STEMcos(R) would not happen without the dedicated group of people who have put in the time and effort to make it happen. This year's group has been volunteering their time over the past several months to make sure the upcoming symposium is a success. So take a look to see who the brains behind the operation are!
Elliott Dolan is a PhD Candidate doing research in the Khare Lab at Rutgers. His love for engineering and biology drove him to pursue graduate school in Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers. He soon joined the Khare Lab focusing in computational protein design. Dr. Khare guided Elliott towards a doctoral program in Chemistry and Chemical Biology, where he continues his research in developing computationally designed light-responsive protein assemblies.
Ileana is a PhD Candidate in the Biomedical Engineering Department. As part of the Yarmush lab, she studies mesenchymal stromal cell therapies for the treatment of degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis.
Isabel is a third year PhD Student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Her research in the Yarmush lab focuses on using mesenchymal stromal cells and therapeutic polymeric nanoparticles to develop a targeted and effective treatment for Traumatic Brain Injury. She is also very passionate about promoting diversity and inclusion within STEM and actively seeks out opportunities to mentor students.
William is a PhD candidate in the Department for Quantitative Biomedicine at the Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine at Proteomics. He specializes in the design of metalloproteins and supramolecular assemblies utilizing the inherent symmetry of proteins. He is planning to stay in academia and complete a post-doc in a lab that specializes in metabolic engineering. He hopes to one day start his own lab, combining the two fields, building new enzymatic pathways in cells.
Ashley is a second year graduate student in the Chemistry and Chemical Biology (CCB) department. She is a member of the Nieuwkoop lab. Her research is focused on using Magic-Angle Spinning (MAS) Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) to examine interfaces, such as guest-host interactions in metal-organic frameworks. She is also the treasurer of the CCB GSO. She enjoys baking, crocheting, and reading in her spare time.
Jesse is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and studies high-redshift, dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). He uses the world's largest radio and sub-millimeter telescopes to study their physical properties so that we can better understand galaxy formation and evolution. In his spare time he enjoys learning about science policy and doing science outreach.
Alison Acevedo is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, investigating the complex network effects of corticosteroids within multiple tissues. This type of research (the quantitative side of pharmacology) is essential to drug development within the pharmaceutical industry and seeks to understand how drugs work within biological systems and how biological systems respond.
Joey worked as an engineering consultant for pipeline integrity for several years, making sure that pipes don't 'pop', but returned to academia to pursue a strong passion for biology. Now, he is a PhD student in the Khare Lab, where he studies protease enzymes, how they recognize which other proteins to cut up, and how to redesign them to change their target preferences. On the side, he enjoys science outreach and mentoring opportunities like STEMcosR, camping, sci-fi/fantasy, and making cheesecake.
Emily Aiteh is a Ph.D. Candidate in Chemistry and is currently splitting her time between computational modeling and calculations surrounding the Hammerhead Ribozyme and Chemistry Education Research. She's taught 7 courses in chemistry/physics and runs the Chemistry Teaching Internship and Certificate in Chemistry Education Programs. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, swimming, kayaking, rescuing animals, and is a member of the Hedgehog Society!
My lab focuses on developing new biomaterial polymers for their use in regenerative medicine and drug delivery. My project aims at developing new polymeric microspheres for their use as embolotherapy and drug delivery devices. This research aims to formulate a new method of microsphere formation to encapsulate water soluble drugs inside polymeric microspheres for their use as drug delivery devices.