Two of 60 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, announced last week by the White House, will go to Cornell University faculty members: Linda K. Nozick, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering, and Patrick J. Stover, assistant professor of nutritional biochemistry in the College of Human Ecology.

The awards, recognizing "young scholars' research contributions, their promise, and their commitment to broader societal goals" and offering up to $500,000 apiece over a five-year period, are scheduled to be presented at a Nov. 3 White House ceremony.

Now in their second year, the Presidential Early Career Awards are considered to be the highest honors bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their careers. Ten federal agencies nominate promising scientists and engineers for the awards.

Nozick, who joined the Cornell faculty in 1992 after earning a Ph.D. in systems engineering at University of Pennsylvania, will be cited for developing innovative solutions to problems associated with transportation of hazardous materials. Her models for considering multiple objectives help decision-makers choose appropriate routes for these shipments, which are of great concern to the transportation industry, government officials and the public at large.

But many of the same principles can be applied to solving other real-world problems that Nozick, her colleagues and students in systems engineering regularly tackle. For example, they have developed models to site regional distribution centers that optimize production and logistic activities in manufacturing systems, as well as other models to evaluate the inclusion of information technology in a variety of transportation systems.

"The common thread running through all our activities is that they involve models to organize and optimize the operation of system components for the good of the entire system," Nozick said. "This typically includes explicit attention to the expanding role of infomation, a non-traditional resource in these systems. We are training a new breed of civil and environmental engineer," she said of the Cornell systems engineering programs (including the engineering management and transportation programs) in civil and environmental engineering.

Previous honors to Nozick include the 1996 James and Mary Tein Excellence in Teaching Award from the College of Engineering and the 1994 Lilly Teaching Award, from which Nozick used her $10,000 grant to develop a new Cornell course, "Transportation and Information Technology" (CEE 463).

Stover joined the Cornell faculty in Cornell in 1994 after doing postdoctoral training at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned a Ph.D. (1990) in biochemistry and molecular biophysics. He received his B.S. (1986) in chemistry from Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

Stover's award is in recognition of his work on folic acid metabolism in cancer cells and in pregnancy models. Folate allows cells to grow at a rapid rate and is extremely important for pregnant women; insufficient levels of folate are linked to neural tube defects in newborns and to other problems, including cardiovascular disease and cancer.

"This is because so many reactions at the cellular level are dependent on folate. Therefore, you can get a range of pathologies associated with folate deficiencies," said Stover.

As a graduate student, Stover had discovered that a folate derivative called 5-formyltetrahydrofolate, whose role in metabolisms was unknown, is synthesized by an enzyme involved in folic acid metabolism. Once synthesized, it impedes metabolic processes until another enzyme converts it back into a useful folate.

In recent research at Cornell, Stover, using molecular genetic techniques, discovered that attempts to make 5-formyltetrahydrofolate accumulate in human cells resulted in degradation of cellular folate. This suggested that 5-formyltetrahydrofolate is part of a folate degradation pathway. Thus, Stover realized he had identified a new folate enzyme capable of catabolizing (breaking down) folate, and which is probably responsible for increased folate requirements during pregnancy.

"No one had ever before suggested that folate could be catabolized in the cell. We knew that folate concentrations in the cell are tightly regulated and that cells don't accumulate much folate," Stover said.

Stover has since purified the enzyme and is currently involved in cloning it. He suspects the enzyme may be responsible for the rapid folate turnover found in tumors and during pregnancy and, if so, perhaps drugs could be developed to inhibit its activity. That would allow people who are chronically folate deficient to accumulate adequate amounts of folate.

Previous honors to Stover include the 1997 Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Medical College of Virginia, the Future Leader in Nutrition Award from the International Life Sciences Institute in 1996, and numerous invitation and travel scholarships. He teaches courses on nutrient control of mammalian gene expression.

Making the awards announcement on Oct. 24, President Bill Clinton said: "These gifted young professionals exemplify the best of our science and technology community and will help set the scientific pace for the U.S. and the world in the years ahead. Their passion for discovery and their determination to explore new scientific frontiers will drive this nation forward and build a better America for the 21st century."

The awards, recognizing "young scholars' research contributions, their promise, and their commitment to broader societal goals" and offering up to $500,000 apiece over a five-year period, are scheduled to be presented at a Nov. 3 White House ceremony.