USC Dornsife Professor Moh El-Naggar named director at Carnegie Science
Moh El-Naggar, Dean’s Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, has been named director of Carnegie Science’s Biosphere Sciences and Engineering division.
El-Naggar, who holds appointments in physics and astronomy, chemistry, and molecular and cellular biosciences, will join Carnegie Science in October while retaining a faculty affiliation at USC Dornsife. His laboratory will continue its active research on microbial electron transfer and living electronics, and he will continue advising USC graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.
“Moh is an extraordinary scientist whose work has always crossed traditional boundaries, bringing together physics, chemistry and biology to tackle fundamental questions,” said James Bullock, dean of USC Dornsife. “By remaining an important part of the USC Dornsife scientific community as he takes on this ambitious new role with Carnegie Science, he will help bring our already closely connected research communities even closer together.”
El-Naggar’s appointment builds on a longstanding relationship between USC Dornsife and Carnegie Science. In astronomy, the institutions have developed a close research partnership that includes the Carnegie-USC Graduate Fellowship, through which USC doctoral students conduct thesis research alongside Carnegie astronomers in Pasadena, Calif. The fellowship currently includes 12 USC students and could eventually expand to include students in the biological sciences.
In his new role at Carnegie, El-Naggar will lead an interdisciplinary research enterprise spanning areas including developmental biology, ecology and plant science. Researchers in the division investigate fundamental questions about life on Earth, from genomes and ecosystems to the ways living communities interact with planetary systems.
“Carnegie has long empowered scientists to take intellectual risks that drive historic breakthroughs,” El-Naggar said. “I am thrilled to join this storied institution and forge cross-institutional alliances in an era where advancing fundamental biology is essential to tackling our most pressing challenges: the health of our planet and its inhabitants.”
El-Naggar’s research exemplifies the interdisciplinary science he will oversee. One major focus of his lab is “electric bacteria,” microbes that move electrons outside their cells as part of their metabolism, allowing them to effectively “breathe” rocks and minerals in place of oxygen. The work explores how these organisms transfer electrons and how their capabilities might be harnessed by connecting them to metals and semiconductors.
That research helped reveal how the bacteria use microscopic structures known as nanowires to move electrons into their surroundings. The findings could contribute to sustainable technologies such as microbial fuel cells, which capture electrons from bacteria to generate electricity.
More recently, El-Naggar’s group has explored “living electronics,” including the possibility of developing programmable cells that can be integrated with traditional electronics. Such systems could eventually combine the capabilities of living organisms with conventional electronic materials, with potential applications ranging from sustainable energy to environmental sensing.
At USC, El-Naggar has spent two decades building both a research and leadership record. He arrived as a postdoctoral researcher in 2006 and joined the faculty in 2009. He later served as divisional dean for math and physical sciences and as interim dean of USC Dornsife.
His honors include the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the U.S. government’s highest honor for scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers, and recognition by Popular Science as one of its “Brilliant 10” young scientists for his pioneering work on bacterial nanowires.