congratulations

MCB congratulates the winners of the NSF Director’s Awards and the National Alliance for Broader Impacts Award
The NSF directors award winners are standing together holding their certificates and smiling
Left to right (front) Alexis Patullo, Reyda Gonzalez-Nieves, Bridget Johnson, Engin Serpersu, (back) Wilson Francisco, Charles Cunningham, and Jaroslaw Majewski.

On May 9, 2019 the National Science Foundation held its annual Director’s Award ceremony to recognize excellence in service and achievement by NSF employees. Eight MCB employees were honored this year. Reyda Gonzalez-Nieves received the NSF Director’s Award for Meritorious Service for her exceptional leadership. Charles Cunningham, Bridget Johnson, and Alexis Patullo received a Superior Accomplishment award for advancing one of NSF’s 10 Big Ideas, “Understanding the Rules of Life” through their work organizing the “Building a Synthetic Cell” ideas lab. Wilson Francisco, Jaroslaw Majewski, and Engin Serpersu also received a Superior Accomplishment award for their leadership in developing “Quantum Leap,” another of NSF’s 10 Big Ideas.

The National Alliance for Broader Impacts held its annual summit April 30-May 2 and honored Karen Cone and David Rockcliffe for their significant contributions to advancing the societal impacts of research and for leadership in supporting the National Alliance for Broader Impacts.

MCB congratulates all our awardees and thanks them for their hard work and commitment to fulfilling NSF’s mission to promote the progress of science.

MCB Program Director Devaki Bhaya Named Fellow of California Academy of Sciences

Devaki is smiling into the camera and holding up a framed certificate from the California Academy of Sciences

MCB warmly congratulates Dr. Devaki Bhaya, Program Director in the Systems and Synthetic Biology cluster, for being recently named a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. The honor was extended to a total of 14 researchers this year for their significant contributions to science or science education and communication. Fellows are nominated by their peers and selected by the Academy’s board as individuals whose research aligns with the Academy’s mission to “explore, explain, and sustain life”.

Dr. Bhaya is a research staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA, and holds a courtesy appointment as a Professor of Biology at Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Dr. Bhaya says, “I am thrilled to be elected a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, an organization that couples a remarkable natural history museum with a lively research institute.  My innumerable visits to the California Academy with friends, students, and family, have always been memorable and now I hope to participate more actively.”

Dr. Bhaya was selected for the Academy in part due to her work using molecular tools to understand how photosynthetic bacteria interact with their environment. More about the Academy and its newest group of Fellows is available via their website; more information about Dr. Bhaya and her research can be found on her lab web page.

 

Dr. Kamal Shukla Honored by the Biophysical Society

Biophysical Society

Photo Courtesy of the Biophysical Society.

Dr. Kamal Shukla, Program Director in the Molecular Biophysics Cluster in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, was recognized by the Biophysical Society as the 2015 recipient of their prestigious Distinguished Service Award. Recipients of the Distinguished Service Awards have made an exceptional contribution to the field of biophysics and in its advancement outside of research.  Dr. Shukla was recognized for “his tireless efforts in promoting research at the interface between the biological and physical sciences and exceptional leadership in uniting scientists from across many Directorates at the National Science Foundation.”

Dr. Shukla is an Elected Fellow (2000) of the AAAS and has received many awards from the NSF, including the Director’s Distinguished Service Award in 2010. Join us in congratulating Dr. Shukla as the Division celebrates this outstanding recognition.