a non-profit
program called "Music Education Reaching Instrumental
Talent" (MERIT), which will incorporate a sequence
of instructions on "Science and Engineering in Music."
The laboratory experience in the Minority Engineering
Recruitment and Retention Program will be augmented
with "Science and Engineering of Musical Instruments."
Xiao-Jing Wang
Assistant Professor, Physics
Brandeis University
Physiological Basis of Working Memory: Modeling of
Prefrontal Cortical Circuitry and Its Neuromodulation
Xiao-Jing Wang is developing realistic, biologically
based computer models of cognitive processes in the
mammalian brain. His model focuses on the brain circuits
and cellular mechanisms of working-memory formation
in the prefrontal cortex. Working memory is the storage
and manipulation of information during the performance
of a task. Along with this research, Wang is enhancing
the traditional physics curriculum, helping to develop
courses in computational neuroscience and developing
interactive computational teaching tools for use in
undergraduate neuroscience courses. Such teaching
tools may be used in physiology and biochemistry courses.
Noah F. Gans
Assistant Professor, The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
Telephone Call Centers: Human Factors in the Management
of Queueing Systems Management scientist Noah Gans
is studying telephone call centers and other high-volume
service operations. These types of operations are
representative of many features of the new service
economy, in which production, though based on a technologically
advanced infrastructure, is fundamentally reliant
on human service encounters. To better account for
the human element of these systems, the research is
integrating models and findings from the behavioral
sciences with conventional approaches from more traditional
operations research. The research is expected to offer
new insights into the economics of service operations
and contribute to their improved performance. Gans'
research and teaching will promote students' understanding
of how human factors should be included in the management
of service systems.
Angela Calabrese-Barton
Assistant Professor, Program in Science Education
Teacher's College, Columbia University
Science Teaching and Learning in Economically Disadvantaged
Urban Areas Angela Barton will conduct ethnographic
research among homeless persons, using extensive field
observations and interviews with students and teachers.
Quantitative and qualitative findings will permit
her to:
- Gain an understanding of the beliefs that students
living in urban poverty have about the process
of science; the importance of science and literacy
in school; the relationship between science and
urban culture; and how these beliefs are supported
or challenged by the culture of urban poverty
including the culture of urban schooling and life
in low-income shelters.
- Gain an understanding of the beliefs and knowledge
that beginning teachers have.
- Create an academic program in urban science education
at Teachers College and link the program to local
urban school reform through collaborative activities.
John P. Toscano
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry
John Hopkins University
Time-resolved IR Studies of Organic Reactive Intermediates
John Toscano is researching the time-resolved infrared
(TRIR) studies of organic reactive intermediates.
TRIR spectroscopy will be used to examine the structure
and reactivity of biradicals, carbenes, nitrenium
ions and the excited states of ketones and enones.
The experimental approach, coupled with computational
methods, will enhance basic understanding and will
address specific unresolved issues in reactive intermediate
chemistry. The educational activities are focused
on outreach at the K-12 level, including chemistry
demonstrations at local elementary and secondary schools,
undergraduate research and the development of research
connections with faculty at undergraduate teaching
institutions.
Miodrag Potkonjak
Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering
University of California-Los Angeles
CAD Techniques and Tools for Intellectual Property
Protection Miodrag Potkonjak is exploring the use
of proprietary designs (reusable cores) in the design
of a system on a VLSI (very large scale integrated)
computer chip. This new advance in technology is dependent
on having reliable and efficient techniques for intellectual
property (IP) protection. His research investigates
techniques for such protection. It includes a watermarking
(signature hiding) approach for protecting the reusable
cores and embedded software. Further, he is developing
a fingerprinting scheme and a covert channel-based
technique for the efficient detection of misappropriated
(or stolen) IP. The concept of covert channels can
convey to the author information without alerting
an illegal owner of IP.
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