Vol. 20, No. 18 |
July 19, 2001 |
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UD science graduates awarded Eight recent University of Delaware graduates have been awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships for 2001. This high honor in the world of science provides each of the alumni up to $85,500 in living expenses and tuition for three years of graduate study at a leading science-oriented institution. UD recipients include Jason Baxter '00EG, Jonathan Davis '01EG, Erin Finehout '00EG, Matthew Huenerfauth '01AS, Jacob LaPorte '01AS, Jennifer Paulson '99AS, Katherine Porter '00AS, and Amanda Simons '99AS. The NSF's graduate fellowship program is meant to "ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science, mathematics, and engineering in the United States and to reinforce its diversity," according to the NSF web site. Fellowships support the postgraduate educations of outstanding students in the mathematical, physical, biological, engineering, and behavioral and social sciences. Awards carry a stipend for each fellow of $18,000 per year and an annual cost-of-education allowance of $10,500, paid to the fellow's institution in lieu of tuition and fees. Eugene Mueller, chemistry and biochemistry, said NSF gives these extremely prestigious awards only to students who, through their excellence in academics and research, have shown a propensity for scientific achievement. Mueller, himself, was a recipient of an NSF fellowship while studying for his Ph.D. at Harvard University. He worked with new fellowship recipient, Jennifer Paulson, when she did research into the molecular biology of proteins and calls her a "real research superstar." Mueller and the professors who worked with the eight graduates receiving fellowships all agreed that they showed a skill in learning and research that is rare in undergraduates. Jason Baxter While at UD, Baxter, a chemical engineering major, experimented with titanium dioxide and organic dye as a coating for thin-film photovoltaic cells. He was trying to manipulate the chemistry of the materials to make them act as semi-conductors, converting sunlight directly into electricity. He worked at the Institute of Energy Conversion with T.W. Fraser Russell, Allan P. Colburn Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Brian McCandless, energy conversion. Baxter managed to convert 6 percent of the solar energy into electricity, which Russell said was very unusual. "For an undergraduate to obtain 6 percent efficiency on our first run was really exceptional," he said. McCandless was Baxter's mentor, Russell said. Baxter is now working toward a Ph.D. in material science at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Jonathan Davis Davis, who also got his degree in chemical engineering, is taking a hiatus from school to do research at Merck & Co. While a student at UD, he worked with Norman Wagner to develop a theoretical model of the flow properties and structure of polymers. Polymers are made by combining small units of molecules into larger units to develop materials with new properties making them more user-friendly. Wagner said Davis was working on developing a theoretical model that predicts the properties of these new blends and then compares the model to what actually happened when the polymer is created. Wagner said Davis wants to understand the practical application of his work with polymers before concentrating on academics. The NSF has deferred Davis' fellowship. Erin Finehout Finehout, who earned her bachelor's degree in chemical engineering, is now is doing graduate work at Cornell University on the application of proteomics to Alzheimer's disease. Proteomics is the study of gene formation at the protein level by examining biological samples. She is comparing samples from healthy and diseased cerebrospinal fluid to diagnose then create a model of Alzheimer's disease. While a student at UD, Finehout focused her research efforts on biochemical engineering. Working with Andrew Zydney, chemical engineering, she studied the stages, over time, of membrane high performance tangential flow filtration and its affect on how proteins are processed. Matthew Huenerfauth Huenerfauth received bachelor's and master's degrees in computer and information science and will study in Ireland at the University College of Dublin for a year and take courses at the Dublin branch of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Huenerfauth's undergraduate research involved developing a computer program for the deaf that would help translate American Sign Language into correct English. He will focus his academic career on natural language processing and artificial intelligence. After a year in Ireland, through the prestigious Mitchell Scholarship, he returns to MIT full-time. Jacob LaPorte LaPorte received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and will do postgraduate work at Harvard University in inorganic chemistry. He did his undergraduate research with Junghuei Chen, chemistry and biochemistry. As part of Chen's research group, LaPorte investigated the molecular origins of genetic recombination or the process by which new combinations of genetic material cause evolutionary changes in organisms that act as a unit, such as the wing of a bird developing into the fin of a fish. LaPorte has been doing research at DuPont Pharmaceuticals and will enter Harvard University this fall to study for a Ph.D. in organic chemistry. Jennifer Paulson Paulson received her undergraduate degree in chemistry and is studying cell biology at the University of California at San Francisco, the only campus of UC dedicated solely to graduate and professional study in the health sciences. UCSF is known for its scientific discoveries, teaching prowess and patient care. Mentored by Mueller, Paulson worked with his research group on the manipulation of genes or using chemistry to control gene expression in unique ways. Specifically, they are trying to make genes respond to artificial stimulation to control when they turn on and off as they reproduce. Katherine Porter Porter received her degree in geology. While at UD, she assisted Peter Leveans, geology, in examining the chemistry of geological formations. Leveans said Porter was "clearly exceptional, very bright and accomplished." She is now in the geological sciences department at Cornell University looking at the chemical makeup of basalts or organic rock, found on the ocean floor, for traces of platinum group metals as a method of determining the depth of the Earth. Amanda Simons Simons graduated from UD with a degree in biochemistry. She also was part of Chen's research group and is attending Harvard University Medical School. When she worked with Chen, her research focused on genetic recombination or the molecular process by which new combinations of genetic material are generated. Specifically, she was examining the role tumor suppressor Protein p53 plays in the formation of DNA strands. –Barbara Garrison
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