Riina Tehver

Research Corporation for Science Advancement has announced that Riina Tehver, an assistant professor of physics at Denison University, was awarded a $35,000 Cottrell College Science Award for her proposal titled “The Structural Foundation of the Force Response of Molecular Motors.” She is one of 48 scientists in the United States to receive an award. These awards support significant research that contributes to the advancement of science and to the professional and scholarly development of faculty and their students at liberal arts colleges and primarily undergraduate universities.
 
Tehver is working with three Denison students: Paul Yang from Chengdu, China, Nick Bachsoliani from Tbilisi, Georgia: and Drew McCallister from Ann Arbor, Mich. Under her guidance, they are creating mathematical models about two cellular proteins, myosin V and myosin VI, and testing them against the proteins’ actual behaviors. They are searching for outcomes from the forces that affect these proteins.

The Cottrell Awards play an important role in the advancement of science. They support research at primarily undergraduate institutions, which play a large role in graduating students who go on to earn their doctoral degrees in the sciences. They also require student involvement in the research, and hands-on research has been proven to be an effective way to captivate students interested in the sciences.
 
Founded in 1912, Research Corporation for Science Advancement  (RCSA) – formerly known as Research Corporation – is the second-oldest foundation in the United States, after the Carnegie Corporation, and the oldest foundation for science advancement. RCSA is a leading advocate for the sciences and a major funder of scientific innovation and of research in America’s colleges and universities.