Announcements

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.

Rebecca Wachs (Ledet lab) won the Dissertation Fellowship from the American Association of University Women. Academic excellence, commitment to improving the human condition, and the promise of continued impact are cornerstones of the rigorous criteria.

Ondrej Nikel (Vashishth lab) has received the Chateaubriand Fellowship from the Embassy of France. The fellowship allows Ph.D. students enrolled in American universities to conduct research in France for up to 9 months.

Harnessing Entrepreneurship and Engineering to Problem-Solve Poverty Featuring George Roter, Co-Founder and CEO of Engineers Without Borders -- an award-winning, global entrepreneur and social leader of an organization that has grown to 50,000 members supporting the creation of opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa through agriculture, rural infrastructure, water and sanitation programs.When:Tuesday, March 22, 2011 4:15 PM - 6:15 PMWhere: Biotech Auditorium