In August 2018, Gillian Macusi, a polymer chemistry student in the Pinkhassik Lab, was in the first group of 5 students selected to receive the first ThermoFisher Scientific Fellowship.  Recipients of this fellowship are all advisees of IMS (Institute of Materials Science) faculty members and utilize electron microscopy in their research.  She won based on her project proposal depicted in Figure 1 and titled, “Biodegradable vesicle-templated hollow nanocapsules.”

This fellowship is in the amount of a one-time award of $10,000 sponsored by ThermoFisher Scientific in relation to the UConn ThermoFisher Scientific Center for Advanced Microscopy and Materials Analysis (CAMMA).  The other winners are: David Lowe, Yongchen Wang, Junfei Weng, and Chengwu Zhang.

 

 

Details about the fellowship can be found here.

Jessica A. Martin, a biological chemistry student in the Pinkhassik Lab, won the 2018 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellowship in Chemistry — Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry. Her project is titled “Enhanced performance of enzymes encapsulated in robust porous polymer nanocapsules.” This Fellowship provides a stipend of $34,000 per year for three years, as well as $12,000 per year Cost of Education Allowance in lieu of all required tuition and fees for each of the three years.

The official press release can be found at the following link: https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=245024&org=NSF&from=news

More information on the NSF GRFP, including information on how to apply, can be found here: http://www.nsfgrfp.org