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$750,000 NSF grant to Dr. Sean Norman supports junior faculty who 'exemplify role of teacher-scholars'
March 12, 2012
Arnold School of Public Health researcher Dr. Sean Norman is the recipient of a $725,000 environmental research grant from the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program.
Norman, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, will use the grant to pursue a study titled "Linking Microbial Phylogenetic and Functional Gene Diversity to Microbial Mat Ecosystem Function Following Environmental Disturbance."
Norman's CAREER grant is one of the NSF's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. By understanding how environmental changes influence microbial communities and how this impacts ecosystem stability, the proposed study will have a transformative impact on ecosystem science and evolutionary biology, Norman said.
To accomplish the project goals, Norman and students will combine field monitoring and sampling on an impoverished Bahamian outer island with state-of-the-art, lab-based metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses.
The study also will help develop an outreach program to enhance graduate education by developing a new molecular microbial ecology course, enhancing undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral laboratory and field experiences and providing provide local high school students and teachers with lab and field-based experiences by the expansion of a previous NSF-supported Young Genomic Scientists Program.
Other spinoffs of the study include enhanced environmental awareness of the general public by generating a microbial mat exhibit to be displayed at the nationally-renowned EdVenture Children's Museum and enhanced ecosystem awareness among Bahamian children and their science teachers.
