WASHINGTON —The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine announced today its 2023-2025 cohorts of Early-Career Research Fellows in the Offshore Energy Safety and Education Research tracks.

“Our early-career research fellows are exceptional professionals pursuing innovative and applicable research with the potential to address complex issues challenging the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska regions,” said Karena Mary Mothershed, senior program manager for the Gulf Research Program’s Board on Gulf Education and Engagement. “We are excited to welcome these new cohorts of fellows and look forward to supporting them as they continue to innovate, collaborate, and implement research that will have a lasting impact on the region.”

Five fellows will join the Offshore Energy Safety track working toward improving the understanding, management, and reduction of systemic risk in offshore energy activities.

The five fellows joining the Education Research track will contribute to the advancement of science, STEM, and environmental education in the Gulf of Mexico region or Alaska by considering the impacts of establishing sense-of-place in formal or informal learning environments.

The Gulf Research Program’s Early-Career Research Fellowship helps researchers during the critical pre-tenure phase of their careers. Fellows receive a $76,000 financial award along with mentoring support to provide them with independence, flexibility, and a built-in support network as they take risks on untested research ideas, pursue unique collaborations, and build a network of colleagues.

The new fellows in Offshore Energy Safety are:

Chungkuk Jin
Florida Institute of Technology
Jin is an assistant professor in the Department of Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences at Florida Institute of Technology. His research focuses on the development of digital twin models for offshore oil and gas platforms to assess structural and human safety. He has developed a dynamics simulation tool of fluid-structure or fluid-elastic-structure interactions to address the dynamics of offshore oil and gas platforms, ocean infrastructures, and offshore renewable-energy devices. In addition, he has developed weather monitoring and prediction systems using sensor measurements. He has also focused on machine-learning applications to solve ocean-engineering problems, such as inverse current and wave estimation and failure and stress monitoring of floating structures using sensors. He has completed 15 research projects, some of which are related to offshore safety sponsored by DeepStar Global Offshore Technology Development Consortium and ExxonMobil. Jin received his B.E. and M.E. in marine system engineering at Korea Maritime and Ocean University and his Ph.D. in ocean engineering at Texas A&M University, where he received an Outstanding Graduate Student Award.

Smith Leggett
Texas Tech University
Leggett is an assistant professor in the Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas Tech University. His research interests include distributed fiber optic sensing for flow and geomechanics monitoring, multiphase fluid flow, and artificial lift. Leggett leads the Texas Tech Gas Lift Consortium, a joint industry project founded to develop technologies for late-life gas lifted wells. His research on liquid slug production enables preemptive actions to reduce risks related to offshore energy extraction. He serves as the executive director for the Southwestern Petroleum Short Course and is actively involved in the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He obtained his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and his Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University. Prior to and during his graduate studies, Leggett accumulated seven years of industry experience, most of which was at Occidental Petroleum as a production and operations engineer. In addition, he researched gas hydrates at the National Energy Technology Laboratory. His work has been recognized in journals such as the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ SPE Journal; the Society of Exploration Geophysicists’ Interpretation; and Fuel.

Xingpeng Li
University of Houston
Li is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Houston. His research interests include power system operations and planning, grid integration of renewable generation and energy storage, and microgrids. Li has published over 60 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers. Prior to joining UH, he was a senior application engineer at ABB’s Power Grid division that is now Hitachi Energy. He also worked with the R&D divisions of ISO New England and PJM Interconnection. Li received Tier-1 and Tier-2 Silver awards from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity for two winning submissions to the Electricity Industry Technology and Practices Innovation Challenge prize competition in 2019. He was named an Emerging Leader by the Offshore Technology Conference in 2023 and selected by the Georgia Tech Energy Faculty Fellows program in 2023. Li received a B.S. in electrical engineering from Shandong University; M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Zhejiang University, industrial engineering from Arizona State University, and computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology; and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Arizona State University.

