Scientists to Watch
Professors Michelle O’Malley and Andrea Young are named to Science News’s annual list of up-and-coming scientists.
They’re young, they’re smart and they’re at the forefront of their fields. And now UC Santa Barbara professors Michelle O’Malley and Andrea Young are among Science News’s 2019 SN10: Scientists to Watch.
Presented by the Society for Science & the Public, the annual list highlights early- and mid-career scientists tackling today’s big questions, with the potential for tomorrow’s big breakthroughs.
“Congratulations to all the scientists and engineers named to this prestigious list!” said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of the Society for Science & the Public and Publisher of Science News. “These amazing women and men are making ground-breaking discoveries. I am delighted that Science News is able to honor them.”
From Plant Waste to Commodity Chemicals
To find renewable sources for the many commodity chemicals we need to run our modern lives, Michelle O’Malley, a professor of chemical engineering, looked no further than the guts of large herbivores. There, she said, “thousands of unusual anaerobes work together to break down plant biomass into nutrients for the animal.” Tapping into the processes these anaerobes have evolved to perform as they extract sugars from plant waste could make it possible to generate material for biofuels, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, which are otherwise extracted from nonrenewable sources.
