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Luisa Whittaker-Brooks Receives RCSA Bridge Award


Luisa Whittaker-Brooks in her lab

Research Corporation for Science Advancement has awarded $800,000 to 11 Cottrell Scholars, including U Chemistry Professor Luisa Whittaker-Brooks, through its RCSA Bridge Awards. This emergency initiative will help stabilize strong research programs that have experienced disruptions due to abrupt changes to their federal funding. “The Bridge awards provide critical continuity to outstanding early-career scientists doing high-potential research at a time in their careers when creativity and momentum are so important,” said RCSA President Eric Isaacs.

Dr. Whittaker-Brooks wrote about the award:

"I am deeply honored to receive the RCSA Bridge Award, which arrives at a critical and transformative moment for our research program. This support will provide essential continuity for our efforts to understand and control emergent phenomena in quantum and energy materials, particularly our work on chiral phonons and their influence on charge and spin transport. The award will directly support one graduate student and one undergraduate researcher in my group, enabling them to engage in hands-on discovery, advanced training, and interdisciplinary collaboration that are central to our mission as both scientists and educators.
With this funding, we will be able to sustain key experiments, expand the development of novel hybrid and low-dimensional materials, and pursue new research directions that would otherwise be out of reach. Just as importantly, the Bridge Award allows us to preserve the momentum of our team, maintain access to critical instrumentation, and continue mentoring the next generation of scientists during a period of funding uncertainty. I am especially excited that this support will open opportunities for undergraduate participation in cutting-edge research, strengthening the pipeline of diverse talent entering the fields of materials science and quantum information.
I am profoundly grateful to the Research Corporation for Science Advancement for this investment in our vision. This award not only empowers our group to remain scientifically competitive, but also reinforces our commitment to high-impact discovery, state-of-the-art training, and the development of technologies that can address pressing challenges in energy and quantum innovation."