Congratulations are in order to Professor Shahir Rizk! It was recently announced that he received the Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. The award is given to outstanding, early career scientists who are “recognized by their scientific communities for the quality and innovation of their research programs and their academic leadership skills”. This award recognizes pre-tenure chemistry, physics or astronomy professors who support an innovative research program while addressing educational needs in their institutes. Rizk’s proposal included both a research and teaching component. For his research, he proposed the development of nanostructures that can assemble in response to a biological signal, while the teaching component featured his approaches to promote science communication and introduce science majors to careers in science.
Rizk is one of two dozen researchers from across the country who received this year’s award. He is the first faculty member from IU South Bend to be selected as a Cottrell Scholar and is one of eight IU faculty to have received the award since its inception in 1994. The award will support Rizk’s research in engineering protein-based nanostructures and will help him further develop his teaching approaches to introduce students to current issues in science policy and to build connections within the community by communicating science to a diverse audience.
