MESSAGE FROM THE ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR RESEARCH AND GRADUATE STUIDES  


Research in COSAM is achieving new heights. For the 2018-2019 year, the COSAM extramural research portfolio has expanded to over $12.4 million–a growth more than $1 million over the previous year. This 
growth has raised COSAM to being the third highest funded college at Auburn. This growth is due to the hard work of our faculty who are pursuing cutting-edge research in all of our units.

Some particular highlights from the last year include the following: 

  • The National Science Foundation Early Faculty Career (CAREER) award, one of the most prestigious grants for junior faculty in the country. COSAM faculty have had a strong track-record of success in this highly competitive program. Since 2014, COSAM faculty have earned a total of eight CAREER awards. In 2018, Rita Graze (Department of Biological Sciences) and Monika Raj (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry), and in 2019, Marcelo Kuroda (Department of Physics) have won CAREER awards.
  • With such a large cadre of CAREER award winners, in Spring, 2019, COSAM hosted its first workshop specifically dedicated to providing advice for junior faculty on preparing applications for CAREER and other early faculty funding opportunities.
  • COSAM faculty are being recognized for their contributions to their research communities. In the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Assoc. Prof. Steven Mansoorabadi has been recognized as a “rising star” by the editors of ACS Biochemistry; Prof. Chris Easley is the recipient of the 2019 AES Electrophoresis Society Mid-Career Achievement award; and, Prof. Vincent Ortiz was elected as a Fellow of the American Chemical Society.
  • Associate Professor Luke Oeding was the local host as the Department of Mathematics and Statistics hosted over 550 participants that the 1,146th Meeting of the American Mathematical Society.
  • In June, 2019, the Physics Department had a dedication ceremony for its new home in the expanded and renovated Leach Science Center. This $24 million expansion has unified the department’s research and teaching activities into a single facility for the first time in over 20 years.

These activities illustrate the broad range of activities occurring within COSAM as we are looking forward to another exciting year.

War Eagle!

Edward Thomas, Jr.
Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies