2009 – 2012: News Archive
The following news briefs are from the Schmidt Lab at the University of Texas.
December 2012: Dr. Schmidt has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and the publisher of the journal Science. “AAAS fellows are elected by their peers, and fewer than 1 percent of the association’s members are elected each year. Fellows are selected for their efforts to advance science or scientific applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished.” Dr. Schmidt will be inducted in Boston in February 2013 during the AAAS Annual Meeting.
Nov. 20, 2012: Congratulations to Hieu Nguyen for successfully defending his Ph.D.! Way to go Dr. Nguyen!
Nov. 19, 2012: BME graduate student Sydney Geissler passes her Prelim Exam/Ph.D. Research Proposal. Congratulations Sydney!
Nov. 5, 2012: Dr. Schmidt is honored with her recent appointment as the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the new Journal of Materials Chemistry B and member of the Executive Editorial Board for Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C. The Journal of Materials Chemistry has seen much success over the last few years, and because of this success, has recently been divided into three new journals, by the intended application of the materials studied. Journal of Materials Chemistry B focuses on materials for biology and medicine.
Oct. 27, 2012: Congratulations to Dr. Zin Khaing, who was the first prize poster award winner at the NeuroTexas Institute Neuroscience Symposium 2012.
Oct. 12, 2012: Schmidt lab alum, Dr. Stephanie Seidlits, receives a competitive NIH postdoctoral fellowship for her current studies with Dr. Lonnie Shea at Northwestern University. Congrats Stephanie!
Aug. 1, 2012: Congratulations to Eric Spivey for having his manuscript, “Multiphoton lithography of unconstrained three-dimensional protein microstructures”, accepted for publication (without revisions) in Advanced Functional Materials (Impact Factor = 10.179)!
July 30, 2012: Scott Zawko publishes a mini review article in the SurFACTS newsletter highlighting different methods developed in our laboratory to integrate structure and architecture into soft hydrogels. Congrats Scott on a job well done!
July 9, 2012: Congratulations to Derek Hernandez for passing his Oral Ph.D. Preliminary Exam/Research Proposal! Great job!!
July 6, 2012: Dr. Schmidt will become the Chair of the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida starting in January 2013. Her labs will move to UF in Spring 2013. Sarah congratulates Dr. Schmidt with an awesome dark chocolate alligator.
July 2, 2012: Congratulations to Sarah Mayes for passing her Prelim/Research Proposal! Way to go!
May 30, 2012: Congratulations to Chase Cornelison who recently passed his ChE qualifying exams!!
May 25, 2012: Former lab member, Dr. Stephanie Seidlits, visits Austin. Stephanie is currently a postdoc with Dr. Lonnie Shea at Northwestern.
May 24, 2012: The Distinguished Engineering Graduates, including Dr. Schmidt (BS, ChE 1988), were featured at last week’s engineering graduation ceremony and in the recent issue of the Alcalde. Dr. Schmidt was also honored by her wonderful students, who surprised her with a fun roast and gifts (and a uniquely decorated office!).
May 17, 2012: Kyle Marshall, a BME undergraduate student who works with Dr. Zin Khaing, has received one of seven summer BME internships. This is a competitive award that provides a $4000 stipend for UG students to perform research in a BME laboratory over the summer. Congrats to Kyle!
April 16, 2012: Congratulations to Chemical Engineering GLUE student, Genevieve Lim, for receiving a $50 award for being among the top-5 posters in the Poster Exhibition Engineering Research Symposium (PEERS) on April 11. The PEERS research poster competition is for all engineering undergraduate students at UT Austin, so this is a prestigious honor! Genevieve works with graduate student Craig Milroy, and presented on “Permeability of Conductive Polymers”. Congrats Genevieve!!
April 13, 2012: Congratulations to Eric Spivey who successfully defended his Ph.D. today. Way to go Dr. Spivey!
