Growing up in Fairmont, West Virginia, James R. Urbaniak, MD’62, HS’62-’69, was an active and athletic boy who dreamed of playing professional sports. Then, at the age of 7, he came down with rheumatic fever. For three months he was confined to his bed. He didn’t know when—or whether—he would be able to go back outside and play ball again. But there was one thing he did know he could count on.

Nimmi Ramanujam, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering and global health, has invented several innovative technologies that address the needs of women in developing regions.

The sun was barely up when Paul L. Modrich, PhD, heard his phone signal a text message. It was from a former post-doc, who had just heard the big news on NPR and was sending a note of congratulations. Modrich, a bit puzzled, logged on to the Internet. “We were on vacation at our cabin in New Hampshire,” recalls Modrich’s wife, Vickers Burdett, PhD. “It was seven in the morning. I’m half asleep, and he comes in and shows me the iPad, and there it was. It’s been chaos ever since.”

Scott Soderling, PhD, is having trouble sleeping. It’s not that he lies awake plagued by worries or woes. On the contrary, the problem is that he’s so energized by the discoveries coming out of his lab, and by the future paths those discoveries point toward, that he can’t wait to get in and start tackling the next step.