Maria Holland, associate professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the University of Notre Dame, has been appointed to serve as a standing member of the Modeling and Analysis of Biological Systems Study Section (MABS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center for Scientific Review.
Study section members are recognized as leading experts in their fields for both their outstanding research accomplishments and ongoing contributions to science.
At Notre Dame, Holland’s focus is on the role of mechanical forces in living tissues. She directs the CoMMaND (Computational Mechanics of Morphology at Notre Dame) Lab, which studies the role of mechanical forces in the growth and swelling of living organisms and their tissues, particularly in the brain.
As a member of the MABS study section, Holland will review funding proposals focused on the development of modeling approaches to better understand complex biological systems. She and fellow study section members will also advise NIH national advisory councils and boards and assess the current state of research in this area.
Having twice served on MABS as an ad hoc reviewer, Holland began her four-year term in July already familiar with study section protocol, processes, and systems. “I appreciate the thoughtfulness of my fellow reviewers and look forward to the opportunity to see the cutting edge of what researchers across the country are proposing,” she said.
In 2022, Holland received the National Science Foundation CAREER award—one of the highest honors awarded to young faculty—to advance her biomechanics-informed research on variations in cerebral cortex thickness. A year later, she received a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the NIH, to expand her work on the mechanical implications of inflammatory swelling.
Holland joined the Notre Dame faculty in 2017 after completing her Ph.D. at Stanford University.
—Mary Hendriksen, Notre Dame Engineering