Four Caltech faculty members are among the 65 scientists from
across the nation selected to receive five-year Early Career
Research Awards from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The grant
winners, who were selected from a pool of about 1,150 applicants,
are:
Guillaume Blanquart, assistant professor of
mechanical engineering, who will develop a chemical model of the
inner structure and of the formation of soot particles—black
carbon particles formed during the incomplete combustion of
hydrocarbon fuels that can cause health problems and adverse
effects on the environment—that will aid the development of
models that predict emissions from car and truck engines, aircraft
engines, fires, and more.
Julia R. Greer, assistant professor of
materials science and mechanics, who will use nanomechanical
experimental and computational tools to isolate and understand the
role of specific tailored interfaces and deformation mechanisms on
the degradation of properties of materials subjected to helium
irradiation. Elucidating these mechanisms will provide insight into
requirements for advanced materials for current and next-generation
nuclear reactors.
Chris Hirata, assistant professor of
astrophysics, who will be conducting theoretical studies of
cosmological observables—such as galaxy clustering—that
are being used to probe dark energy and dark matter and to search
for gravitational waves from inflation.
Ryan Patterson, assistant professor of
physics, who will develop new techniques for readout, calibration,
and particle identification for the NOvA long-baseline neutrino
experiment at Fermilab, which will investigate neutrino
oscillations—the conversion of neutrinos of one type (or
"flavor") into another.
The Early
Career Research Program, which is funded by the DOE's Office of
Science, is "designed to bolster the nation's scientific workforce
by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial
early career years, when many scientists do their most formative
work," according to the DOE announcement, and is intended to
encourage scientists to focus on research areas that are considered
high priorities for the Department of Energy.
To be eligible for an award, a researcher must have received a
doctorate within the past 10 years and be an untenured,
tenure-track assistant or associate professor at a U.S. academic
institution or a full-time employee at a DOE national
laboratory.
