Government Awards and Honors
2011 Awards
Matthew Marshall and Alex Tartakovsky Win Early Career Awards
Two scientists from PNNL will receive Early Career Research Awards from DOE to advance the fields of underground contaminant cleanup and computer modeling. Each researcher will receive grants totaling $2.5 million over five years.
The two PNNL awardees are:
Matthew Marshall, Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate, who will use the grant to study microbial biofilms, which are large communities of bacteria growing on other surfaces. Learning more about the chemical composition of microbial biofilms could also improve understanding of how contaminants are transported underground.
Alexandre Tartakovsky, Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate, who will use the grant to develop new, simplified models to simulate complex molecular processes on powerful supercomputers. The goal is to improve computer modeling, which is widely used in scientific research, so that larger problems can be simulated faster and more accurately.
They are among 65 researchers who were selected this year from a pool of about 1,150 applicants. The Early Career Research Program is designed to bolster the nation's scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early years, when many scientists do their most formative work. The program is funded by DOE's Office of Science. (announced 5/1/2011)