For release: Sept. 15, 2008

Contacts: 
Alex Travesset, Division of Materials Science and Engineering,
515-294-7191
Breehan Gerleman Lucchesi, Public Affairs,
515-294-9750

AMES LABORATORY’S TRAVESSET
RECEIVES NSF CAREER AWARD

AMES, Iowa – Alex Travesset, a scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award, the organization’s most prestigious award for junior researchers. 

The NSF CAREER award recognizes researchers who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research. The five-year, $410,000 award will support Travesset’s theoretical study of the interaction of phospholipids, the molecules that form cell membranes, with GTPases, certain proteins that regulate signaling in cells. “I’m very excited to receive the CAREER award,” said Travesset.  “It will provide me with a unique opportunity to develop predictive models of signaling in membranes at the single molecule level, a very important problem where very little has been done from the physics side. In addition, I will be able to develop educational projects that will hopefully help teachers in Iowa become more aware of current research advances and help increase the number of undergraduates in physics. ”

Travesset, who is also an Iowa State University assistant professor of physics and astronomy, earned a doctoral degree in physics of University of Barcelona, Spain, in 1997.  While at University of Barcelona, he won a Premi Extraordinary de Doctorat award, which is given to the best doctoral dissertations at the university.  Before coming to Ames Lab and ISU, Travesset was a postdoctoral researcher at University of Illinois at Urbana and Syracuse University.  Travesset’s research interests are in the fields of theoretical soft condensed matter and biophysics.

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