UCSB Professor Mengyang Gu received the 2022 SIAG/UQ Early Career Prize for his work on Gaussian process emulators. He will present at the SIAM Conference on Uncertainty Quantification, emphasizing the importance of uncertainty quantification in modeling across various scientific fields, especially highlighted during the recent pandemic.

The National Science Foundation awarded a $3.8 million grant to New Mexico Highlands University, UCLA, and UCSB for a Partnership for Research and Education in Materials. The grant will enhance research on high-performance biomaterials, support underrepresented students, provide scholarships, and strengthen STEM education and opportunities in diverse communities.

The American Chemical Society honors members with the Fellow designation for significant contributions to chemistry and volunteer service. In 2021, Maynard was named a Fellow and is involved in the BioPACIFIC Materials Innovation Platform and the NIH-funded CBI Training Program, also serving as an Associate Editor for JACS.

UC Santa Barbara professor Michelle O’Malley received the 2021 AIChE Allan P. Colburn Award for her significant contributions to chemical engineering. Notably, she pioneered research in engineering anaerobes for biomass decomposition, developing tools to evaluate microbial interactions and advance natural product identification for novel materials at BioPACIFIC MIP.

Dr. Yimin Luo received the Otis Williams Postdoctoral Fellowship in Bioengineering for her project on dynamic cell response using liquid crystalline substrates. Collaborating with Professors Valentine and Helgeson at BioPACIFIC MIP, she will develop materials to study cell behavior influenced by external stimuli.

The U.S. National Science Foundation funds fundamental research to enhance U.S. competitiveness, economy, and people's lives. The Materials Innovation Platforms (MIPs) program was initiated in 2015 in response to national needs in mid-scale research infrastructure for accelerating materials research. "Materials Innovations Platforms represent a new modality for supporting scientific research," says Linda Sapochak, director of the Division of Materials Research at NSF. "The MIP program provides the required infrastructure made available to a diverse set of stakeholders to support transdisciplinary research and training, to provide broad access to cutting-edge tools, and to facilitate data and knowledge sharing in key enabling areas of national priority."

UCLA's BioPACIFIC Materials Innovation Platform has launched the Living Biofoundry, a shared resource for researchers developing microbes for sustainable materials. This NSF-funded facility features advanced automation systems for high-throughput synthetic biology, aiding the production of bioderived polymers and chemicals. Access is open to U.S. scientists via a peer-reviewed proposal process.

Johns Hopkins' groundbreaking bulk crystal growth facility, part of one of four materials innovation platforms supported by the National Science Foundation, has received a $5 million renewal grant that will allow scientists to continue designing and creating new materials there for the next generation of electronic devices.