Twelve Women Assistant Professors Named 2019 Cottrell Scholars

The Research Corporation for Science Advancement recently announced 24 recipients of its 2019 Cottrell Scholar Awards. These awards provide $100,000 to each recipient identified as a leader in integrating science teaching and research at a top U.S. research university or a primarily undergraduate institution.

Of the 24 awardees, 12 are women. The women and their research projects are listed below.

(L to R) Robbyn K. Anand, Caitlin M. Casey, Emily Levesque, and Laura A. Lopez

Robbyn K. Anand is an assistant professor of chemistry at Iowa State University. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas.

• Research Project: Extracting Kinetic Rate Constants from Bipolar Electrochemistry: AC Voltammetry of Electrically Coupled Faradaic Reactions

Caitlin M. Casey is an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Casey is a graduate of the University of Arizona. She earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Cambridge in England.

• Research Project: Diverse Perspectives: The Impact of Dust and Gas on Cosmic History and Equity-Minded Inquiry-based Astronomy

Emily Levesque is an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Washington. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Levesque earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Hawaii.

• Research Project: New Perspectives on Dying Stars

Laura A. Lopez is an assistant professor of astronomy at Ohio State University. She earned a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics in 2011 at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

• Research Project: Assessing Stellar Feedback in Massive Star-Forming Regions

(L to R) Ellen M. Matson, Katherine Mirica, Alison R. H. Narayan, and Kerstin M. Perez

Ellen M. Matson is an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Rochester in New York . Dr. Matson is a graduate of Boston University and holds a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

• Research Project: Metal Oxide Clusters as Models for Investigating the Role of Oxygen Vacancies in Small Molecule Activation

Katherine Mirica is an assistant professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College. Dr. Mirica is a graduate of Boston College where she majored in chemistry. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University.

• Research Project: Multifunctional Porous Scaffolds for Monitoring Neurochemicals

Alison R. H. Narayan is an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Michigan. She earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

• Research Project: Biocatalytic Reactions for Selective, Sustainable Synthesis and Engaging Graduate Student Instructors for Improved Outcomes in Organic Chemistry

Kerstin M. Perez is an assistant professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Perez earned a bachelor’s degree in physics at Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology.

• Research Project: Closing in on Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter with NuSTAR

(L to R) Emily Rauscher, Kana Takematsu, Weichao Tu, and Christina Vizcarra

Emily Rauscher is an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Michigan. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Rauscher earned her Ph.D. at Columbia University.

• Research Project: Exo-Cartography: Resolving Three-Dimensional Images of Extrasolar Worlds

Kana Takematsu, is an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Dr. Takematsu holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology.

• Research Project: Moving Multiple Charges with Light in Derivatized Naphthalene Photoacids