Eberly Impact: Postdoctoral Research Fellows
The Eberly Research Fellowship program (named after the Eberly family) is designed to attract exceptional early career scientists to Penn State to enhance their career goals in the vibrant, highly collaborative environment of the Eberly College of Science and the broader STEM community at Penn State.
Here, a few of our Fellows reflect on their research and the impact of the fellowship program:
Janie Frandsen
Adviser: Philip Bevilacqua, Department of Chemistry
2014 B.S. Biochemistry, Denison University
2019 Ph.D. Microbiology, The Ohio State University
“I am working with Phil Bevilacqua and Paul Babitzke to understand the molecular-level details of how bacteria respond to environmental stress. My project specifically focuses on understanding the role RNA structure plays in gene regulation by trans-acting small RNAs in the model organism E. coli.”
“The Eberly Fellowship will not only help me to expand my research skills but will also allow me to acquire the teaching skills necessary for my desired career of being a faculty member at a primarily undergraduate institution.”
Gabriel Rangel
Adviser: Manuel Llinás, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
2013 B.S. Biochemistry, Purdue University
2019 Ph.D. Biological Sciences in Public Health, Harvard University
“My research focuses on the molecular biology of the most globally widespread malaria parasite, Plasmodium vivax. I use metabolomic approaches to establish methods for discovering new antimalarial targets that will not allow the parasite to develop drug resistance.”
“The Eberly Fellowship facilitates the pursuit of high-risk, high-reward projects and has allowed me to pursue research like determining host metabolites required by the malaria parasite for growth and transmission.”
Haojie Ren
Adviser: Runze Li, Department of Statistics
2013 B.S. Statistics, Nankai University
2016 M.S. Statistics, Nankai University
2018 Ph.D. Statistics, Nankai University
“My research primarily focuses on developing robust statistical methods for online monitoring and diagnosis, change-point detection, and outlier identification, especially in high-dimensional data and functional data.”
“The Eberly Fellowship allowed me to become a member of the Penn State community, and it has also provided sufficient support and guidance. Regular meetings among all the Eberly Fellows offer me a chance to know the frontiers of the other areas, like biology, chemistry, and physics, and encourage me to think about the potential intersection between statistics and other areas.”
Daniel Stevens
Adviser: Jason Wright, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
2012 B.A. Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University
2018 Ph.D. Astronomy, The Ohio State University
“I work on detecting and characterizing extreme planets around other stars. I also work on improving the precision and accuracy with which we measure the fundamental properties of stars, like their masses and radii, since we only know a planet's properties as well as we know those of their host stars.”
“I value the flexibility that the Eberly Fellowship gives me: Without sacrificing one for another, I can pursue my own independent studies, get involved in new and ongoing research here, teach, and engage in professional development activities."