Randolph awarded Harold K. Schilling Dean's Graduate Scholarship

4/4/2018

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Lauren Randolph, a Penn State doctoral candidate in bioengineering, has been awarded the prestigious Harold K. Schilling Dean’s Graduate Scholarship.

Randolph received the award for her studies, which aim to improve health and one’s quality of life and promise great societal benefits, as well as her superior academic successes.

“I am honored to have been chosen to receive this scholarship,” said Randolph. “I am fascinated by cardiovascular and hematological physiology and enjoy the process of dissecting and fixing things. It is important to me to be doing work that has the potential to improve someone’s quality of life.”

Xianojun Lian, assistant professor of bioengineering, encouraged Randolph to apply for the scholarship. Randolph’s outstanding work ethic and dedication are what Lian thought made her the perfect candidate.

“I am delighted to learn Lauren received this award. It’s a competitive one and an honor to receive,” said Lian. “Lauren is very excited about science as a student and works really hard. She finished a project and got it published at Scientific Reports Journal within one year, which is very rare considering the amount of work required for publishing a good paper. Many researchers all around the world requested her gene expression constructs.”

Randolph has also published papers in peer-reviewed journals: Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering and AIMS Cell and Tissue Engineering, as well as one book chapter in Tissue Engineering and Nano Theranostics. Randolph also collaborated with her peers to review many manuscripts in development, and was engaged with the training rotation of undergraduate students. Many of her mentees went on to pursue graduate studies in science and engineering.

“Lauren’s unique talent — a blend of insatiable scientific curiosity and almost limitless energy — underlies her outstanding productivity. Her enthusiasm toward science is infectious,” said Lian. “On a personal front, Lauren is a friendly and humble person. She is ambitious, driven and appreciates challenges, making it a joy and privilege to work with her.”

Randolph’s research focuses on investigating scientific questions pertaining to the application of human pluripotent stem cells and genome editing techniques to developmental biology and translational tissue engineering. She chose Penn State’s bioengineering program after meeting several department faculty at the annual Biomedical Engineering Society conference. “I chose the University because I felt that it was the best equipped to get me where I want to go after graduate school,” said Randolph.

“[Randolph] has a broad vision in identifying and pursuing scientific problems,” said Lian. “The Schilling Dean’s Graduate Scholarship will be an important bright spot on her CV when she applies for professorships.”

In the future, Randolph hopes to work abroad to present her research to a larger audience and gain increased global perspective. She enjoys teaching and is considering becoming a bioengineering professor, working in human stem cell research.

Randolph has also been chosen as a participating young scientist for the Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting in Germany this summer.

 

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Hannah Hein

hmh92@engr.psu.edu

lauren randolph

Lauren Randolph

 
 

About

The Department of Biomedical Engineering administers the undergraduate major in biomedical engineering, and is a part of the university-wide Intercollege Graduate Degree Program, offering both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Bioengineering. Our work combines traditional engineering principles with medicine and technology for the betterment of human health and society. 

Department of Biomedical Engineering

122 Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building

The Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA 16802-4400

Phone: 814-863-6614

Email: bme@engr.psu.edu