Graduate joins faculty, bringing with her the prestigious Dreyfus Award

When Kristi Kiick arrived on the UD campus in the summer of 2001 as an assistant professor, there were at least two problems that she didn't share with other new faculty–how to find her way around campus and where to seek external funding for her research.

As a 1989 UD graduate with a bachelor of science degree in chemistry, Kiick said she felt like she was "coming home" in returning to Delaware, and she came armed with a $40,000 Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation New Faculty Award to initiate her research in polymer engineering.

The Dreyfus award is designed to provide new faculty working in chemistry, biochemistry or chemical engineering with research support that begins with their first full-time academic appointments. Kiick, a member of the faculty in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, is pursuing research in the general area of biomaterials. In being selected for the award, she joins just 10 other young faculty throughout the nation, representing such institutions as Cornell, Emory and Purdue universities and the universities of Chicago and California at Los Angeles.

While Kiick said she is happy to be returning to her alma mater, her decision to accept a faculty position at Delaware was influenced by far more than the comfort of familiarity. "I was very impressed with the commitment the department has made to biomaterials through its affiliation with the Delaware Biotechnology Institute," she said. "This is a very popular area of research right now and lots of people want to be involved, but Delaware was the only school that had the entire infrastructure in place, from the dedicated building to the labs to the people. That was unique, and it was a very strong selling point for me."

Kiick's route to a faculty position took a rather circuitous route. After earning her bachelor's degree, she went to work for Kimberly-Clark, making super-absorbent materials for products like disposable diapers.

"We were using synthetic polymers, but the company wanted to explore the use of bio-based materials," Kiick said. "So I was offered the opportunity to study at the University of Massachusetts for a year under Dr. David Tirrell, who was investigating recombinant DNA techniques for making artificial proteins. I ended up staying on to earn master's and doctoral degrees there in polymer science and engineering." She also holds a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Georgia.

With faculty start-up funds from UD and the Dreyfus award, Kiick and her research group will immediately set up a lab and begin work in the design and characterization of materials for use in molecular and cellular recognition. Borrowing concepts and techniques from the disciplines of molecular biology, chemistry, biochemistry and materials science, the research is aimed at constructing sequences of amino acids–the building blocks of proteins with properties tailored for specific applications. Kiick said she hopes to produce macromolecules that can expedite the development of new biomaterials and therapeutic strategies to minimize inflammatory responses and metastasis, thereby helping to fight such diseases as rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.

In addition to UD's strong administrative support of research, Kiick said she was attracted by the teaching opportunities associated with an appointment in a relatively small and new department. "As one of only eight faculty in the materials science department, I can have an impact on education in terms of not only teaching but also curriculum development and student recruitment," she said.

Kiick's initial teaching assignments will include a graduate course in polymer synthesis and an undergraduate materials science course. Her longer-term plans include designing a polymer synthesis laboratory and developing a biomaterials course. A virtual reality room at DBI will enable her students to visualize macromolecular structures.

"I'm also excited about the opportunities for collaboration here," Kiick said. "I can talk to people in chemistry and biochemistry, as well as in biology. The common infrastructure provided by DBI will be very supportive to my research. I see a really good environment for finding avenues where the unique polymers we're working on can be not only designed, synthesized and characterized but also applied. The fact that we can precisely control the molecular architectures opens up a wide range of applications ranging from tissue engineering to the development of more effective drug delivery systems."

It's not surprising that Kiick is a member of an elite few that the Dreyfus Foundation refers to as "outstanding scientists." She demonstrated her high potential as an undergraduate at UD, where she was a Eugene du Pont Memorial Distinguished Scholar and earned highest honors. Despite just beginning her career, she has already won close to a dozen awards and fellowships.

"The College of Engineering is extremely fortunate to have been able to recruit Kristi to the Materials Science and Engineering department," John F. Rabolt, department chairperson and Böer Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, said. "Kristi's research expertise was sought by every major university in the country last year. She decided to join UD because of the opportunities available in the college and at DBI to do high-quality research in biomaterials. We are all very excited to have her as a colleague."