Steiner scouting for opportunities

Richard Steiner, from the Cary, North Carolina area, is an ECU Engineering student concentrating in Biomedical Engineering.   While at ECU, he has worked to make new parts for and preserve the ECU Adventure Program’s Challenge Course which is used for leadership and team building for faculty, staff and students.  Richard, an Eagle Scout, has also been very successful on ECU’s campus academically.  He has helped to start the Biomedical Engineering Society.  He has also earned such honors including Golden Key international honors society and Phi Eta Sigma (Freshman Honor Society), consistently on either the Dean’s or Chancellor’s List, and is on track to graduate summa cum laude, which is no easy feat in engineering.  Richard first expressed interest in Sullivan group research in Sullivan’s Engineering Computer Applications course and has been training in both Sullivan group and Muller-Borer labs.  Going forward, Richard will continue to support as he can the Sullivan/Muller-Borer collaborative effort on tissue engineering during his studies at ECU as he enters his junior year at ECU.  Congratulations to Richard on his academic achievements so far and continued success!

Rice starched up for progress

Clay Rice is an ECU Engineering student and is expected December 2012 graduate.  He worked in the Sullivan group laboratory Summer 2010 – Spring 2011, presenting a poster at the 2011 ECU Creative Achievement & Research Week symposium with Joseph Rose on their work with pullulan-cyclodextrin blend nanofibers.  Clay has been working his way through school, with both management as well as engineering research work experience.

Prior to starting at ECU, Clay worked as an electrician for PCX Corporation in Clayton, North Carolina, reading blue prints and complex wiring schematics for electrical panel installations.  He also worked alongside and solved electrical/mechanical problems with licensed engineers.  This work inspired him even more to work towards his engineering degree.   His team’s freshman engineering robot project won in competition over 10 other teams, and he was project manager of his semester service learning project for the Engineering Project Management course.  For the Sullivan group, he helped install and develop protocols for lab equipment as well as assisted with and performed experiments using a Rheometer, Tensiometer, Ph/Conductivity meter, and an Olympus Reflected Light Microscope.  Clay has demonstrated incredible teamsmanship, dedication and drive throughout his life and will serve as an outstanding engineer in his career.  The Sullivan group has been honored to have him a part.  Good luck Clay in all of your future endeavors!

Young Stephanie training for success!

Stephanie Nguyen is a bioprocess engineering student with excellent dedication.  She has shadowed upper level students in the laboratory and is poised to continue undergraduate research for the remainder of her three years at ECU.  She is a member of ECU Engineering Ambassadors, served as Fall 2011 graduation marshall, and volunteered for many events including STEM girls, the North Carolina Undergraduate Research & Creativity Symposium held at the East Carolina Heart Institute in Fall 2011, science fair, and a go science event.  She also enjoys rock climbing and speaks Vietnamese along with English.  Her positive attitude and smile has been a joy in the lab and she has been a welcome addition to the Sullivan Group.  For her next steps, she may take an opportunity to work in the Lemasson laboratory at ECU’s Brody Medical School, where Dr. Sullivan’s friend and colleague Dr. Isabelle Lemasson is working to better understand and treat cancer.  Continued success to Stephanie in her studies!

Deaton stands out

Thomas “Tad” Deaton was recognized at the ECU College of Technology & Computer Science May 2012 graduation recognition ceremony as Outstanding Senior in Biomedical Engineering.  Congratulations Tad!

Akbar sets the bar

Mohammed (Sarim) Akbar is an ECU biology and applied physics major.  He started working in the Sullivan group in Spring 2011 (after taking Sullivan’s Computer Applications in Engineering course in Fall 2010), and co-presented a poster at the ECU Research & Creative Achievement Week that semester.  His initial research focus for this was protein-polysaccharide gelation.  Since then, he has been working with benchtop Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy to analyze gel formation for our group in collaboration with Dr. David Cistola and doctoral candidate Michelle Robinson.

Sarim has consistently made dean’s list and honor roll while at ECU.      He also is President and Founder of Diabetes Awareness and Prevention Association (DAPA) of ECU which aims to confront the growing problem of diabetes in Greenville, NC by establishing programs and volunteering activities that promote the importance of a healthy diet and lifestyle.  Next, Sarim  co-founded the Heart Institute Research Internship Program in which selected students work with a mentor physician on a medical research project that centers particularly on cardiovascular sciences. Projects range from clinical to basic science research.

In addition to all of these activities, Sarim has observed cardiac surgeries and been an active participant in ECU’s primary care physician shadowing program.  He has volunteered for ECU’s Rural Health Volunteer Society as well as been a member of ECU’s intramural Tennis Club.  His future plans following his May 2013 graduation are to attend graduate school at Duke University in Medical Physics.    This summer, he is vying for an opportunity to work in the Khan laboratory at NCSU and studying for the GREs.  Go Sarim!

