For the first time, the Maryland Science Center is honoring two female scientists who will be awarded the Outstanding Young Scientist and Outstanding Young Engineer awards at a ceremony today.
Sharon Gerecht, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Johns Hopkins University, will receive the engineering award, and Andrea Meredith, assistant professor of physiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, is the chosen scientist.
“To me, it?s taken a lot of work to get to this point. It?s a recognition of the value of the work,” Meredith said.
She was honored for her work studying ion channels at the cellular level that regulate our sleep/wake cycle and how they affect other systems in the body.
“It?s not known how those single cells? rhythms actually encode time and communicate it with the entire organism,” she said. “Hormone secretions, feeding metabolism during meals, they?re all tied to this [internal] clock.”
Gerecht focuses on engineering stem cells by influencing their surroundings, or microenvironment, to perform specific functions or tasks. Nineteen articles have resulted from Gerecht?s thesis work; she has also written four book chapters and filed for three patents.
“Professor Gerecht is an extraordinarily productive and creative researcher who is setting the pace for bioengineering stem cell systems,” Kathleen Stebe, professor and chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University, wrote in her nomination letter.
Gerecht could not be reached for comment.
“These awards are critical in recognizing the achievements of exemplary young scientists and their contributions to the field of science,” said Maryland Science Center President and Chief Executive Officer Van Reiner. “Recognizing their accomplishments is valuable in the Maryland Science Center?s mission to inspire young people and stimulate their interest in science.”
Both recipients will receive a cash prize of $2,500 and the Allan C. Davis Medal today, presented by the Maryland Academy of Sciences, which includes the Maryland Science Center.
Past recipients include 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics winners William D. Phillips and Jeremy Berg ? who currently heads the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health. The 2007 recipients were Joshua Mendell and David Gracias, both of Johns Hopkins.
