Three CNS Faculty Members Receive NSF Career Awards

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Over the course of the 2021-22 academic year, three faculty members in the UMass Amherst College of Natural Sciences (CNS) have been named the recipients of National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER awards.

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.

Owen Gwilliam, in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, has been awarded $546,061 for his research into various theories of higher algebra that occupy a point of intersection between math and physics. In particular, higher algebra has enlarged quantum field theory, which plays an active role in everything from particle theory to condensed matter physics.

Recently, the exchange between physics and math has yielded a new tool, called “factorization algebras.”

“Mathematics and physics have engaged in a long dialogue for centuries,” says Gwilliam, “starting with Newton's invention of calculus and its applications to gravity. The rise of quantum field theory in the twentieth century has added a new topic for avid conversation. My research involves exploring how recent mathematical innovations from higher algebra clarify aspects of quantum field theory, with a special focus on the Kapustin-Witten theories (from physics) and their connection to the geometric Langlands program (in math).”

However, one difficulty in pursuing interdisciplinary is communicating across disciplinary boundaries. A key component of Gwilliam’s project is to create chances for researchers at all levels to become fluent in speaking to both disciplines and, moreover, to build direct personal bridges. At the graduate and postdoctoral level, the project will run annual summer schools for both mathematicians and theoretical physicists, focused on topics of mutual interest. In addition, each academic year, it will produce high-quality, online masterclasses by experts about such topics, with lecture notes and exercises. Finally, the project will support summer research for undergraduates, tackling problems between mathematics and physics, from the University of Massachusetts and nearby Five Colleges.

Soil scientist Marco Keiluweit, of the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, has been awarded $468,283 to better understand how the complex science of how soils store carbon. Soils store more than twice as much carbon as the atmosphere and biosphere combined, and more than 90% of this soil carbon is stored in organic compounds intimately associated with reactive minerals. Such mineral-organic associations (MOAs) can protect carbon compounds against microbial or enzymatic attack for centuries to millennia. However, plant roots and associated microbes in the rhizosphere have a well-known ability to transform minerals through dissolution and exchange reactions. Yet, the effect that roots and microbes have on the MOAs remains poorly understood.

Keiluweit’s overall objective is to develop a mechanistic understanding of the dynamics and vulnerability of MOAs in the rhizosphere and to train diverse, creative and technically skilled environmental scientists. Keiluweit’s team will launch a collaboration with Holyoke Community College to increase representation of low-income and minority students in UMass's environmental science degree program and create a new course incorporating Design Thinking approaches in order to provide graduate students and postdocs with the creative problem-solving and collaborative skills urgently needed to solve the complex environmental challenges facing society today.

Lillian Fritz-Laylin, an evolutionary cell biologist, has been awarded $1,050,000 to investigate a fungus, known as B. dendrobatidis, that is decimating hundreds of amphibian species around the world. It seems that the fungus interacts with the mucus membrane that coats many amphibians, but how, exactly, is unknown.

“The ultimate goal of this project,” says Fritz-Laylin, “is to determine how B. dendrobatidis responds to exposure to molecules found in amphibian mucus. Establishing the molecular mechanism by which mucus induces changes in B. dendrobatidis may be used to develop remediation strategies to reverse the decline in amphibians caused by B. dendrobatidis infection.

Part of Fritz-Laylin’s work will involve creating a hands-on laboratory course will be developed for approximately 24 students per year for the duration of the project. These students will gain practical experience in designing, executing and interpreting the results of their own experiments, preparing them to participate in the STEM workforce. The development, evaluation and dissemination of a modular laboratory course framework will allow additional University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty, as well as extra-mural faculty, to develop new courses and/or quickly revise existing courses to improve scientific reasoning in undergraduate students. Finally, the adaptation of these materials into a workshop for middle school girls will broaden participation in STEM fields.

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SEVEN UMASS AMHERST FACULTY MEMBERS RECEIVE NSF CAREER AWARDS IN 2021-22 ACADEMIC YEAR