April 13, 2012: Research Associate Hyma Durgam will receive her 15 year staff service award for her work with the University of Texas (almost 12 years in Dr. Schmidt’s lab at UT Austin). Hyma will be recognized at The President’s Staff Awards Ceremony on Friday, May 4, 2012, 10 am in the LBJ Auditorium. Congratulations Hyma! View photos here.
April 11, 2012: Dr. Schmidt and Dr. Zin Khaing receive a $300,000 research grant from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation to support research on regeneration after spinal cord injury using bioengineered scaffolds in combination with an antagonist to minimize inhibitor scar components. This work will be performed in collaboration with a world renowned neurobiologist Dr. Jerry Silver from Case Western Reserve University.
April 10, 2012: BME undergraduate student, George (Ross) Malik, receives a prestigious fellowship from the Whitaker International Fellows and Scholars Program. Ross currently works with graduate student Ryan Nagao, and will be using his fellowship to study with Dr. Jose Luis Jorcano at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain. Congratulations Ross!
April 4, 2012: Congratulations (again!) to Craig Milroy who was selected for a Whitaker International Summer Grant. This, along with his other awards, will be used to support his international studies with Dr. Gordon Wallace at the University of Wollongong.
March 21, 2012: Richelle Thomas successfully passes her oral PhD qualifying exam. Congrats Richelle!
March 1, 2012: Congratulations to our former graduate student, Dr. Leandro Forciniti, who recently accepted a position as Senior Tire Compounder-Latin American Support with Goodyear. Good luck Leo!
In his new position with Goodyear, Leo will be developing processes and monitor processes that are involved in making tires from their individual components for farm tire equipment which is manufactured in Latin America. Specifically the job is a unique position that is at the interface between three groups. The engineering group, the R&D group (making new materials), and the Quality Control Group. As such Leo’s team has members from each group, and he will be the interface between his team members and plant operations in Latin America. First he will go through three rotations: 1) employee training, 2) plant location in Topeka KS, and 3) R&D rotation in polymer synthesis group in Akron OH.
Feb. 23, 2012: Congratulations to Craig Milroy who received two prestigious fellowships: the NSF East Asia Pacific Summer Institutes (EAPSI) award and the Burroughs Wellcome Collaborative Research Travel Grant (CRTG). Craig will use these awards to engage in travel to Australia to initiate a collaboration with Dr. Gordon Wallace at the University of Wollongong.
Feb. 23, 2012: Congratulations to Richelle Thomas who received a prestigious Burroughs Wellcome Collaborative Research Travel Grant (CRTG). Richelle will use this award, along with her Fulbright award, to engage in collaborative research with Professor Clive Landis of the Chronic Disease Research Centre at the University of the West Indies in Barbados.
Feb. 22, 2012: Hieu Nguyen received an excellence in research top poster award at the recent GAIN (Graduate and Industry Networking) Event. The poster authors also included Hieu’s undergraduate students Claudia and Jacque. Way to go!
Feb. 21, 2012: Our undergraduate researchers received a large number of Undergraduate Research Fellowships (URFs). Congratulations to: Claudia Wei (Hieu), Lindsey Nguy (Hieu), Marc Alexander (Zin), Hunil Cha (John/Ryan), Albert Chen (Craig), Lea Sorret (Craig), Shela Gu (Craig), Jessica Scott (Sarah), Min Sohn (John) and Khan Tran (John). Wonderful job everyone!! We appreciate your dedication to the lab!
Feb. 16, 2012: Former graduate student Dr. Jae Lee accepts a faculty position at GIST (Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology) in Korea. Congratulations and good luck to Jae (and his family)!
Jan. 30, 2012: The Cockrell School of Engineering has honored Professor Christine Schmidt as a Distinguished Engineering Graduate, the highest honor bestowed on alumni. Read more
Jan. 25, 2012: Collaborative research in the labs of Dr. Schmidt and Dr. Jason Shear are highlighted by the NSF on Research.gov (this research is funded by the NSF).
Read the highlight.
