Braces are almost a rite of passage for American middle-schoolers, but most kids dread their regular appointments to have the metal bands applied and adjusted.

Not Elizabeth Soulas.

“I loved going to the orthodontist,” she says.

Now, Soulas, who recently completed an honors degree with distinction in biomedical engineering at the University of Delaware, is on her way to the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine.

But she has left her mark at UD, where her many accomplishments — including extensive undergraduate research, a prize-winning invention, leadership of a student professional organization, and peer mentoring — were recently recognized with a prestigious American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Student Award.

Beginning in her sophomore year, Soulas conducted research with Thomas Buchanan, George W. Laird Professor of Mechanical Engineering, using ultrasound to measure the mechanical properties of the Achilles non-invasively.

She also served as a peer mentor for Dawn Elliott’s Introduction to Biomedical Engineering class, and she was vice president of the University’s Biomedical Engineering Society Student Chapter during the early years of UD’s program.

“I’m excited to have contributed to the education of such a future leader,” says Elliott, who serves as department chair. “Elizabeth is an accomplished researcher and an entrepreneur, and she has a strong and ambitious academic plan.”

That plan focuses on completing a dual master’s in bioengineering and doctor of dental medicine, which will position Soulas for an integrated academic and clinical career.

“My hope is that being in an academic setting will enable me to translate novel research ideas into clinical applications,” she says.

But Soulas is not ready to leave UD just yet.

During the spring semester, she and three other biomedical engineering students developed Chroma, a DNA-based drug identification system that helps deter the theft of liquid narcotics in hospitals. Their company, JADE Biotech LLC, won almost $17,000 in UD’s startup funding competition, Hen Hatch.

Now, Soulas is participating in the Summer Founders Program through UD’s Horn Program in Entrepreneurship, where she and her teammates will spend twelve weeks taking their venture to the next level, from both the technical and business perspectives.

And when she hits the Penn campus in August, it will already be familiar to her. Last summer, she was selected to participate in an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates, a National Science Foundation funded program), where she worked with professor Jason Burdick in bioengineering.

“The breadth of experiences that Elizabeth has taken part in during her college career reflects her ability to work passionately towards goals that contribute to a unique skill set,” says assistant professor Jason Gleghorn, who supervised Soulas’ senior thesis.

“Elizabeth is a passionate researcher, and she has discovered that her niche lies in the area of biomaterials and translating them into dentistry, a prominent field for the clinical application of novel materials.”

The pre-teen who smiled through not one but two rounds of braces on her teeth is well on her way to bringing smiles to other people through the biomedical engineering field and the dental profession.