Awards recognize promising scholars, teachers

Four faculty members, whose research ranges from miniature flying robots to potential breakthroughs in deep-space exploration, Alzheimer’s disease and new pharmaceuticals, have received prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) awards.

Joseph Fox and Neal Zondlo, assistant professors of chemistry and biochemistry; Xinyan Deng, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; and Balaji Panchapakesan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, were presented Faculty Early Career Development Awards, one of the NSF’s highest honors. The highly competitive award, which recognizes both scholarship and teaching, is designed to support the early career development activities of young faculty members who are likely to become future academic leaders.

The four awards, each covering a five-year period, total more than $2 million.

Fox’s research group is broadly interested in organic synthesis, which he says is directly relevant to research in both academic and applied settings, such as pharmaceuticals and crop protection. A key goal is to develop new types of chemical reactions.

“Scientists have been trying to develop new chemical reactions for hundreds of years, and we are still not very good at it,” he says. “We don’t have efficient ways to put complex molecules, such as those found in pharmaceuticals, together. When it comes to the rapid synthesis of complex molecules, we are using the equivalent of hand tools. We need power tools to do organic synthesis.”

Fox and his research team will use the NSF funding specifically to work on developing new methods in catalyst design.

The funding also has educational components, including continuing a consortium that provides other institutions of higher education with remote access to UD’s nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer facilities. In addition, Fox is collaborating with chemist and filmmaker Matthew Radcliff, AS ’96, to develop video presentations to enhance student understanding and public perception of chemistry.

Zondlo also is focused on ways to improve the teaching of chemistry, particularly to help high schools develop new generations of students who take an active interest in the field.

He says it is important to break down the separation of chemistry and biology that high schools generally have in place and to show students the interdisciplinary nature of the sciences.

As the educational component of his project is developed, Zondlo will continue his research in the design of hyper-stable proteins for use in nanotechnology and pharmaceuticals. He and his research team are specifically interested in the function of protein in Alzheimer’s disease, in which the changed structure of a particular protein is believed to set off the degenerative brain disease.

“The human genome project was a wonderful achievement and provided an understanding of genes, but genes do not function in and of themselves,” Zondlo says. “Genes encode for proteins.”

Deng is conducting innovative research in the flight of insects and its potential use in developing micro-robotic flying machines that would be capable of stable and maneuverable flight.

She studies the flight attributes of insects, with the goal of designing and fabricating small, lightweight robots with flapping wings. Such devices, Deng says, could be used to conduct surveillance and search and rescue operations, often in areas that are inaccessible or hazardous to humans.

To better understand how insects fly and hover, she is studying the wing kinematics, body dynamics, flight control systems and aerodynamics of flies and bees. “A fly can make a 90 degree turn in 50 milliseconds,” she says. “This is a result of their highly maneuverable wings, enhanced aerodynamics, sophisticated neural motor control systems and advanced sensory systems, all of which provide great lessons to build manmade flying machines at small size.”

Deng also is studying a mechanical boxfish, with the goal of creating a one-centimeter-square boxfish that can conduct underwater exploration and remain steady even in turbulent waters.

Panchapakesan is conducting leading-edge research in the development and use of carbon nanotube actuators, which have applications in both medicine and deep-space research.

Actuators are devices that transform an input signal into motion. Generally, such signals are electrical, but in this case they are optical and set into motion by light. Before his research group began working on optically driven actuators, Panchapakesan says, “No one had demonstrated that you can shine light on a carbon nanotube and make it move in a way that is comparable to electrically driven actuators.”

He says the research could have major implications for the NASA space program,   particularly for lengthy interplanetary missions, because the photonic actuators are lightweight and can be actuated remotely in space. His vision is to create a robot of carbon nanotubes that can be sent into deep space, sleeping when out of sunlight and reawakening when provided with light to perform needed tasks.

Panchapakesan also foresees the development of light-powered micro-robotic and nano-robotic mechanical systems with applications in medicine, specifically in cancer research.

— Neil Thomas, AS ’76