Jan. 1, 2012: Welcome back Dr. Scott Zawko to our team! Scott will be working in our lab as a Research Associate helping to head up our hydrogel team.
Dec. 16, 2011: Ryan Nagao successfully passes his oral PhD qualifying exam. Congratulations Ryan!
Dec. 3, 2011: Dr. Zin Khaing received 2nd Place for the Overall Best Poster Competition at the Mission Connect Symposium in Houston. Congratulations Zin!
Nov. 29, 2011: Great job Hieu Nguyen, who passed his Research Proposal (Prelim). Awesome job Hieu!
Nov. 4, 2011: Congratulations to Yafei Ouyang in our lab (UG working with Ryan Nagao) on his oral presentation on “Characterization of decellularized lung tissue using vascular corrosion casting” presented at the “World Conference on Regenerative Medicine 2011” in Leipzig, Germany. More….
October 21, 2011: Congratulations to our undergraduate students for receiving competitive Undergraduate Research Fellowships (URFs): Tushar Garg, Jong Min Kim, Hetian (Tian) Li and David Mouser who are mentored by Dr. John Hardy, Nikolas Irizarry, Wesley Ehlert and George Parker who are mentored by Craig, Dan Strayve and Glendon Plumton who are mentored by Dr. Zin Khaing, and Daniel Joh who is mentored by Derek. Congrats to you all for this terrific honor!
Sept. 22, 2011: Dr. Schmidt is elected to the Board of Directors of the Biomedical Engineering Society.
September 2011: Dr. Schmidt’s research vision and the science outreach activities of her research team are featured on the main UT website.
Aug. 10, 2011: Congratulations to John Fonner for successfully defending his Ph.D.! Wonderful work John!
June 14, 2011: Dr. Schmidt and Sarah Mayes discuss research in our lab with Keri Bellacosa on Fox 7 News’ Good Day Austin.
June 2, 2011: Our former student, Dr. Jae Lee, receives an American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship. Jae is working with Professor Randall Lee (UCSF) and Professor Luke Lee (Berkeley) on cardiac tissue regeneration using nanoparticles.
May 20, 2011: Brian Milman, who works in our lab with Dr. Zin Khaing, receives one of ten summer Biomedical Engineering Internships. The fellowship provides a $4,000 stipend for a 10 week research project for this summer. Way to go Brian!
May 11, 2011: The Schmidt Lab Outstanding Undergraduate Student Presentation Awards have been announced! The top overall presenters are: 1st Place: Isha Suri (works with Zin), 2nd Place: Shan Modi (works with Richelle), and 3rd Place: Ross Malik (works with Ryan). The top 1st time presenter is Laura Fuentes (works with Craig). Congratulations to everyone!!
May 6, 2011: Congratulations to Yafei Ouyang who was named a UT Beckman Scholar for 2011-2012! Yafei is a BME undergraduate who works with Ryan. The Beckman Scholars Program provides a $19,000 scholarship for research training and personal development of select students in chemistry, biochemistry, and the biological and medical sciences. The selection process for the UT Beckman Scholarship is extensive and demanding. The semifinalists must propose a research project that is new to them and they are subjected to a PhD style oral examination.
May 5, 2011: Congratulations to Leo Forciniti who successfully defended his PhD today. Terrific job Dr. Leo!!
April 15, 2011: Congratulations to Richelle Thomas who received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Barbados for the summer. What a prestigious honor. Great job Richelle!!
April 12, 2011: Congratulations to undergraduate student Trey Ybarra (who works with Leo) for being highlighted on the UT website.
April 8, 2011: Leandro Forciniti participated in the “Building Future Faculty Program” at North Carolina State University, March 30 – April 2. This was a competitive program in which only 30 people out of 300 applicants were chosen to attend. During the workshop, the participants attended sessions describing life as a faculty member at a research extensive university, expectations of new faculty, and resources available to faculty for help with research and teaching. Congrats Leo!
