News Release
Bioengineering Students Recognized for Outstanding Research
San Diego, Calif., Feb. 28, 2014 -- Congratulations to Aereas Aung, who is one of three UC San Diego graduate students to receive the Graduate Student Association’s 2014 Interdisciplinary Research Award. Aung, who works in the laboratory of bioengineering professor Shyni Varghese, is being recognized for his work using engineering principles to understand cancer metastasis.
Meanwhile, the Society for Biomaterials recently recognized the work of Adam Young, who earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering at UC San Diego last year, in the student awards category for Outstanding Research. Adam, who was advised by bioengineering professor Karen Christman, recently accepted a job offer with Maryland-based biotech company ACell. In a statement commending Adam, the Society heralded his outreach work encouraging young people to study science and engineering:
“In addition to his lab work, Adam is passionate about getting involved and having an impact on others, including increasing diversity in science and engineering. He is very involved in the UC San Diego BioBridge program, which works to encourage young students to go into STEM fields. He has worked in classrooms across San Diego as a mentor and given talks in summer conferences to aspiring young scientists. Adam has also received the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) graduate research fellowship as well as an additional fellowship from NSF as part of the Engineering Innovations Fellows Program.”
Christman said Adam was “an extremely bright and motivated student who was developing his own ideas and planning his own studies even in his first year in graduate school, which is rare.”
Another of Christman’s students, undergraduate bioengineering major Gillie Agmon, has received the Society for Biomaterials 2014 C. William Hall Scholarship for her work on research projects related to skeletal muscle tissue engineering and new therapies for treating ischemic skeletal muscle associated with peripheral artery disease. Agmon is also a Gordon Scholar.
"Working in Dr. Christman's biomaterials lab has enforced my desire to pursue a PhD in regenerative medicine research,” said Agmon. “My experiences in this lab have given me direction and taught me so much about the applications of biomaterials in medical settings. By receiving the C. William Hall scholarship from the Society for Biomaterials I will now get the chance to attend the annual meeting in April and further my understanding of biomaterial technology.”
Media Contacts
Ioana Patringenaru
Jacobs School of Engineering
858-822-0899
ipatrin@ucsd.edu