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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Three researchers in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University have received a Faculty Early Career Development award from the National Science Foundation.

These prestigious five-year grants recognize promising faculty at the beginning of their career for excellence and innovation in both research and teaching.

Raviv Raich, an assistant professor in the School of Engineering and Computer Science, develops methods to analyze complex multi-instance data. Applications include training computers to identify bird species from bird song recordings made in the wild, and improving automated tests of blood samples to detect cancer. The $477,000 award will support undergraduate and graduate students who are helping to develop the methods and algorithms for this research.

Glencora Borradaile, an assistant professor in the School of Engineering and Computer Science, advances mathematical techniques to solve problems such as how to connect wind generators to a power grid. Her research seeks to broaden the scope of information used in algorithms to make them more useful for real-world applications. This $500,000 grant will support research by undergraduates and graduate students, and Borradaile will also involve high school students in learning the fundamentals of discrete math, which is the foundation of her research.

Jeff Nason, an assistant professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering, is developing "labeled" nanoparticles that can be detected in complex environmental matrices. This $455,000 award will allow study of the risks associated with nanomaterials and their distribution in the environment.