Melick Demirel, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics, has received an Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator grant for $364,000. His project is titled "Hierachically and Spatially Organized Polymer Coatings for Marine Antifouling Applications" and is funded for three years. The ONR grants are designed to support new faculty members in their teaching efforts and work related to naval research. Demirel received his master's and doctoral degrees in materials science and engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He most recently held the Pearce Development professorship from 2003 to 2006, an endowed position given to a young faculty member for three years. His research interests include biomaterials, nanofabrication, protein engineering, biosensors, molecular modeling and computational materials science.