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Thirty-two promising early-career faculty members hailing from eight divisions of the university will receive 2018 Johns Hopkins Catalyst Awards.

Among the wide range of research and creative endeavors that the awards will support are improving pain management for people with sickle-cell disease; decreasing the opioid overdose mortality rate through novel tools for public health practitioners and policymakers; and writing the authorized biography of the late Anthony Hecht, a U.S. poet laureate, WWII veteran, Holocaust witness, and Pulitzer Prize recipient.

Other recipients are investigating treatments and interventions for prostate, breast, and oral cancers. One awardee is exploring how management practice and the motivation of developing-world bureaucrats interact in producing public sector outcomes and ultimately citizens’ welfare. Another is developing an economic framework to assess the social value of pharmaceutical innovation.

These experts represent two dozen departments-including Otolaryngology, Economics, Civil Engineering, Mathematics, the Writing Seminars, Musicology, and Radiology.

“In an environment where federal research funding remains elusive, especially for early-career faculty, it is vital that we support the most creative and ambitious ideas of our brightest minds,” says Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels. “Our investment in these scholars is a commitment not only to them and to our institution but to the future of their fields.”

Award recipients from the Whiting School of Engineering include:

  • Ishan Barman, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering
  • Jaafar El-Awady, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering
  • Sauleh Siddiqui, Department of Civil Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering

Adapted and excerpted from The Hub. Visit The Hub for the full list of award recipients.