Bridgers charges to Waukesha Electric

Lauren Bridgers recently earned a summer internship opportunity at Waukesha Electric in Goldsboro, NC where she resides with her husband Vincent.  Waukesha continues to be an active partner with ECU Engineering, hosting senior capstone design projects as well as hiring graduates.  Waukesha has scored big in building their team with Bridgers!

Go Lauren!

Franson faces multiple opportunities

Franson loading sample on TA AR2000EX rheometer

Eric Franson, researcher in the Sullivan group for two years and co-author of posters presented at two conferences, will graduate this May with honors and multiple opportunities before him including both graduate school and industry.  As part of the Sullivan group, Eric has participated in many research activities including rheometry, SEM, in situ solution electrospinning and gelation; and because of this training and his excellent academic performance in the bioprocess engineering curriculum, he then earned an internship at Pioneer Surgical Orthobiologics.  Also while at ECU, Eric was inducted into the ECU Engineering Honor Society and has served as its Vice President.  Eric will continue to succeed in everything he does and ECU is proud to have him as May 2012 engineering graduate.

Protein agglomeration in protein-polysaccharide gel

 

Cannon hits target at Merck

Cannon (left) and Eckert (right) evaluate gel samples.

Mike Cannon is an ECU engineering alum that has hit the mark.  After graduating from ECU in May 2010 majoring in engineering with a concentration in bioprocess engineering, Mike earned a position at Merck & Co. in Durham, NC as a bioprocessing technician and now serves as a bulk operations coach.  While at ECU, Mike and fellow student Chris Eckert, inaugural members of the Sullivan group, presented two posters at the spring 2009 ECU Research & Creative Achievement Week symposium, with one poster winning the engineering division entitled Solution Electrospinning Biopolymer Nanofiber Mats.  Both Cannon and Eckert evaluated protein-polysaccharide solution and gel properties with a rheometer, solution electrospun nanofibers and learned Scanning Electron Microscopy.  Mike is a native of Canada and avid hockey player, competing on ECU’s very successful club hockey team while a student.  Admitted to both NCSU and ECU engineering programs, he chose ECU for its more personal student interaction.

Cannon has well represented ECU, starting a great tradition and leading the way to Merck for many ECU bioprocess engineering students that have followed  including Brandon Hassell, Jordan Johnson, Chris Cone all in Durham (spring 2011 graduates) and new spring 2012 graduate Dan Kelleher to start at Merck’s Elkton site.  As former Merck employee, Sullivan is very proud of all of these ECU grads joining and succeeding in such a great organization after surviving her bioprocess validation & quality engineering course.  ECU knows that Merck is in good hands with Mike coaching.

Jester’s achievements no laughing matter!

Sam Jester is a 2010 ECU Engineering graduate who currently works as a Systems Engineer for Panasonic Avionics Corporation in Lake Forest, California where he works with In-Flight Entertainment Systems (IFE) for various airlines and aircraft types.  During his time at ECU, he reached the Honor, Dean’s and Chancellor’s List and was a member of the Institute for Industrial Engineers (IIE) and Epsilon Pi Tau honor society.  In addition to his studies, Sam worked as an engineering intern at Air System Components (ASC) and later for Attends Healthcare Products. In addition, he also completed undergraduate research with the Sullivan group, evaluating biofuel blend viscosities (presenting a poster at the spring 2010 ECU Research & Creative Achievement Week), as well as for Dr. Paul Kauffmann, studying EPA modeling. After graduating from ECU, he was hired as a full time Systems Engineer with Attends.  Most recently, he moved to California to continue his Systems Engineering career with Panasonic. He has always enjoyed working with software development and computing in general as well as system architecture and analysis. Sam embraced working with control systems in the electronics lab, studying signals and circuitry, learning and applying the fundamentals of managing projects, and programming a robot to self-navigate and detect heat sources. He intends to go to graduate school in the future to work towards receiving a MBA and an electrical engineering degree, specializing in telecommunications.

Monitoring Miller’s successes

Victoria Miller, 2011 ECU Engineering graduate, currently works for Hospira in Rocky Mount, North Carolina as Aseptic Core Monitor.  While at ECU, she was recipient of many honors including Outstanding Senior in Bioprocess Engineering, Chancellor’s List, Dean’s List and Honor Roll, induction into ECU’s Engineering Honor Society and a founding member of both ECU’s ISPE student chapter as well as Order of the Engineer.  While achieving all of this, she also served as a microbiology lab assistant for ECU’s biology department (Fall 2007 – Fall 2010) and as a project engineering intern at DSM Dyneema (Fall 2010- Spring 2011) in addition to serving as Research Assistant in the Sullivan group (Summer 2010 – Spring 2011).  Victoria performed solution electrospinning and rheology experiments, working on some fiber crosslinking techniques.  She especially enjoyed and excelled at microscopy, specifically using an Olympus BX-51 Reflected Light Microscope to acquire fiber images.  Victoria plans to attend graduate school in the future.  Continued best wishes to Victoria in her engineering career!

Polysaccharide nanofiber mat following crosslinking method and water exposure.