17 faculty members receive Salomon research awards

The Office of the Vice President for Research has announced this year's recipients of Richard B. Salomon Faculty Research Awards.

This program was established to support excellence in scholarly work by providing funding for faculty research projects deemed to be of exceptional merit.

The recipients are:

Scott W. Allard, assistant professor of political science and public policy, for "The Changing Context of Social Service Provision in Urban America: Trends in Access to Services in Metropolitan Detroit." Allard will survey mental health and substance abuse service providers treating welfare recipients and low-income women in the Detroit metropolitan area.

Lundy Braun, associate professor, pathology and African Studies, for "Asbestos, Knowledge Production, and Activism in South Africa," which will explore the history of trade union and community-based activism centered on the hazards of asbestos in mining and milling regions of South Africa.

Melani Cammet, assistant professor of political science, for "State Reconstruction and Social Service Provision in Collapsed Societies." Cammet will study the tensions between centralization and decentralization in divided societies and highlight the obstacles facing collapsed states as they attempt to rebuild the moral and material foundations of their authority.

P.R. Guduru, assistant professor of engineering, and B.W. Sheldon, associate professor of engineering, for "Nanoscale Sculpting of Ferromagnetic Thin Films using Magnetic Configurational Forces." Guduru and Sheldon hope to develop a new nano-fabrication technique for sculpting ferromagnetic thin films into a desired pattern of nano-scale islands.

Dennis Hogan and Frances Goldscheider, professors of sociology, for "The Family Consequences of Child Disability." The pair will complete work on a book project that focuses on the effects of having a child with a disability on the family and its members.

Mayank Mehta, assistant professor of neuroscience, for "Relationship between the Hippocampal Rate and Temporal Codes." Most animals, including humans, routinely and rapidly learn to go from point A to a neighboring point B, such as going from home to a food source. Mehta is interested in understanding how such temporal sequences are learned.

Deborah N. Pearlman, assistant professor (research) of community health, for "Overweight and Asthma in Children: 'Twin' Challenges for Public Health." Pearlman will examine whether the effects of individual, family, household, and neighborhood characteristics on overweight and asthma vary for particular subgroups of children.

Luiz Pessoa, assistant professor of psychology, for "Brain Systems Involved in Paying Attention to Emotional Stimuli." Pessoa will explore the mechanisms of interaction between emotional perception and visual attention.

Sharon M. Swartz, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology; Kenneth S. Breuer, associate professor of engineering, and David H. Laidlaw, associate professor of computer science, for "Aerodynamic Mechanisms of Bat Flight: An Integrated Multidisciplinary Approach." Scientists know that aerodynamics of bats include as-yet undescribed means of generating lift and controlling flight maneuvers. This research team will work out the mechanistic basis of this unique form of flight.

Jay X. Tang, assistant professor of physics and engineering, for "Chemotactic Trajectory and Hydrodynamics of Caulobacter crescentus Swarmer cells." Tang proposes a new biophysical approach toward understanding the important biological phenomenon of chemotaxis..

Leslie Thornton, professor of modern culture and media, for "Fog/Speaking of War." Thornton will create the first of a series of short video artworks about war and language.

Greg Tucker, assistant professor of physics, for "EPIC: The Einstein Polarization Interferometer for Cosmology." NASA recently selected Brown to perform a mission-concept study for a new generation of satellite. The Salomon award will enable Brown to compete for the project.

Kristi A. Wharton, associate professor of molecular, cellular biology and biochemisty, for "Establishing Assays to Investigate BMP Ligand Type and Receptor Choice." Wharton will use the grant to investigate the role that the composition of a BMP signaling protein and its receptor play in determining the effectiveness of intercellular signaling.