Ivan Aprahamian has been appointed to the Roth Family Distinguished Professorship.
The Roth Family Distinguished Professorship in the Arts and Sciences is awarded to faculty whose path-breaking work transcends disciplinary boundaries and is significant on a national or international scale.
Katherine Mirica received a CompX Faculty Grant Award from the Neukom Institute for Computational Sciences.
The program is designed to support both the development of novel computational techniques and the application of computational methods to research initiatives across Dartmouth's campus and professional schools. Professor Mirica's project, "Computationally Guided Design of Conductive MOF Sensor Arrays for Selective Detection of Bacterial Volatile Metabolites" develops a computationally guided framework for engineering conductive metal–organic framework (MOF) sensor arrays that selectively detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) generated by bacterial metabolism. Rapid identification of pathogen-specific VOC signatures has the potential to enable timely, targeted therapies while reducing dependence on broad-spectrum antibiotics that contribute to antimicrobial resistance. The work integrates materials design, chemical sensing, and machine learning to create a scalable platform for infection detection. Expected outcomes include quantitative structure–response relationships and a generalizable design strategy for selectively responsive chemical sensor arrays.