Announcements

Omar Abdoun, a junior undergraduate student in BME, was chosen as a finalist for presenting his research at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) as part of the “KAUST Winter Enrichment Program International Undergraduate Poster Competition”. The program received over 600 submissions and Omar was selected as one of the finalists. KAUST is paying all expenses for finalists to travel to KAUST and presenting their research.

Guohao Dai was selected for the Rising Star Award and was invited to give a talk at the next BMES Cellular & Molecular Bioengineering Conference (CMBE). The CMBE Conference will be held on January 6-10, 2015 in St Thomas, USVI.

Juergen Hahn has been named a Trustee by the CACHE Corporation. CACHE, which stands for Computer Aids for Chemical Engineering, promotes the development and distribution of technology based materials and software in chemical engineering education through projects applying computational chemical engineering, sponsoring conferences, recognizing outstanding contributions, and providing leadership in chemical engineering education. More details about CACHE can be found on their web site: www.cache.org

Ge Wang has been elected as an AAAS Fellow.

Leo Wan was recently invited to attend the symposium "Kavli Frontiers of Science" which was organized by the National Academy of Science. Participants of the symposium were also named Kavli fellows. More details about the Kavli Foundation and their symposia can be found on their web site: http://www.kavlifoundation.org/kavli-frontiers-science

Amanda Chin, a second-year graduate student from Dr. Leo Q. Wan's laboratory for Tissue Engineering and Morphogenesis (TEAM), won the First Place Poster Award from the New Frontiers Symposium 2014: New Strategies and Technologies in Cancer Research, held in Albany, NY on Nov 14, 2014. Her abstract was also "deemed to be one of the best", and selected to give a podium presentation at the meeting. This award speaks highly of her research quality and presentation skills. The conference is organized by the Capital Region Cancer Research Group.

Glenn Monastersky, associate director of CBIS and professor of practice, biomedical engineering has been awarded $498,000 by the NYSTEM division of the New York State Department of Health to support the enhancement of STEM training for pre-college teachers. The 4-year educational effort will focus on human stem cell biology and the development of effective stem cell research teaching modules for area high schools, especially those within diverse and disadvantaged school systems.

Profs. Deanna Thompson and Ryan Gilbert received a $250K award from the New York State Spinal Cord Injury Research Program from the New York Department of Health. This funding will support Rensselaer’s efforts in biomaterials for neural engineering. Specifically, this contract will provide funding for a rapid, high content screening platform to analyze stem cells and primary cell behavior within 3D biomaterials. The seven color confocal and objective module with corresponding camera will allow for rapid imaging of large areas of cell-laden materials.