Maryam Tabibzadeh
California State University, Northridge
Tabibzadeh is an associate professor in the Department of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management at the California State University, Northridge. Her research has focused on risk analysis in complex safety-critical and technology-intensive industries, such as the offshore drilling sector. Investigating the role of human and organizational factors (HOFs) along with technological elements in those industries has been a major focus of her research projects. She has developed both qualitative and quantitative risk assessment methodologies to analyze the critical role of HOFs in the safety of offshore drilling operations, with an emphasis on the negative pressure test as a primary method to ascertain well integrity. Tabibzadeh received the Distinguished Engineering Educator Award in 2022 and the Outstanding Engineering Achievement Merit Award in 2018 from the Engineers’ Council. She was the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s Research Fellow in 2021-2022 and the Easton Foundation Faculty Fellow in 2019-2020. Tabibzadeh received B.S. and M.S. degrees in industrial engineering from the Sharif University of Technology in Iran and an M.S. in operations research engineering from the University of Southern California. She also received a Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Southern California.

Chengcheng Tao
Purdue University
Tao is an assistant professor in the School of Construction Management Technology at Purdue University. Prior to joining Purdue, Tao worked as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education postdoctoral research fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory. Tao’s research focuses on sustainable cementitious materials and manufacturing, oil-well cement rheology, gas migration control for improved wellbore integrity, hazard-resilient infrastructure (bridges and oil/gas pipelines), and artificial intelligence applications in civil engineering. She has developed a novel computational framework that optimizes cement production and hydration for improved material performance, offshore wellbore safety, sustainability, and cost. Tao received the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund’s Doctoral New Investigator Award in 2023, the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Faculty Scholars Award in 2022, and the Outstanding Faculty in Discovery Award at Purdue University in 2023. Tao earned her B.S. in civil engineering from Shanghai Normal University; M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and civil engineering from Carnegie Mellon University; and Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Florida.

Pending final agreements, the new fellows in Education Research are:

Ayça Fackler
University of Missouri-Columbia
Fackler is an assistant professor of science education in the Department of Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her research focuses on building science teachers’ capacity through placemaking pedagogies to support marginalized and minoritized learners, in particular multilingual learners, in accessing equitable and meaningful learning experiences using their local knowledge and diverse linguistic resources to develop science and environmental literacy. Fackler’s current work focuses on the reconceptualization of language, multimodality, and science practices to support learners with diverse linguistic backgrounds in learning scientific phenomena. She is a Jhumki Basu and Sandra Abell Fellow and has been recognized by the National Association for Research in Science Teaching for her commitment to pursuing equity issues in science teaching, learning, and research urgently needed to reach many underrepresented groups. Fackler is a first-generation college graduate and a bilingual researcher and educator. Before joining the faculty at the University of Missouri, she taught science at the K-12 level in Turkey and science teaching methods for preservice elementary teachers at the postsecondary level in the state of Georgia. She holds a joint B.S. and M.Ed. in secondary science and mathematics education with an emphasis on biology education from Gazi University and an M.A. in measurement and evaluation in education from Ankara University, as well as an M.A. and Ph.D. in science education from the University of Georgia.

Kate Hayden
University of Montevallo
Hayden is an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Montevallo. Her research focuses on assessing the impact of various pedagogies in supporting the academic performance and retention of marginalized students in STEM. In her current project, STEMMing the Tide, Hayden partnered with faculty across multiple disciplines to utilize a community of practice approach in the creation and assessment of a place-based STEM curriculum for middle schoolers. Emphasizing concepts in environmental justice, climate change, citizen science, and project-based learning, the curriculum design aims to help students meet standards for science and social studies while boosting personal connection and authentic engagement. Hayden is also involved in drug discovery research. Hayden has taught upper-level chemistry courses including biochemistry and medicinal chemistry for over eight years at Birmingham-Southern College before transitioning to Montevallo in 2023. While at the University of Montevallo, Hayden will continue teaching upper-level courses as well as the general, organic, and biochemistry sequence for allied health majors and non-majors’ courses in chemistry. After receiving a B.S. in chemistry and biology from the University of Montevallo, Hayden was an analytical chemist at Avanti Polar Lipids Inc., prior to graduate school. Hayden then earned her M.S. in chemistry and Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from the University of Alabama at Birmingham while completing the Center for Research, Teaching and Learning Scholar Graduate Certificate program.

