Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community

Physics Department’s Alison Patteson Named Cottrell Scholar

Thursday, February 9, 2023, By Diane Stirling
Share
BioInspiredCollege of Arts and SciencesDepartment of Physics

College of Arts and Sciences Assistant Professor Alison Patteson has been recognized with a 2023 Cottrell Scholar award, a prestigious national honor that ranks her among the country’s best faculty researchers and teachers from the fields of astronomy, chemistry and physics. A faculty member at Syracuse University since 2018 and a member of the BioInspired Institute, Patteson researches cell migration and how cells navigate and respond to their environment.

Alison Patteson

Alison Patteson

Cottrell awards are presented by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, a 121-year-old foundation that recognizes excellence and innovation in research along with academic leadership skills. Selection introduces scholars to a national network of outstanding scholar-educators and mentors who meet yearly to discuss research, pedagogy and student development.

Pathways to Science Careers

Patteson’s award comes with funding of $100,000 over three years. With the Cottrell award support, Patteson and her team will explore the growth of biofilms, which are slimy clusters of microorganisms including bacteria and fungi that can adhere to wet surfaces.

For the award’s educational component, Patteson will mentor Syracuse City School District high school students by bringing them into labs on campus for a physics department open house and recruiting students to the department’s summer high school program, a key step on the pathway to STEM careers. She will also develop a new course for undergraduate and graduate students at Syracuse University, Public Engagement in Physics and STEM. The class will help students create their own demonstration materials, disseminate them in a public setting, then self-assess their impact.

young woman looking at a green image on screen with a microscope

Alison Patteson and her research team study biofilm growth and cell migration in the physics department’s PattesonGroup Lab.

Advancing Teaching and Research

Three other faculty at Syracuse have earned Cottrell Scholar awards. Duncan Brown, University vice president for research and Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics was recognized as a Cottrell Scholar in 2010; M. Lisa Manning, director of the University’s BioInspired Institute and William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics, was selected in 2015; and Jennifer Ross, professor and chair of the physics department, received the honor in 2010 while at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst before coming to Syracuse.

“The Cottrell Scholar award reflects Professor Patteson’s outstanding commitment to teaching excellence and research innovation,” says Brown. “Professor Patteson’s dedication to inclusion and excellence in teaching exemplifies how our faculty create outstanding experiential learning for our students while conducting research that bolsters the University’s reputation as top-tier research institution.”

“This is such a well-deserved award for Professor Patteson,” says Manning. “She is a world-renowned researcher plus she cares deeply about teaching well and about broadening the diversity of students in physics through her teaching and outreach efforts. Her work exemplifies Syracuse’s commitment to providing a great liberal arts education while driving Carnegie R1-level research forward.”

Ross says, “This is not only a major award and a significant grant, being a Cottrell Scholar is also about a set of values that we embody as professors—the ideal teacher-scholar that demonstrates excellent teaching in addition to research innovation. The Cottrell Scholars are also a wonderful network of mentors for both research and teaching since they are from both research-intensive universities, like Syracuse, as well as from predominantly undergraduate institutions.”

Biofilm, Cell Activity

Patteson’s research team examines the mechanical effects of substrates on biofilms to assess how various surface types promote or hinder biofilm growth. The project will allow researchers to gain a better understanding of how bacteria can fundamentally remodel the world around them to grow and survive, which could have implications for better predicting how they spread. Patteson is also studying the behavior of bacteria through a grant from the National Science Foundation and a recent five-year MIRA grant from the National Institutes of Health to understand how the protein filament vimentin functions in cells as they move, which has implications during processes like cancer growth and wound healing.

Patteson’s award ranks Syracuse in the top four universities in New York State having multiple faculty members named as Cottrell award winners. At present, only two other universities in New York have more Cottrell-awarded faculty: Columbia and Cornell.

 

  • Author

Diane Stirling

  • Recent
  • University Musicians, West Point Band to Perform Together This Weekend As Part of Events Around Military Appreciation Day
    Friday, September 22, 2023, By Christine Weber
  • Turning Young Enthusiasts Into Scientific Researchers
    Friday, September 22, 2023, By Wendy S. Loughlin
  • Languages Unlock Opportunities for English for Lawyers Alumna
    Thursday, September 21, 2023, By Hope Alvarez
  • Fall 2023 Career Week: Helping Students Achieve Professional Goals
    Thursday, September 21, 2023, By Gabrielle Lake
  • A Commitment to Arts and Sciences Excellence
    Thursday, September 21, 2023, By Dan Bernardi

More In Campus & Community

University Musicians, West Point Band to Perform Together This Weekend As Part of Events Around Military Appreciation Day

The spirit of the Orange will unite with the precision of the United States Army’s oldest active-duty band, the West Point Band, for several events this weekend at the University, including a public concert with the University’s Wind Ensemble in…

Fall 2023 Career Week: Helping Students Achieve Professional Goals

“It’s never too early to begin taking action to achieve your unique professional goals,” is advice frequently shared by school, college and unit career teams in partnership with Syracuse University Career Services. Supporting students within their unique trajectory to career…

The State of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility at Syracuse University With Mary Grace Almandrez

As the University’s vice president for diversity and inclusion, Mary Grace Almandrez was paying close attention to the Supreme Court rulings that were issued towards the end of the court’s term in June. In particular, Almandrez and her Office of…

A Commitment to Arts and Sciences Excellence

A welcoming community where students of varying backgrounds thrive. An infrastructure that nurtures top-tier research and academics. These are two cornerstones of the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) experience. Over the past six years, A&S has shown important strides…

Study Abroad and the Academic Experience

Sophie Creager-Roberts ’24 is a senior double major in environment, sustainability and policy and history in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs with a minor in atrocity studies and the practices of social justice in the School of…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.