Two Ohio University Researchers Receive
NSF Career Grants
Attention editors, reporters: Photos of Molly Morris and Art Smith suitable
for downloading (saved at 200 dpi) are available on the Web at
www.ohiou.edu/researchnews/pix/MORRIS_MOLLY.jpg and
www.ohiou.edu/researchnews/pix/SMITH_ART.jpg; cutlines follow this
release. To receive the images by e-mail, call Andrea Gibson at (740)
597-2166.
Contact:
Molly Morris (740) 593-0337, morrism@ohio.edu; Art Smith (740)
597-2576, asmith@helios.phy.ohiou.edu.
ATHENS, Ohio (April 18, 2000) -- Two new grants totaling nearly $700,000 will help
faculty
members at Ohio University conduct research and educate undergraduate and
local high school students on two very different subjects. One study could
lead to a more efficient use of semiconductors in computers, and another
could aid conservationists in animal preservation.
Art Smith, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, and Molly
Morris,
assistant professor of biological sciences, are the latest recipients of
Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grants, a National Science
Foundation program designed to assist faculty early in their careers.
Smith, who joined Ohio University in 1998, will apply his four-year
$320,000 grant to the studies of a new class of nitride semiconductors, the
latest addition to electronic materials research. Semiconductors are used
in technologies such as computer chips and lasers. Knowledge of how to grow
and use novel types of semiconductors could lead to the application of new,
and potentially more efficient, materials in electronic devices, Smith says.
The grant also will fund the purchase of a smaller version of a device
used in his research of electronic materials, the scanning tunneling
microscope, for use in local high school science classes. Students will
learn to use the microscope to view individual atoms.
"The idea is to provide local area students with motivational high
tech
science equipment with the hopes of helping these kids get interested in
careers in science and technology," Smith says.
Morris, who joined the faculty in 1997, is using swordtail fish as an
animal model to study mating habits. She's examining the role of male
physical characteristics in attracting females. In this case, Morris is
looking at a vertical bar pattern of pigments on male swordtail fish. She
suspects the symmetry, spacing and number of bars might help females
recognize their own species and determine if the male would be a healthy,
viable mate.
Morris, whose five-year grant is for $366,000, will include Ohio
University undergraduate students in her lab research. She also will invite
students from the University of Mexico, a collaborating institution, to
join her and her students on research trips to Mexico. In order to make her
research and that of other faculty more accessible to her students, Morris
will create a Web page that will offer links to research projects.
"The educational aspect of this project will allow students to
participate
and gain an understanding of research," Morris says.
The NSF provides CAREER grants to encourage the career development of
junior-level faculty and support their research and teaching activities.
Six Ohio University faculty have received CAREER grants since the program
began in 1995.
"A NSF CAREER grant is an acknowledgment of the potential for
excellence,"
says John Bantle, vice president for research at Ohio University. "New
faculty need a special boost early in their careers and this award provides
that and brings credit to their home institutions."
Smith and Morris hold appointments in the College of Arts and
Sciences.
