"Dr. Naruki Hiranuma, assistant professor or environmental sciences at West Texas A&M University, is one of 84 scientists selected from across the nation to receive significant funding for research as a 2018 Early Career Award recipient through the DOE Office of Science.
The Early Career Research Program, now in its ninth year, is designed to bolster the nation’s scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work. The recipients include 30 scientists from DOE’s national laboratories and 54 from universities across the United States.
Hiranuma’s award is for his research on “Implications of Aerosol Physicochemical Properties Including Ice Nucleation at ARM Mega Sites for Improved Understanding of Microphysical Atmospheric Cloud Processes,” selected by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research.
University-based researchers will receive grants for at least $150,000 per year, and researchers based at DOE national laboratories will receive grants for at least $500,000 per year. The research grants are planned for five years and will cover salary and research expenses.
“Supporting talented researchers early in their career is key to building and maintaining a skilled and effective scientific workforce for the nation. By investing in the next generation of scientific researchers, we are supporting lifelong discovery science to fuel the nation’s innovation system,” Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said. “We are proud of the accomplishments these young scientists have already made and look forward to following their achievements in years to come.”
To be eligible for the DOE award, a researcher must be an untenured, tenure-track assistant or associate professor at a U.S. academic institution or a full-time employee at a DOE national laboratory, who received a Ph.D. within the past 10 years. Research topics are required to fall within one of the Department’s Office of Science’s six major program offices—Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics and Nuclear Physics.
Awardees were selected from a large pool of university- and national laboratory-based applicants. Selection was based on peer review by outside scientific experts.
A list of the 84 awardees, their institutions and research projects is appended and available on the Early Career Research Program webpage at http://science.energy.gov/early-career/."
-West Texas A&M University
