Three students and one alum from the Department of Biomedical Engineering are recipients of the 2019 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellowships, and one student has received an honorable mention. The fellowships will allow students to pursue graduate studies in the biomedical field.
New fellows include seniors Kevin Choy and Anisha Datta and graduate student Daniel Chavarria. Senior Dennis Huang received an honorable mention. Colleen O’Connor, a 2017 biomedical engineering alum, also received an NSF Graduate Fellowship.
Kevin Choy will graduate in 2019 with a B.S. in biomedical engineering. He works in Dr. Thomas Milner’s laboratory where he is developing image processing methods for optical coherence tomography data and laser ablation techniques to treat diseases like osteoarthritis.
Anisha Datta will graduate in 2019 with a B.S. in biomedical engineering. She works in Dr. Laura Suggs’ laboratory on two projects: characterizing the role of extracellular vesicles in the tumor microenvironment, and more recently, examining tumor heterogeneity to further characterize the macrophage-epithelial interaction in the tumor environment.
Daniel Chavarria is a graduate student co-advised by Dr. Aaron Baker and Dr. Andrew Dunn. His research focus is on understanding the effects of diabetes on the blood brain barrier.
Dennis Huang is a graduate student working in Dr. Nicholas Peppas’ laboratory. Huang intends to focus his research on a project that involves dual-targeted nanoparticle drug delivery for simultaneous in vivo dendritic cell modulation and immune checkpoint blockade for colorectal cancer therapy.
While at UT Austin, Colleen O’Connor worked in Dr. Nicholas Peppas’ laboratory. She is currently a graduate student in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington.
The NSF graduate fellowship program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics who are pursuing research-based master's degrees and doctorates at accredited institutions in the U.S.
These fellowships will provide recipients with a three-year annual stipend of $34,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees, opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S. institution of graduate education.
