Klauda Named PROMISE Outstanding Faculty Mentor

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering associate professor Jeffery Klauda was named a 2015-2016 University System of Maryland (USM) PROMISE Alliance for Graduate Education and Professoriate (AGEP) Outstanding Faculty Mentor.

PROMISE Outstanding Faculty Mentors are nominated by underrepresented graduate students in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields, as well as other leaders of STEM diversity programs in Maryland. They are selected for their efforts to increase inclusion, participation in graduate student development activities, and directing research programs that broaden the participation of underrepresented STEM scholars. In addition to his recognition, Klauda will be eligible to receive a $1000 travel he can use to support an underrepresented, U.S. citizen graduate student’s participation in an international conference.

Klauda, who specializes in cell membrane biophysics, thermodynamics, and molecular simulations, joined ChBE in Fall 2007. His atomic-level simulations that explain how a sugar-transporting protein functions, and how this information could one day be used to explain why drug-resistant cells expel antibiotics, was featured on the cover of the December 2010 issue of the top-rated Journal of Molecular Biology. In 2012, he received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award for his proposal to use the first all-atom technique to predict, in an unbiased manner, the structural transitions that occur in proteins that transport molecules though cell membranes. He currently serves as ChBE’s Associate Chair and Graduate Program Director.

Funded by the NSF, AGEP aims to significantly “increase the number of domestic students obtaining graduate degrees in STEM fields, with special emphasis on those population groups underrepresented in these fields (i.e. African-Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders).” AGEP also wants to improve preparation of underrepresented minorities for faculty positions in academia.

Published September 17, 2015