Niles A. Pierce, Professor of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Bioengineering, is one of only two engineers nationwide to be named a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Professor Pierce is working to engineer programmable molecular instruments capable of reading out and regulating the state of biological circuitry within intact biological organisms.
Often characterized as "midcareer" awards, Guggenheim Fellowships are intended for individuals who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. The fellowships are appointed based on prior achievement and exceptional promise and they aim to provide Fellows with blocks of time in which they can work with as much creative freedom as possible. [List of 2014 Fellows]