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Chemistry and Biochemistry Department Chair Dr. Sarah Maurer is among 19 researchers to receive a 2022 Scialog Collaborative Innovation Award and grant for research.
Maurer and two colleagues developed their research proposal as part of the second Scialog: Signatures of Life in the Universe cohort. Maurer’s team was one of eight in the cohort recognized with the Innovation Award and funding. Each team is made up of invited Scialog Fellows, who are early-career scientists and faculty from the United States and Canada. Fellows compete for seed funding for high-risk, high-reward projects based on the ideas that emerge at annual Scialog conferences.
The Research Corporation for Science Advancement launched Scialog in 2010. Short for “science + dialog,” Scialog encourages teams of scientists who have not previously collaborated to advance basic science in areas of global importance. Signatures of Life in the Universe teams study the habitability of planets, detection of life beyond Earth, and life in extreme environments on Earth or in Earth’s distant past.
Research Corporation for Science Advancement, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the Kavli Foundation and NASA awarded a total of $1,045,000 to the eight winning teams. Each individual researcher will receive $55,000.
“Fellows of this initiative have a great responsibility,” said RCSA President and CEO Daniel Linzer. “This research will help inform priorities and design the science for multibillion-dollar public investments in space missions in the years to come.”