Ayse Ercumen, an assistant professor of forestry and environmental resources, and Nathalie Lavoine, an assistant professor of forest biomaterials, are among the 25 NC State faculty to be named to the 2022-23 class of Goodnight Early Career Innovators.
The Goodnight Early Career Innovators program recognizes and rewards promising NC State early-career faculty whose scholarship is in STEM or STEM education. Each of the selected faculty members will receive $22,000 for each of the next three years to support their scholarship and research endeavors.
“Drs. Ercumen and Lavoine are both accomplished researchers who have brought great distinction to our college through their work to promote sustainability and foster healthy ecosystems and communities,” said Myron Floyd, dean of the College of Natural Resources. “They are incredibly deserving of this recognition, and I have no doubt that they will continue to make impactful contributions as they address the complex challenges facing our planet.”
Ercumen joined NC State in January 2019 as part of the Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program in Global Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (Global WaSH). Her research focuses on environmental disease transmission, waterborne infections, drinking water and recreational water quality, antimicrobial resistance and health impact evaluations of environmental interventions. She has conducted research in Bangladesh, India, and the U.S., including large-scale randomized controlled trials and cohort studies.
Ercumen holds a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley. She obtained her Master of Public Health in epidemiology and biostatistics and her Master of Science in environmental engineering from UC Berkeley, and completed her Bachelor of Science in environmental engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Prior to joining NC State, Ercumen worked as a research scientist at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, where she conducted health impact evaluations of water, sanitation and hygiene programs. Ercumen has also held consultant positions at the World Bank Water and Sanitation Program and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh.
Lavoine joined NC State in 2018. Her research focuses on the use of biomass-derived nanoparticles for sustainable product design, processing and engineering. Her main research applications include fiber-based packaging for food, foams and aerogels, coatings, and controlled release systems, such as drug delivery.
Lavoine holds a Ph.D. in materials science from the Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Science and Graphic Arts (LGP2) in France. She obtained her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in paper science and engineering from the International Engineering School of Paper, Print Media and Biomaterials (Grenoble-INP Pagora) in France.
Prior to joining NC State, Lavoine completed a number of postdoctoral research fellowships around the world. From 2014-2016, for example, Lavoine served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biomaterials Science at the University of Tokyo in Japan. And from 2016-2017, Lavoine served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry at Stockholm University in Sweden.
Lavoine and Ercumen, along with other nominees for the Goodnight Early Career Innovators program, were evaluated based on evidence of early productivity in research and innovation, which may include a strong early record of scholarly publication or dissemination appropriate to their discipline, external funding or recognition as an early career leader in their field.
Each of the nominees were recommended by their colleges and selected by a committee of distinguished faculty from across the STEM disciplines at NC State. Thirty-eight faculty members were nominated for the award.
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