Devleena Samanta, an assistant professor in Chemistry and TMI faculty affiliate, was selected by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement's 2026 Cottrell Scholar. The Cottrell Scholar program "honors and helps to develop oustanding teacher-scholars" who are see as leaders in their field for the "quality and innovation of their research programs and their potential for academic leadership."
Her proposal, "Chemically Programmable Nanoscaffolds to Rewrite Biocatalysis and Adaptive Digital Resources to Deepen Quantitative Reasoning Skills in Analytical Chemistry," incorporated both research and science education.
On the research side, Samanta and her group will work focus on the power of enzymes, which drive many chemical processes in medicine and manufacturing. Instead of immobilizing enzymes during their use, and therefore losing much of their activity, the group have developed "nanostructured immobilization scaffolds" that will both hold the enzymes in place and improve enzyme function. These scaffolds could "'rewrite' how enzymes perform their tasks" and provide more "efficient and sustainable enzyme-based technologies for manufacturing and other applications."
Science education is an important aspect of the award, and Samanta's goal is to improve her student's ability "to use math in the context of real-world problems." While most students know how to plug values into equations and get the answers, most do not fully grasp why the equations work or what the results are showing. With the $120,000 award from the Cottrell Scholar Award, she will develop "interactive, story-based problem sets" as well as AI-powered tutoring tools that will "provide immediate feedback," help students "practice decision-making, interpet data," and learn from their mistakes. The AI tools will help to expand personalized academic support for outside the classroom.
To read Dr. Samanta's proposal, visit the 2026 Cottrell Scholars website. You can read more about this year's class of scholars and the Cottrell Scholars more generally here. Learn more about Dr. Samanta's work at her group's page, The Samanta Laboratory.
