Four of Baltimore’s brightest minds were honored for their innovative work last night in a ceremony at the Maryland Science Center in the Inner Harbor.
The interactive museum played hosted to the presentation of the Outstanding Young Scientist and Outstanding Young Engineer awards. Every year, the Maryland Academy of Sciences’ Scientific Advisory Council picks two people under age 35 for each category who are making major strides in their fields.
This year, both of the honored scientists work at Johns Hopkins University.
- Dr. Ishan Barman works with “vibrational spectroscopy,” specifically in applying its tools to cancer diagnostics and monitoring responses to treatment. Barman has developed tools that help detect signs of breast cancer.
- Dr. Ryan Gardner works within JHU’s Applied Physics Laboratory on a team that is proving the safety of the Federal Aviation Administration’s developing Airborne Collision Avoidance System. Once operational, the system will be applied to commercial and military aircraft, possibly including drones.
The two honored engineers work at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and NASA’s Space Telescope Science Institute.
- Dr. Donna Calu, an assistant professor at the UMD Medical School, works in human neurobiology, specifically behavior related to addiction, reward learning and stress. She has designed an “implantable fiber” that can record brain activity in lab animals.
- Dr. Laurent Pueyo is an astronomer studying exoplanets from the institute housed within JHU’s campus. According to a release, he “is the leading exoplanet imaging analyst in the world” and has had a direct link to almost every major exoplanet observation.
The academy has been giving out the awards for scientists since 1959 and for engineers since 1988, according to the Maryland Science Center’s website.
