The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has awarded its newest cohort of named fellowships, providing five early-career scientists with additional support as they pursue pivotal discoveries that will make Americans safer and better off and increase our understanding of the universe.
For 2023, the laboratory has named four Maria Goeppert Mayer Fellows and one Walter Massey Fellow. Maria Goeppert Mayer was a pioneering nuclear physicist who received the 1963 Nobel Prize in physics for discovering, at Argonne, the shell model of the atomic nucleus. Walter Massey is a leading African American scientist and executive who served as Argonne’s director in the 1980s and has served as the president of Morehouse College and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The Maria Goeppert Mayer Fellows are James Cornelison, Vrindaa Somjit, Mary Elizabeth Wagner and Cyndia Yu. The Walter Massey Fellow is Amanda Carr.
“With its leadership in the science community and powerful user facilities and tools, Argonne is an exceptional place to start a research career. We welcome the latest Goeppert Mayer and Massey Fellows, who will contribute to our many real-world impacts that accelerate the science that drive U.S. prosperity and security,” said Argonne Director Paul Kearns.
Walter Massey Fellow Carr has been a postdoctoral researcher at Argonne since 2020. Since coming to Argonne, she’s studied graphene-based rare earth separations using interface-specific X-ray scattering and spectroscopy techniques. Her fellowship research will focus on understanding the fundamental interactions between the different components of graphene oxide nanocomposite membranes for improved lanthanide and actinide separations.
In graduate school, Carr worked on X-ray and interfacial characterizations of graphene and other nanocomposites. Her infrared reflection adsorption spectroscopy measurements on graphene-polymer laminar composites, the first of their kind, netted her a nomination for the Physical Electronics Conference’s Nottingham Prize, where she finished as a finalist in 2020. In 2021, the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter named her an Emerging Leader defined by the editorial board as one of “the most talented and exciting researchers in their generation.” Carr has received multiple outstanding presentation awards from both Brookhaven and Argonne national laboratories, as well as a Graduate Assistance in Area of National Need Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education during her Ph.D. work.
“These fellows represent the future of science,” said Matthew Tirrell, Argonne interim deputy laboratory director for science and technology. “They have great potential to achieve pivotal discoveries. They will confront some of the most pressing technological questions facing society and lay the foundation for next-generation advancement.”
Source: ANL
