image: PNNL scientist Alexandre Tartakovsky has been selected to receive an Early Career Research Award from the Department of Energy. He will use the grant to develop new, simplified models to simulate complex molecular processes on powerful supercomputers. view more
Credit: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
RICHLAND, Wash. – Two scientists from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will receive Early Career Research Awards from DOE to advance research involving underground contamination and computer modeling. Each researcher will receive grants totaling $2.5 million over five years.
The two PNNL awardees are:
- Matthew Marshall, 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, 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.
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.
For more information about the program and the research it supports, go to the Early Career Research Program website at http://science.energy.gov/early-career/.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, www.pnl.gov, is a Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory where interdisciplinary teams advance science and technology and deliver solutions to America's most intractable problems in energy, the environment and national security. PNNL employs 4,900 staff, has an annual budget of nearly $1.1 billion, and has been managed by Ohio-based Battelle since the lab's inception in 1965. Follow PNNL on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.