Lab researcher receives prestigious Fulbright Scholar Award

Nathan G. McDowell

Nate McDowell of LANL's Earth and Environmental Sciences Division has earned a Fulbright Scholar Award. The 10-month award will enable him to study vegetation mortality patterns and mechanisms, carbon cycling, and climate in the European Union. McDowell will be based in Slovenia, where he also will present guest lectures on plant physiology and forestry courses at the University of Ljubljana.

McDowell received a doctorate in tree physiology at Oregon State University and came to Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2003 as a Director's Postdoctoral Fellow. He became a staff scientist in Earth and Environmental Sciences, where, as part of the Earth Systems Observations group, he studies the interdependency of plant and ecosystem water and carbon cycles and their response to climate and disturbance.

McDowell recently received an Early Career Research Award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

He serves on advisory committees for the National Science Foundation, DOE, and LANL, is an associate editor for two international journals, and has testified before Congress regarding DOE's climate change research.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to "increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." The recipients are chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential for the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

August 24, 2010—The role of chemists in national security science was a hot topic Monday (August 23) at the American Chemical Society's Boston meeting, when Principal Associate Director for Global Security Will Rees addressed the crowd.

Rees, a chemist and former professor in the field, focused on the importance of chemistry to key international events such as the Christmas Day "underwear bomber," the New York City Times Square bombing attempt, and the polonium poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. Showing the real-world value of chemists' skills was the goal of Rees' talk, specifically in terms of bringing top scientists to Los Alamos.

"It is a pleasure to represent chemists in service to the nation at the annual meeting of this flagship professional organization," said Rees. "As a 25+ year member of the ACS, it represents an opportunity to address key issues at the interface of science and policy."

Most of the questions, Rees said, were either on budgets or "what's it like to do non-weapons work at a weapons lab."