Four biomedical engineering students receive 2017 Erickson Discovery Grants
11/3/2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Biomedical engineering students Brandon Davis, Joshua Riley, Elizabeth Roach and William Su, were each awarded a $3,500 Erickson Discovery Grant for summer 2017 through the Penn State Office of Undergraduate Education.
The students will use the funds to immerse themselves in original research, scholarship and creative work under the direct supervision of a faculty member.
At Penn State, an increasing amount of students replace their usual summer routines with participation in research in the field, lab or studio. For some, this means staying close to campus, while others travel thousands of miles away to research topics in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities and arts fields.
“The Erickson Discovery Grant program allows students to fully engage with a research question over the summer and direct their own hands-on discovery process in a subject that interests them,” said Alan Rieck, assistant vice president and assistant dean for Undergraduate Education, who administers the program.
The 2017 Erickson Discovery Grant recipients included:
- Brandon Davis, College of Engineering, “Aptamer-functionalized Nanoparticle/Hydrogel Composites for Protein Delivery”
- Joshua Riley, College of Engineering, “Impact of Shear Rate on von Willebrand Factor Unfolding”
- Elizabeth Roach, College of Engineering, “Using a Point of Care Biosensors to Determine the Pathogen Responsible for respective UTIs”
- William Su, College of Engineering, “Development of a New Class of Citrate-based Biomaterials and its 3D Printing Application in Tissue Engineering”
Rieck also noted that the grant provides a tremendous service by removing the financial barrier that would keep many students from pursuing original research. “Students will use the grants for project costs including supplies, materials, books, specialized software, travel for the purpose of data collection and living expenses,” said Rieck.
The Erickson Grants had 219 applicants, 83 awardees and out of that 83 there were four grants that were allocated to biomedical engineering students.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Jane Horetsky
jeh94@engr.psu.edu
