Thirteen University of California researchers have been selected for five-year awards under the Department of Energy's Early Career Research Program. They are among 65 scientists chosen by the DOE's Office of Science for the research awards.

The awards are designed to bolster the nation's scientific work force by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work. The research awards also aim at providing incentives for scientists to focus on mission research areas that are a high priority for the Department of Energy and the nation.

Recipients and their projects are, by campus/laboratory:

UC Berkeley

• David F. Savage, "Engineering self‐assembled bioreactors from protein microcompartments," selected by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences
• Junqiao Wu, "Functional Domain Walls as Active Elements for Energy Technology," selected by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences

UC Davis

• Ricardo H.R. Castro, "Energetics of Radiation Tolerant Nanoceramics," selected by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences

UCLA 

• Christoph Niemann, "High-Average Power Laser Experiments at the Large Plasma Device," selected by the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences

UC San Diego

• Timothy H. Bertram, "In situ Measurements of Heterogeneous Reactions on Ambient Aerosol Particles: Impacts on Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate," selected by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research
• Jennifer N. Cha, "Rigid Biopolymer Nanocrystal Systems for Controlling Multicomponent Nanoparticle Assembly and Orientation in Thin Film Solar Cells," selected by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences
• Michael Galperin, "Many-body effects in transport and energyn transfer," selected by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

• Paolo Ferracin, "Development of Nb3Sn Superconducting Magnets for Fourth Generation ECR Ion Sources," selected by the Office of Nuclear Physics
• Susannah Green Tringe, "Microbial Communities in Biological Carbon Sequestration," selected by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research
• Haimei Zheng, "Real Time TEM Imaging of Materials Transformations in Liquid and Gas Environments," selected by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

• Yongqin Jiao, "Systems Level Investigation of Uranium Resistance and Regulation by Caulobacter Crescentus," selected by the Office of Biological Environmental Research
• Peter Lindstrom, "Combating the Data Movement Bottleneck," selected by the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research
• Sofia Quaglioni, "Solving the Long-Standing Problem of Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions at the Highest Microscopic Level," selected by the Office of Nuclear Physics