Cornett takes 1st Place at ResearchFest 2010

Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) graduate student Jane Cornett, advised by Assistant Professor Oded Rabin (MSE/IREAP), took first prize at the 2010 ReserchFest. Cornett's winning poster and oral presentation, "Thermoelectric Figure of Merit Calculations for Nanowires–Moderate Confinement Regime," described her use of Matlab scripts to model the thermoelectric properties of semiconducting (Si, InSb) nanowires. She conducts her research in Rabin's Materials and Interface NanoTechnology Laboratory.

Second prize was awarded to graduate student Pushkar Pendse, advised by Assistant Professor Jeffery Klauda (Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering [ChBE]) for his work, "Probing Sugar Transport through Lactose Permease of E. coli using Molecular Simulations"; and graduate student Laleh Emdadi, advised by Professor Kyu Yong Choi (ChBE), won third prize for "Dispersion Polymerization at Low Temperature: A Route to Encapsulate Biologically-Active Materials."

ResearchFest is an annual event that highlights the best undergraduate and graduate-level research from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and the Fischell Department of Bioengineering (BioE). It allows students to share their work in a fun, casual setting with faculty, staff and students from their own and other departments. The event is sponsored by all three departments, and features guest judges, prizes, and a reception.

ResearchFest 2010 was organized by graduate students Neville Fernandes (BioE), Shilpa Nargund (ChBE), and Richard Suchoski (MSE). This year's judges were Dr. Ivan Lee (Army Research Laboratory) and Dr. F. Joseph Schork (Professor and Chair, ChBE). Participants were judged on the quality of their oral presentations, quality and clarity of their hypothesis, originality, methods and analysis, presentation of data, supporting material and conclusions, and the significance or potential impact of their work.

For more information and photos from the event, visit the ResearchFest homepage

Published February 22, 2010