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EESA Early Career Researchers Learn What It’s Like Across Berkeley Lab2 min read

by Christina Procopiou on June 1, 2018

Ecology Department Environmental Remediation & Water Resources Program GC-Future Water GC-Microbial Engines Hydrogeology Department Uncategorized

Neslihan Tas portrait

When not at work researching Arctic permafrost microbes or mountainous watersheds, research scientists Neslihan Taş (above left) and Erica Woodburn (above right) are out and about learning what it’s like across Berkeley Lab with fellow recipients of Early Career research awards from the Department of Energy, Berkeley Lab, and UC Berkeley.

In December, Berkeley Lab Director Mike Witherell and Horst Simon, the Lab’s Deputy Director for Research, invited the researchers to participate in a year-long Early Career Enrichment Program (ECEP). Taş is one of 5 Berkeley Lab scientists awarded Department of Energy Office of Science Early Career Research Program awards during 2018.  Woodburn is one of 10 recipients of the FY2018 Early Career LDRD research awards from Berkeley Lab. Two Lab faculty scientists who won DOE Early Career awards through UC Berkeley also participate in the ECEP.

The ECEP was established to give early career scientists increased exposure to the Lab’s scientific programs and operations, and to guide them towards leveraging the Lab’s assets to tackle important science and technology challenges. The cohort has met once a month since January to engage in activities meant to expose them to operations or scientific areas beyond the scope of their day-to-day research.

Taş has enjoyed the exposure to the science  done across the Lab, from the Molecular Foundry to the Biosciences Area. The cohort has even spent time learning from the Lab’s IT and HR professionals. She says she already sees the benefit to researchers in the early stages of their careers from the program, which like the Early Career LDRD awards, is in its first year.

“It’s been helpful to be introduced to the scientific spectrum and operational inner workings of  Berkeley Lab,” Taş says. “Because many early career awardees are fresh out of their postdoc experience, it can be difficult to imagine the collaboration possibilities outside of their immediate research areas.

“This program has also opened my eyes to opportunities that exist to collaborate across areas and to strengthen Berkeley Lab’s mission.”

Woodburn is grateful for the camaraderie that has come with being part of the ECEP. “At our monthly meetings we have a chance to use each other as sounding boards for things that are helpful and strategic in advancing our research,” Woodburn says. “Since many of us are first-time project PIs, it’s been a very valuable resource to be able to exchange experiences.”

The ECEP cohort will visit EESA in July.

The Early Career Development track within the LDRD Program is intended to help Lab scientists begin leading their own research, and could help them prepare to compete for DOE-funded awards such as the DOE Early Career Research Program awards.

News & Events

Study Sheds Light on Microbial Communities in Earth’s Subsurface2 min read

August 16, 2023

  From the tops of tree canopies to the bottom of groundwater reservoirs, a vast amount of living organisms interact with nonliving components such as rock, water, and soil to shape this area of Earth known as the “critical zone.” Over half of Earth’s microbes are located in the subsurface critical zone, which ranges from…

Carl Steefel Honored in Goldschmidt Session on Reactive Transport2 min read

August 2, 2023

The contributions of Carl Steefel to the reactive transport modeling scientific community were recognized in a session held in his honor at the recent Goldschmidt 2023 conference (Lyon, France). Goldschmidt is the foremost annual, international conference on geochemistry and related subjects, organized by the European Association of Geochemistry and the Geochemical Society. The session was…

DOE Funds Projects to Advance Forest Carbon Dioxide Removal Efforts and Agricultural Soil Carbon Conservation4 min read

August 1, 2023

The DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) and Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) recently announced $5 million in funding for four projects–two from Berkeley Lab with EESA leadership. The projects selected offer “promising solutions” to the nation’s climate change challenges by helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will “accelerate their deployment…

Quantifying the strength of the land carbon sink3 min read

July 26, 2023

This article first appeared at nature.berkeley.edu/news. The world’s forests, grasslands, and other terrestrial ecosystems have played a substantial role in offsetting human carbon emissions—a capability that UC Berkeley researchers say would be threatened by continued global change. The assessment, published today as a new review paper in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, presents a comprehensive analysis of…

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