Pauling Fellows Recipients
2012 Pauling Fellows
Ryan Renslow graduated from Washington State University with a Ph.D. in chemical engineering. His Ph.D. work was funded through the NIH Protein Biotechnology Fellowship. At PNNL, Ryan is working with Karl Mueller's group in the High Field Magnetic Resonance Facility in the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, and also with Jim Fredrickson of the Biological Sciences Division in the Fundamental & Computational Sciences Directorate.
The main focus of Ryan's research is the application of nuclear magnetic resonance techniques to study biofilms. Specifically he is trying to understand the electron transfer strategies of electrochemically-active biofilms. This entails coupling electrochemical and NMR techniques simultaneously, which is a capability that he is developing. NMR has the ability to change the way the biofilm processes is studied. The new tools being developed will allow researchers to interrogate biofilms at the microscale in a noninvasive manner. Understanding the biofilm mode of life is critical for making advances in human health and environmental microbiology.
Brian Miller received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in Optical Sciences in 2011. In 2008 he received the University of Arizona - Student Innovator of the Year Award for his work on the development of a high-resolution, CCD/CMOS-based gamma-ray detector for pre-clinical medical imaging applications.
Brian is working with Dr. Robert Runkle within the National Security Directorate's Radiation Detection and Nuclear Sciences Group. His research area focuses on the continued development of high-spatial-resolution ionizing radiation detectors. In particular, he is investigating GasElectron Multipliers (GEMs) and their potential for neutron detection and imaging applications.
Priyanka Bhattacharya received her Ph.D. in Physics from Clemson University and Master of Science in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, India. She is the recipient of the 2012 Clemson University Board of Trustees, and the College of Engineering and Science Outstanding Graduate Researcher awards. She was awarded the 2011 Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid-of-Research fellowship to conduct research with Professor Paul Dubin in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and received a Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies Graduate Fellowship at Clemson University to complete a part of her Ph.D. dissertation under the supervision of Professor Pu Chun Ke in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Priyanka is working with Dr. Jiguang (Jason) Zhang and Dr. Daniel Gaspar in the Applied Materials Sciences division within the Energy and Environment Directorate. Her research is focused on improving the performance of Li-air and Li-S batteries by developing a fundamental understanding of the electrochemistry of battery materials that affect battery realization at the commercial scale. To achieve this goal, Priyanka is developing new hybrid electrode materials consisting of both soft and condensed nanomaterials that can efficiently increase the capacity and improve the cycling capability of batteries beyond Li-ion. The ultimate goal of her research is to tackle the fundamental operational challenges which are hindering the growth and commercialization of energy storage devices for high energy density applications.
2011 Pauling Fellows
James Stegen received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2009.
James is a member of the Fundamental & Computational Sciences Directorate's Biological Sciences Division. His research area focuses on developing ecological models of microbial communities. In particular, he is leveraging multiple ecomics technologies to describe whole community function through time and space. This data will be used to develop process-based simulation models for predicting the effects of remediation strategies and environmental change on key ecosystem functions, such as subsurface contaminant transport.
Hui Wan received her Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg in 2009. Her Ph.D. work was carried out at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany on developing numerical methods for the next generation weather forecast and climate models. As a Ph.D. candidate, she also attended the International Max Planck Research School on Earth System Modeling. Hui has over half a dozen peer-reviewed papers and other publications accomplished. She was awarded the 2009 Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society and the 2009 Wladimir Peter Koppen Prize for Climate and Earth System Research from the University of Hamburg.
Hui is a member of the Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division within the Fundamental & Computational Sciences Directorate. Hui's research focuses on understanding process interactions in the atmosphere and decreasing the uncertainty associated with component coupling in global climate.
2010 Pauling Fellows
Susan Wiedner received her Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Michigan Department of Chemistry. She is a past recipient of a two-year NIH funded Chemical-Biology Interface Training grant.
Susan is working in the Fundamental and Computation Sciences Directorate with the Biological Separations and Mass Spectrometry group. She is developing and integrating a subcellular chemical proteomics platform, using activity-based probes and subcellular fractionation, to facilitate the analysis of enzyme activity to promote the field of proteomics. This technology could lead to a better understanding of systems biology on the cellular level.
Marcel Baer is a member of the Chemical Physics and Analysis Group within Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate. He is working to further develop our understanding of the important molecular interactions that give rise to novel phenomena in the vicinity of hydrophobic interfaces. His focus is on utilizing and developing less computationally intensive models that contain quantum mechanics and thus can describe chemistry. The ultimate goal is to develop a systematic approach to understanding the novel chemistry of interfaces, including heterogeneous catalysts.
2009 Pauling Fellows
Grant Johnson received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University, and his B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Delaware. He is a 2006 recipient of a National Science Foundation Central Europe Summer Research Institute fellowship to study with Professor Vlasta Bonacic-Koutecky at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, and received a Department of Energy fellowship to attend the 2006 meeting of Nobel Laureates in chemistry in Lindau, Germany.
Grant is working with Dr. Julia Laskin within the Fundamental & Computational Sciences Directorate. He is tackling the grand challenge of enabling the design of atom- and energy-efficient syntheses of new forms of matter with tailored properties. Using unique custom-built instrumentation at EMSL, he is investigating the fundamentals of ion-surface interactions and structure-reactivity relationships in materials prepared by soft and reactive landing of ions. The ultimate goal is to achieve a fundamental understanding of the processes that will enable the controlled fabrication of catalysts and other energy-related materials using preparative mass spectrometry.
Xiao Lin received his Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics in 2006 from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. Prior to coming to PNNL, he was a Humboldt Fellow at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin.
Xiao is working with Dr. Zdenek Dohnalek within the Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate using unique instrument capabilities developed at PNNL to establish a detailed molecular-level understanding of the reactivity of carbon oxides with different types of metal-oxide surface structures. The experimental techniques include using scanning tunneling microscopy and other surface sensitive techniques to follow catalytic reactions with atomic resolution. The results of this work will lead to fundamental molecular-level insights as to how to control catalytic reactions of carbon oxides on different metal-oxide surfaces, which has implications for CO2 capture, among other things.