April 5, 2011: Congrats to Sydney Geissler who was selected to receive a highly prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!
April 4, 2011: Richelle Thomas receives the “2011 National Society of Black Engineers Graduate School Conference Leadership Award”. Congratulations Richelle!
April 2, 2011: Sydney Geissler receives Second Place for Most Outstanding Poster at the First Annual Translational Neuroscience Symposium (NeuroTexas Institute Research Foundation, St. David’s HealthCare). Way to go Sydney!
March 24, 2011: Leandro Forciniti receives one of only fifty ASEE/NSF Small Business Postdoctoral Research Diversity Fellowships. As part of this Fellowship, Leo will be working with Innovative Surface Technologies in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Congratulations Leo!!
March 24, 2011: Congrats to Scott Zawko and Stephanie Seidlits for having their manuscripts accepted for publication in JBMR and Acta Biomaterialia, respectively!
Richelle Thomas receives an International Research Fellowship Award from ICMR (International Center for Materials Research) to be used toward travel to the University of the West Indies. Congrats Richelle!
Schmidt Lab Research is highlighted on the main UT home page, Jan. 20 – 23.
Christine Schmidt was elected as a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society in the 2010 class. Christine is one of 15 newly elected Fellows that will be inducted at the 2010 Annual Meeting of BMES that will be held in Austin, TX, on October 6-19, 2010.
Stephanie Seidlits receives a highly competitive Baxter Early Career Development Award for postdoctoral studies that she will be starting at Northwestern University (with Dr. Lonnie Shea) this Fall. Congrats to Stephanie!
Former student Shalu Suri (now a postdoc at Georgia Tech) receives the 2010 Acta Student Award for her manuscript, “Photopatterned collagen-hyaluronic acid interpenetrating polymer network hydrogels”, Acta Biomaterialia 2009; 5:2385-2397.
Farewell to Scott Zawko and Jae Lee as they leave for their postdoc positions at Texas A&M and Berkeley, respectively.
Christine Schmidt is selected as a 2010 American Competiveness and Innovation Fellow from the National Science Foundation (Read more) Congrats to Scott Zawko as well, since his research as part of the NSF DMR grant was largely factored into the award!
Leo Forciniti has been selected to attend the 60th Interdisciplinary Meeting of Nobel Laureates from June 27 to July 2, 2010, in Lindau, Germany. Congrats Leo for this prestigious honor!
Richelle Thomas received a highly competitive 2010 GEM Fellow with DuPont as her sponsoring company. Richelle will be conducting an internship with DuPont this summer. Great job Richelle!
Congratulations to Jae Lee who defended his dissertation on May 20! Jae will be pursuing his postdoc with Luke Lee at Berkeley beginning July 1.
Congratulations to Stephanie Seidlits, who successfully defended her PhD on April 26.
Congratulations to Shalu Suri for defending her dissertation on February 11, 2010. Good luck at Georgia Tech!
Stephanie Seidlits and Zin Khaing have their manuscript accepted with Biomaterials with no revisions required! This manuscript describes the development of hyaluronic acid-based scaffolds for modulating neural progenitor cell differentiation.
Jae Lee receives the 2009 Doh Wonsuk Memorial Award from the U.S. Chapter of the Korean Institute of Chemical Engineering. Jae was one of only two recipients nationally to receive this prestigious research award.
Shalu Suri’s manuscript on Schwann cell encapsulation into hyaluronic acid-collagen interpenetrating network gels is accepted for publication in Tissue Engineering.
Jon Nickels successfully defends on November 30, 2009. Congratulations Dr. Nickels!
Scott Zawko‘s manuscript in Lab on a Chip appears online. This article describes a novel and simple bench-top method to create cell-based microarrays.
Stephanie Seidlits‘ article in Advanced Functional Materials is now in print. Her article, which was performed in collaboration with Dr. Jason Shear in Chemistry, demonstrates the ability to create 3D protein structures inside hyaluronic acid hydrogels using 2 photon photofabrication methods.