Our collaborative work with the Villa-Diaz lab at Oakland University was accepted at ACS AMI, a top material science journal. This is the first paper from the Kumar lab featuring undergraduate first authors; Claire and Caitlyn are co-first authors. Congrats to Claire and Caitlyn on this impressive feat!
Grant Wheeler was recognized as the most outstanding researcher of his graduating class by the Quantitative Biosciences and Engineering (QBE) program. Congrats, Grant!
Caitlyn’s poster “Sulfonated Polymer Brushes Sequester Fibroblast Growth Factors and Promote Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell Proliferation” was awarded third place. See the full list of winners here.
We were awarded $1,993,748 for our NIGMS R35 project “Directing and Deciphering Macrophage Polarization through Biologically-Inspired Surface Design of Polymer Brush-Coated Cell Culture Substrates”. This Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award will support our work in developing polymer brushes to answer fundamental cell biology questions.
Adam’s talk won first prize in the materials science session at the Graduate Research and Discovery Symposium (GRADS) while Alyson’s poster was awarded first prize in the Bio, Health, and Social Sciences category. Congrats to Adam and Alyson for representing the lab strongly at GRADS!
Gautier’s poster takes the top prize at the Mines undergrad research symposia.
Ramya’s proposal “Machine-guided design of chaperone-mimetic polymeric carriers for ribonucleoprotein delivery” was awarded the prestigious TrailBlazer R21 by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.
“The Trailblazer R21 Award is an opportunity for New and Early Stage Investigators to pursue research programs of high interest to the NIBIB at the interface of the life sciences with engineering and the physical sciences”.
We are grateful to our NIBIB PO, Dr. Jermont Chen, and to our co-investigators Prof. Gerard Madlambayan (Department Head and Professor, Biological Sciences, Oakland University) and Prof. Serveh Kamrava (Assistant Professor, Petroleum Engineering, Mines) for their unstinting support.
Congrats to Adam Humpal on winning the undergraduate research mentor award from the Office of Undergraduate Research Scholars! Adam is among 3 PhD students awarded this year. This award recognizes Adam for outstanding mentorship, supporting professional development, learning, and growth.
Congratulations to chemical engineering senior, Wakana Kani, for being offered an NSF GRFP award! Congrats also to Adam Humpal, her PhD student mentor for his outstanding mentorship and support of Wakana’s growth as a researcher.
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions. The fellowship provides a three-year annual stipend as well as a cost of education allowance that is paid to the institution. NSF GRFs are selected based on their potential for scientific leadership and outreach to the broader community. This award is a testament to Wakana’s research creativity, persistence, work ethic, and consistently excellent performance in one of Mines’ most academically grueling programs (CBE).
Wakana is among an elite group of 1000 seniors and PhD students to have received this award. The NSF cut the number of GRFP awards was cut from 2400 in previous years to 1000 this year. Wakana submitted a high-quality application that earned an award despite these lowered odds of success. Congrats to Wakana on her GRFP success! We are proud of you!
The Barry Goldwater scholarship is the most prestigious federal fellowship awarded to research-focused undergraduates in STEM From the web site:
“The Scholarship Program honoring Senator Barry Goldwater was designed to identify, encourage, and financially support outstanding undergraduates interested in pursuing research careers in the sciences, engineering, and mathematics. The Goldwater Scholarship is the preeminent undergraduate award of its type in these fields.”
Only 6 Mines students (with only 1 woman among them) have previously won this honor since the fellowship’s inception in 1989. Caitlyn is the first ever Mines chemistry student to be awarded the Goldwater Scholarship! Congratulations, Caitlyn!
Colorado School of Mines
491 Alderson Hall, 1613 Illinois Street
Golden, CO 80401
ramyakumar@mines.edu
Colorado School of Mines
Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering