June 3, 2008
Fourteen University of Texas at Austin engineering students received the prestigious National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship for 2008. Each year the program offers about 1,000 fellowships nationwide to provide graduate students with up to $40,000 annual support for three years.
Current graduate students who received fellowships include Jessica Allen, Patrick Doody, Rachel Gerver, Daniel Miller and Cassandra Telenko.
Allen is a first year mechanical engineering doctoral student in the Neuromuscular Biomechanics Lab. She is currently studying the compensatory mechanisms used by post-stroke hemiparetic patients and how they change over the course of rehabilitation. By analyzing experimental data from clinical trials and computer simulations of hemiparetic gait, she hopes to advance the development of individualized rehabilitation programs. Her supervising professor is Dr. Rick Neptune, associate professor of mechanical engineering and the George and Dawn L. Coleman Centennial Fellow in Engineering.
Doody is a second-year master’s degree student in the energy systems area of electrical engineering. His research focuses on defining a set of metrics to quantify the degree of inter- and intra-hour wind power variability and intermittency. Such metrics are expected to help grid planners and operators integrate and manage large wind power plants. He is a member of Assistant Professor Surya Santoso’s Laboratory for Advanced Studies in Electric Power and Integration of Renewable Energy Systems.
Rachel Gerver is a first year doctoral student in the materials area of mechanical engineering. She has a strong interest in both energy policy and electrochemical energy systems, including batteries and fuel cells. A member of Assistant Professor Jeremy Meyers' research group, she is currently working to develop better computer models of lithium ion batteries.
Miller is a second-year doctoral student in chemical engineering working with Drs. Benny Freeman, Donald Paul, and Andrew Ellington. His work focuses on enzymatically-active polymer membranes useful in water purification, pharmaceutical manufacture, and other separation processes.
Telenko is completing her first year as a doctoral student in mechanical engineering. She is a member of both the Product, Process, and Materials Design Lab and the Webber Energy Group. Her research is in early stage, environmentally conscious product design, discovering and validating green design principles through life cycle assessment. Her advisors are Dr. Carolyn Seepersad and Dr. Michael Webber, assistant professors of mechanical engineering.
Four university graduates received the fellowships to attend universities across the nation to pursue graduate degrees.
Hani-James Ebeid will attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to earn a doctorate in wireless communication theory.
Victor Ho will attend the University of California, Berkeley to earn a doctorate in chemical engineering.
Rehan Kapadia will attend the University of California, Berkeley in the fall where he will pursue a doctorate in electrical engineering. His research will center on nano-scale electronics and fabrication techniques.
Robert Chen will pursue a doctorate in electrical engineering studying epitaxial growth, silicon photonics, and material characterization techniques at Stanford University.
Five university alumni already pursuing graduate degrees around the United States also received the fellowships.
Kyle Osberg a doctoral student in materials science and engineering at Northwestern University is researching the development of novel one-dimensional nanomaterials for applications in electronics and chemical and biological detection.
Edwina Lai a doctoral student in chemical engineering at Stanford University, will focus on using collagen as a tissue scaffold to directionally guide the growth of cells. This research will have potential applications in tissue regeneration.
Michael Mueller, a doctoral student at Stanford University in mechanical engineering, is researching the fundamental formation of soot (particulate matter) with applications to combustion devices such as reciprocating engines and gas turbines. His research will improve predictions of the formation of soot so devices can be designed to minimize this pollutant.
Joseph Tingsanchali is a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley in chemical engineering. His research centers on the fundamental relationships between the structure and composition of heterogeneous catalysts and their performance.
Sarah Bird is a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley in electrical engineering and computer science. Her research focuses on parallel computer architectures and operating systems for many core designs to be used in mobile computing.
About the Cockrell School of Engineering:
The Cockrell School ranks among the top ten engineering programs in the United States and aspires to move into the top five. With the nation's fourth highest number of faculty members elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the Cockrell School's more than 7,000 students work with many of the world's finest engineering educators and researchers. This environment prepares graduates to become engineering leaders and innovators working for the betterment of society.
