Achievement

Shanadeen Begay has been implementing Replica Exchange (RE) into the CHARMM software (MD code for proteins), created a Universal Markup Language diagram for a combination of RE with CHARMM, and developed the theoretical and mathematical basis for defining each replica with the STMD module of CHARMM. She has embarked on applying this work and her training in computational chemistry to address challenging health issues such as cancer, in collaboration with Dr. Monteiro’s laboratory in Florida, bringing computational techniques to the experimental data the Florida group generates in cancer research. Shanadeen has been awarded the prestigious Ruth Kirshstein fellowship to continue this collaborative research. The fellowship will also enable Shanadeen to engage students from her own community, Native Americans, in scientific research and to organize Native American workshops thorough the American Chemical Society.