Three scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland have won research grants of at least $500,000 a year for five years as part of the Department of Energy's new Early Career Research Program.
Uljana Mayer, William Gus-tafson and Wendy Shaw were among the 69 scientists picked for the awards from 1,750 applications from universities and national labs nationwide.
"Strong support of scientists in the early career years is crucial to renewing America's scientific work force and ensuring U.S. leadership in discovery and innovation for many years to come," Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said in a statement Thursday.
The research grants come from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus money.
Winners were required to have received a Ph.D. within the past 10 years on the
theory that many scientists do their most formative
work in their early career years.
Mayer's project is "Targeted Imaging Probes for Systems Biology" for the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research.
She is developing tools to help scientists study how proteins work together inside
live cells. Most existing tools work best on dead cells, but Mayer has worked on a molecular tool that can be used inside a cell without interfering with the work of the cell's proteins.
Gustafson's project is "Reducing Scale Dependence of Physics Parameterization for Global Cloud Resolving Climate Models" for the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research.
He is working to improve how climate models simulate clouds, which has tended to be an area of climate models
that could be better.
Shaw's project is "Catalyst Biomimics: A Novel Approach in Catalyst Design" for the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences. She is working to develop catalysts that have designs based on those found in nature.
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Nathan Baker and Karl Mueller were elected by the chemistry section; Ted Bowyer was elected by the physics section; Karin Rodland was elected by the biological sciences section; and Hussein Zbib was elected by the engineering section.
They will be honored at an induction ceremony Feb. 18 at the AAAS annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia. The five selections bring the Richland-based national laboratory's total of AAAS fellows to 52.
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Wei-Jun Qian is one of 94 researchers being recognized this year with the highest honor given by the U.S. government to scientists and engineers who are in the early stage of their research careers.
"It is inspiring to see the innovative work being done by these scientists and engineers as they ramp up their careers -- careers that I know will be not only personally rewarding but also invaluable to the nation," President Obama said in a statement.
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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers will lead three projects after winning a Department of Energy grant competition to find projects to dramatically improve how the U.S. produces and uses energy.
The grants total $3.8 million and were awarded by DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy.
One of the PNNL projects will explore improvements to storing heat from sources such as concentrated solar or nuclear power, which can then be released to generate electricity or be used to warm buildings.
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"Taking a cue from Washington state's Mount Olympus, this computer is enabling PNNL scientists to reach new scientific heights," said Kevin Regimbal, director of the new PNNL Institutional Computing program.
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