Announcements

Johannes Kutten, class of 2010, has won a SURF (summer undergraduate research fellowship) through NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) in Gaithersburg, MD. Johannes will be working in the Complex Fluids group, part of the Materials Science and Engineering Lab (MSEL). The project he is involved with examines microfluidic devices which could be used to carry out chemical reactions at a very small scale. To accomplish this, reagents would have to be mixed in very precise amounts.

Bhavana Mohanraj, a senior in Biomedical Engineering, has been awarded the Class of 1902 Research Prize. This prize, established by the Class of 1902, is awarded at Commencement to the senior in the School of Science or Engineering who has completed at least two semesters of undergraduate research and who presents the best research results culminating in a written report, submitted paper, or thesis. Bhavana's research is with Profs. Chrisey and Corr, and involves using electric-cell impedance sensing (ECIS) to determine the toxicity of various substances.

Andrea Nordberg, Class of 2011, was awarded 2nd place for the Undergraduate Collegiate Technical Poster Competition at the 2010 Annual Society for Women Engineers Meeting. Her poster featured her work with Dr. Deanna Thompson, focusing on applying electrical stimulation to promote peripheral glia migration.

Lesley Wu, a senior in Biomedical Engineering, received the Program Development Grant from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) to fund planned outreach entitled “Electrical Inventions”. The Rensselaer Student Chapter of SWE is partnering with the Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York to deliver a 6-week hands-on course for a group of 12 middle school girls. The course provides exposure to the basics of electricity and teaches them how to build simple circuits and switches. Each participant will work on a main project to take home after the course has concluded.

“A Rapid, Quantitative Method for Assessing Axonal Extension on Biomaterial Platforms” by Jared M Cregg, Sherri L Wiseman, Nicole M Pietrzak-Goetze, Martyn R Smith, David B Jaroch, Daniel C Clupper, and Ryan J Gilbert. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

“Creation of highly aligned electrospun poly-L-lactic acid fibers for nerve regeneration applications” by Han Bing Wang, Michael E Mullins, Jared M Cregg, Andres Hurtado, Martin Oudega, Matthew T Trombley and Ryan J Gilbert. http://iopscience.iop.org/1741-2552/6/1/016001/

“Neurite outgrowth is significantly increased by the simultaneous presentation of Schwann cells and moderate exogenous electric fields” by Abigail N Koppes, Angela M Seggio and Deanna M Thompson. http://iopscience.iop.org/1741-2552/8/4/046023

Graduate student Sarah Linley and senior Danielle Bogdanowicz were among the winners of the 2011 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program Competition. Sarah (Ledet lab) will advance her research into lower back pain. Danielle, will use the grant to advance her research using stem cells to regrow and repair bone and cartilage at Columbia University. Andrew Dias (Corr lab) and Sterling Nesbitt (Kotha lab) also earned honorable mention for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program.