STUDENT NEWS: S. SARAF WINS POSTER AWARD
Materials Science and Engineering Ph.D. student S. Saraf will receive a coveted poster award from MS&T 2011. He presented this poster at the Prof. J. Narayan Acta Materialia Gold Medal Symposium earlier this year. Speaking and presenting at this event is by invitation only. This particular symposium is also attended by NSF and other funding agency directors. MS&T is one of the field’s biggest events, incorporating research in metals, materials, ceramics, electronics, heat treat, thermal spray, and more. This year the award is sponsored by the Army Research Office. Kudos to Mr. Saraf, a B-Tech (Hons) from IIT-KGP, India, and the other team members: Mr. A. Kumar, Dr. S. Das, Dr. A. Karakoti, S. Barkam, and Dr. S. Seal.
Saraf was selected to present a poster on his research on calculating thermodynamic parameters in nanoparticle-polymer system
STUDENT NEWS Two undergraduate students Steve Kobosko and Michael McCreight from Dr. Zhai’s group have been awarded a $1,000 grant from the Office of Undergraduate Research to support their research on “Creating Pressure Sensors out of Fabrics and Papers.” They will use dispersed carbon nanotubes to make fabrics and papers conductive and responsive to applied pressure. The project was initiated by MMAE undergraduate student Kenneth Etcheverry who has accepted an offer from Boeing and will work as an engineer in Seattle. Congratulations, Ken. Dr. Aman Behal’s students: • Zhao Wang, Ph.D., (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science) defended dissertation on December 13, 2011 Undergraduate Fellowships: • Christopher Echanique (Honors in the Major): NIH Diversity, RAMP, YES • Richee Ramsahoye: NIH Diversity • Tyler Stigliano: RAMP • Andrea Solano: RAMP • Stephen Sheldon: RAMP • Taylor Stewart: EXCEL • Joseph Nichols: EXCEL
Page 4
Dr. Artëm Masunov’s students: • Workalemahu M. Berhanu, Ph.D. (Chemistry) defended his dissertation “Self-assembly of Amyloid Aggregates Simulated With Molecular Dynamics” • Undergraduate student Angela Crotty was awarded a RAMP fellowship. Dr. Michael Leuenberger’s student Sergio Tafur graduated this summer with a Ph.D. in Physics. Dr. Swadeshmukul Santra’s students: Undergraduate Fellowships: • Sabrina Ghim: RAMP • Alise Ramirez: RAMP, YES • Ashton Lee: SMART Fall 2011 Graduates: • Pavithra Maniprasad (M.S. - Molecular Biology and Microbiology) - “Novel copper loaded coreshell silica nanoparticles with improved copper bioavailability: synthesis, characterization and study of antibacterial properties” • Roseline Menezes (M.S. - Biotechnology) “Synthesis, characterization and antibacterial activity of silver embedded silica nanoparticle/nanogel formulation” www.ampac.ucf.edu