Study of Nanomaterials, Nitrate, Numbers Gets CAREER Boost

Dr. Rodrigo A. Bernal, Dr. Sheel C. Dodani BS'07 and Dr. Rizwanur Khan were among the faculty members from The University of Texas at Dallas to receive Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2023.

Since 2010, UT Dallas faculty members have received 55 NSF CAREER awards, which support early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in their fields.

Dr. Rodrigo A. Bernal

Bernal, associate professor of mechanical engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, received a $625,000 CAREER award to support his research to predict the reliability of nanomaterials when they are used to make wearable medical devices, electronics and lightweight materials.

Bernal's work focuses on developing methods to determine whether nanomaterials - materials as small as 1/10,000th of the diameter of a human hair - can maintain their outstanding properties when used in large quantities for consumer products. For example, will stretchable nanomaterials that conduct electricity continue to work in a device that requires billions of them? And, if so, for how long?

"When you use nanomaterials at scale to manufacture a product, is it going to survive a year, or is it going to break in 10 days? We know individual nanomaterials are very strong, but we also know this strength can vary. We haven't yet understood the implications of this variance," said Bernal, who is the principal investigator in the Nanomechanical Multiphysics Lab at UTD.

Dr. Sheel C. Dodani

Dodani, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM), received a $700,000 CAREER award to illuminate the nitrate anion and its fundamental roles at the cellular level.

Nitrate is essential for living organisms. For humans, it is a vital nutrient that can support exercise performance and cardiovascular function; it is also an environmental pollutant that is linked to carcinogenic effects and dysbiosis, an imbalance of the different types of microorganisms in the body.

Dodani and her team are working to engineer protein-based indicators to probe nitrate across time and space in living cells using fluorescence microscopy. Alongside this research, a general chemistry laboratory capstone project centered on anion-protein interactions will be developed to promote interest and engagement of undergraduates in biochemistry.

"I am excited that this will be the first biochemistry lab at the general chemistry level and will directly impact 1,000 undergraduate students enrolled in the course each year here at UTD," Dodani said. "This endeavor is in partnership with my research team, as well as Dr. Amandeep Sra [professor of instruction] in chemistry and biochemistry, and Dr. Stephanie Taylor [associate professor of instruction] in science/mathematics education."

Dr. Rizwanur Khan

Khan, assistant professor of mathematical sciences in NSM, received a $400,000 CAREER award to research number theory, a branch of pure mathematics studied since ancient times that has modern applications to computer science. At a fundamental level, number theory is the study of whole numbers.

To understand the nature of various mathematical objects, mathematicians try to understand their building blocks, Khan said. For example, prime numbers are the building blocks of the whole numbers, and certain basic waves are the building blocks of more complicated waves.

"My research focuses on mathematical constructs called L-functions," he said. "These are very special mathematical functions with rich symmetries that encode information about building blocks. By studying L-functions and their properties, we can extract information about the building blocks."

Khan said it's always a great feeling for a researcher to have their work receive recognition through an award.

"The support from the CAREER grant will enable me to continue working in the area that I love. It will also enable me to involve younger researchers - postdocs and students - in the project," he said.

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