Heather Stone
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Stone is an associate professor and holds the Mr. and Mrs. E.P. Nalley/LEQSF Regents Professorship in Education in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She has over fifteen years in education and has developed curriculums for K-12, college, and community projects. A National Board Certified Teacher, she was a classroom teacher for eight years. Stone has led multiple oral history projects and has received numerous grants to conduct and share her research in this area. Over the past eight years, Stone has developed and implemented virtual reality lesson plans for middle school students derived from the oral histories she collects from the coastal communities that are losing land to climate change. Her work helps people in these communities explain how they are adjusting and what their journey to resilience looks like. Together, they integrate oral histories and virtual reality to create one-of-a-kind stories curated by the people who live them. When Stone shares these stories with students, local officials, and policymakers, they all learn more about what it means to sustain vibrant lives on a changing planet.  She holds a B.A. in journalism and graphic design from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.A. in education and educational leadership and Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction, both from Louisiana State University.

Amanda Tazaz
Florida State University
Tazaz is a senior research associate in the Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University. Her research has focused on the development and evaluation of K-12 teacher professional development programs that have the potential to contribute to the advancement of STEM education. As a trained geoscientist, she is particularly interested in reducing the non-academic barriers to entry into the geosciences for underrepresented student populations and is focused on working to increase diversity in the geosciences by evaluating the impacts informal geoscience programs have on youth. Recently, she received a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop geoscience summer camp programs aimed at providing experiential learning opportunities in the geosciences for underrepresented pre-college students. Her academic background includes a B.S. in marine biology from Florida International University as well as B.S. and M.S. degrees in economics and a Ph.D. in oceanography, all from Florida State University.

Maria Wallace
University of Southern Mississippi
Wallace is an assistant professor in the Center for STEM Education at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her research explores the generative interplay of informal and formal science education, paying close attention to ‘in-between spaces.’ Employing community-engaged research, Wallace explores how in-between spaces of identities, places, positionalities, and conceptual development support a complex view of how ideas materialize in science educator preparation. NExUS-MS (Nurturing Educators' complex Understanding of Society & Science - Mississippi), Wallace’s emerging research group, is dedicated to designing and studying community-engaged science education experiences from multidimensional perspectives to accomplish two cross-cutting objectives: (1) advance Mississippi postsecondary science education while strengthening Mississippi K-12 pre-service teacher recruitment and education, and (2) study the impacts of an existing research-practice partnership with an informal science institution (ISI) to develop a model for University-ISI partnerships across the Gulf Coast region. She strives to design culturally responsive partnerships to elevate asset-based understandings of learning to teach science in highly underserved contexts like Mississippi. Wallace has taught third-sixth grade science in Texas and Massachusetts, holds a B.S. in geology from Millsaps College, an M.A.T from Trinity University, and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction with emphases in curriculum theory, science education, and women and gender studies from Louisiana State University.

The National Academies’ Gulf Research Program is an independent, science-based program founded in 2013 as part of legal settlements with the companies involved in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. It seeks to enhance offshore energy system safety and protect human health and the environment by catalyzing advances in science, practice, and capacity to generate long-term benefits for the Gulf of Mexico region and the nation. The program has $500 million for use over 30 years to fund grants, fellowships, and other activities in the areas of research and development, education and training, and monitoring and synthesis.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, engineering, and medicine. They operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln.

Contact:

Pete Nelson, Director of Public Engagement and Communications
Gulf Research Program
email PNelson@nas.edu