Purdue News

June 21, 1996

NSF awards fund seven young faculty members

The Career Award grants are awarded to junior-level university faculty and are designed to encourage them early in their careers as educators and researchers. The grants, which are awarded over a three- to five-year period, range from $30,000 to $300,000.

The Career Awards program replaces the National Young Investigator and research initiative awards. Last year was the first year the Career Awards were given.

Purdue recipients are:

• Merritt B. Andrus, assistant professor of chemistry.

  Andrus' research focuses on ways to put organic, carbon-containing molecules together in an "asymmetric" fashion so that one mirror-image form of a molecule can be produced in excess over the opposite mirror image. For instance, with the drug thalidomide, one form can be used as a very potent sleeping pill, while the other mirror image form causes severe birth defects. Andrus' research would allow the former to be produced more than the latter form.

• Edwin K. Chong, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.

  Chong's research focuses on developing ways to describe complex systems that currently cannot be modeled using classical techniques such as differential equations. The complexity of modern engineering systems makes his research important because without models, such systems may not be able to be developed further.

• Steven H. Collicott, associate professor of aeronautical and astronautical engineering.

  Collicott's research looks at the complex flow of fuel inside a fuel-injector orifice as found in diesel and automotive engines. Understanding the cavitation and turbulence may lead to improved fuel-efficiency and emissions, and may also extend the life of fuel injectors.

• David Goldberg, assistant professor of mathematics.

  Goldberg's research is designed to further study within what is known as the Langlands Program. The objective of the Langlands Program is to establish a relationship between three seemingly disparate branches of mathematics: harmonic analysis, number theory and geometry.

• Serguei Khlebnikov, assistant professor of physics.

  Khlebnikov's research is designed to study phase transitions in particle physics. Such transitions could play an important role in the formation of the presently observed baryon asymmetry of the universe.

• Karthik Ramani, assistant professor of mechanical engineering.

  Ramani is developing new ways to join thermoplastics and their composites to metals in the manufacturing process, making a stronger and more durable joint. This would not only increase the joining speeds but also eliminate the need to apply adhesives and then assemble the parts in separate steps, which takes more time and costs more.

• Kaushik Roy, assistant professor of electrical engineering.

  Roy's research focuses on new ways to design very large scale integrated circuits, or VLSI circuits, for ultra low energy applications, such as portable computing and wireless communications, medical electronics, space applications, and applications requiring very high reliability.

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