NSF CAREER Awards for three Franklin faculty members

Three Franklin College scholars are among five UGA faculty selected to receive 2024 Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) foundation awards from the National Science Foundation for their research and potential as academic role models. Our colleagues in Research Communications share the details:

The awardees are assistant professors Melanie Reber (Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Department of Chemistry), Christopher Newton (Department of Chemistry), Qin Lu (College of Engineering), Guoyu Lu (College of Engineering), and Nadja Zeltner (Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology).

Collectively, the awardees received over $3 million to fund research, labs, equipment, and new educational opportunities for students. The award is given to 500 recipients each year and is designed to assist faculty in projects that integrate education and research.

Reber plans to use this award to examine molecular dynamics in electronic and vibrational states using new techniques.

“Students involved in the project will gain highly technical training in lasers, optics, and electronics, which are relevant to a range of high technology fields including quantum technologies,” Reber said.

Newton received his award for a research program focused on developing new organic chemistry strategies and reactions to provide more efficient access to molecules such as pharmaceuticals and chemical probes.

“This NSF CAREER award funds our work in the ‘pericyclic’ chemistry space, where we are looking to develop new classes of highly reactive molecules that enable the rapid generation of molecule complexity in a controlled and convergent manner,” Newton said. “It also allows us to further expand our outreach activities, including mentoring local high school students and the development of open-access educational tools.”

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Image: The 2024 CAREER awardees at UGA (clockwise from top left) Melanie Reber, Christopher Newton, Qin Lu, Guoyu Lu, and Nadja Zeltner.