The National Science Foundation has granted CAREER awards, its most
prestigious grants for scientists early in their careers, to three
Princeton faculty members, Craig Arnold, Benjamin Sudakov and Olga
Troyanskaya.
Arnold,
an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering,
received a $500,000, five-year grant for a project aimed at developing
new ways of processing materials that could result in improved
batteries and other devices. His project involves using lasers to
modify materials used in batteries and conducting rigorous studies to
understand the relations between the processing techniques and the
materials' performance. The grant is titled "Laser Modified Transport
in Electrochemical Materials."
Sudakov, an
assistant professor of mathematics, received a five-year grant of
$409,000 for a project titled "Methods and Challenges in Discrete
Mathematics." He plans to research problems related to Ramsey theory,
graph colorings, extremal combinatorics, and random and pseudo-random
graphs. He also intends to work on the application of these areas to
the field of theoretical computer science. His project encompasses a
wide range of educational measures, including developing a series of
courses for seniors and graduate students related to these research
problems.
Troyanskaya, an
assistant professor of computer science and the Lewis-Sigler Institute
for Integrative Genomics, received a five-year grant of $1 million to
combine computational and experimental techniques for analyzing
networks of biological processes within organisms. Part of her project,
"An Integrated Approach to the Study of Biological Process Specific
Networks," involves analyzing genomic data and creating computer models
that simulate biological networks. Another part focuses on lab
experiments to test the validity of the computer models. Combining
these approaches, Troyanskaya expects to develop computer models that
are faster than lab experiments and more accurate than purely
computational methods.
The CAREER program supports young, tenure-track "teacher-scholars who
most effectively integrate research and education within the context of
the mission of their organization." The grants are intended to "build a
firm foundation for a lifetime of integrated contributions to research
and education."
