Three Cornell University researchers have been awarded Faculty Early Career Development grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). They are Edwin A. "Todd" Cowen, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering; Fernando Escobedo, assistant professor of chemical engineering; and Z. Jane Wang, assistant professor of theoretical and applied mechanics.

Cowen, who also is director of the Defrees Hydraulics Laboratory at Cornell, will receive $375,000 over five years from the NSF to support his research on environmental flows. Specifically, he is studying the effect of clean and contaminated free surfaces on turbulence and gas transfer at an air-water interface. Gas-exchange processes across interfaces are fundamental to environmental, biological and industrial fluid mechanics. Experiments will be conducted in a water tank with grid-generated turbulence with and without surfactants. Velocity and carbon dioxide concentration will be measured by digital particle tracking and laser induced fluorescence techniques to obtain the vertical transport of fluid and flux of carbon dioxide at the air-water interface. The ultimate goal is to use the experimental data to develop an analytical model for gas transfer between air and water.

Cowen received his B.S. in civil engineering in 1987 from Brown University and his M.S. in 1991 and his Ph.D. in 1997 from Stanford University. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1997.

Escobedo will receive $375,000 over five years for research in bioinformatics, specifically into molecular and mesoscopic modeling of somatic mutation and the progression of B-cell malignancies. The goal of his research is to develop a multiscale modeling approach to help explain the way in which amino acid sequence and binding affinity of antibodies are correlated and evolve during the humoral immune response to specific antigens. The research also will explore the role of somatic mutation and antigen pressure on the evolution of specific B-cell cancers.

Escobedo received his B.S. in chemical engineering from the Universidad de San Agustin, Peru, in 1986, his M.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1993 and his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1997. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1999. That same year he won the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation new faculty award.

Wang will use her award of $375,000 over five years to model the interaction of unsteady, viscous airflow and dynamic boundaries of a moving insect wing, as well as to model insect flight guidance and control. The research is expected to lead to a general theory of insect flight, eventually facilitating the production of micro air vehicles, among other potential applications.

Wang, who joined the Cornell faculty in 1999, teaches classes in applied mathematics, mathematical modeling and biofluid dynamics. She earned her Ph.D. in physics at the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree at Fudan University in the People's Republic of China. Additional funding to her insect-flight dynamics research comes from a recently announced award from the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program.

The program encourages the integration of education and research and emphasizes the importance the NSF places on the early development of academic careers dedicated to stimulating the discovery process in which the excitement of research is enhanced by inspired teaching and enthusiastic learning. It combines, in a single program, the support of research and education of the highest quality and in the broadest sense. The program also encourages awardees to develop collaborative research and education partnerships between industry and academe.