IOWA CITY, IOWA (May 27, 2020) — Aaron Silva of Bettendorf, Iowa (52722) is one of two current graduate students at the University of Iowa, two incoming graduate students, and three undergraduates who have been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship to support their graduate studies.
The award provides the students with three years of financial support ($34,000 annual stipend and $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the graduate institution) for graduate study that leads to a research-based master's or doctoral degree in chemistry, computer, and information sciences, engineering, geosciences, life sciences, materials research, mathematical sciences, physics and astronomy, psychology, social sciences, and STEM education an learning research.
"I am pleased at the success our students have had in competing for this prestigious award," Graduate College Dean John Keller said. "The University of Iowa Graduate College is committed to providing the resources and support our students need to compete at the highest levels."
GRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS
Samantha Chiu
Incoming graduate student, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Advisor: Bob McMurray
Undergraduate: Macaulay Honors College at CUNY Queens College, psychology
Chiu's research uses neuroimaging techniques (EEG) to study speech processing. She plans to study the neural pathways between speech perception and speech production to form the foundation of clinical research for aphasia treatment. Chiu's work combines EEG and machine learning as a novel tool to study auditory word recognition over time. Machine learning can find patterns in EEG data to make predictions about what word a person heard and recognized. Chiu will use these tools to study speech perception in children with the goal of understanding how typical language and speech perception develop and identifying why populations with language disorders struggle with language.
Flannery Currin
First-year PhD student, Department of Computer Science
Advisors: Kyle Rector and Juan Pablo Hourcade
Undergraduate: Earlham College, computer science and psychology
Currin's research interests focus on Human-Computer Interaction, and specifically aim to increase the accessibility of technology to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities or other disproportionately underserved populations. Currin's work is largely motivated by her experiences growing up with her older brother, who has Down syndrome. She hopes to continue this line of research in her future career, either in academia or in a research position in the tech industry.
Riley Post
Incoming graduate student, Department of Civil Engineering
Advisor: Witek Krajewski
Undergraduate: University of Iowa, Civil Engineering
Since graduating from the UI with his BSE and MS in civil engineering in 2010 and 2011, respectively, Post has been working for the Rock Island District of the Army Corps of Engineers in the Water Control Section. Post's team maintains 24-hour operation of 3 flood-control reservoirs and 20 navigation locks and dams across 4 states. Post has been recognized as a regional subject matter expert in reservoir operation and a national subject matter expert in flood response. His continued graduate study will focus on Riverine Flooding at IIHR — Hydroscience and Engineering. His will focus on whether using gated outlets and gaging stations to optimize wetland and pond storage areas throughout a river basin can reduce flood impacts at downstream locations. Building typical reservoirs requires large-scale land acquisition, massive environmental impacts, and substantial cost. Post hopes to demonstrate that a system of small ponds, holding areas, and wetlands can be actively operated in real time to reduce peak flows, thus providing a useful new tool for flood management.
Tracee Saunders
Second-year PhD student, Department of Political Science
Advisor: Fred Boehmke
Undergraduate: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, public policy and US and Global Health
Saunders studies the political determinants of inequities in access to health-care in the US. Specifically, she focuses on how variations in state Medicaid policies mean people in some states are better able to access health-care than those in other states. A reputation for strong quantitative training along with the unique concentration of scholars studying US state politics, health, and social inequality drew her to the UI political science department. Her goal is to pursue a career in academia as a scholar and professor.
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS
Russell Martin
Major: Biomedical Engineering, biomechanics track
Graduate School: Stanford University, mechanical engineering
Martin has been immersed in research while pursuing his undergraduate degree. Martin helped to develop a zebrafish model of epilepsy in the laboratory of Dr Robert Cornell in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology in collaboration with Dr Alexander Bassuk in the Department of Neurology. He used this model to demonstrate the efficacy of three drugs that could one day be repurposed to help patients with seizure disorders. Martin also spent summer of 2018 on a Research Experience for Undergraduates at the University of Delaware's Rehabilitation Institute, where he studied how a torn knee-ligament could be associated with the development of osteoarthritis. Most recently, Martin has spent the last year working with Dr Laura Frey Law in the Neuromuscular Biomechanics Lab studying human muscle activation in dynamic tasks, as well as balance in virtual reality environments. His research goals lie at the intersection of biomechanics, neuroscience, and robotics. At Stanford, Martin will explore the underlying principles behind the design and implementation of rehabilitation robotics, such as prosthetic limbs for amputees or exoskeletons for stroke survivors.
Aaron Silva Trenkle
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Minor: GermanGraduate School: Georgia Tech and Emory University, Biomedical Engineering
During his four years at the University of Iowa, Silva Trenkle has been involved with research in Dr Fatima Toor's lab and Dr Aliasger Salem's lab. Trenkle spent two summers conducting research in Germany through the Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE) program sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD.) Trenkle's future research proposes a method to use nanoparticles to induce an immune-system response to target tumors to make patients cancer-free. Trenkle's research proposal presents a unique approach to cancer immunotherapy. It uses a non-toxic delivery method, can release payloads to specified cells, and provides a method to activate an immune response against cancer cells.
Jacob Thompson
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Graduate School: North Carolina State University, biomedical engineering
Thompson has worked in Dr Kristan Worthington's precision biomaterials lab and is interested in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine research. The lab develops cellular-support scaffolds for transplanted photoreceptor cells with the goal of restoring sight to people with age-related macular degeneration. Cellular-support scaffolds aid in transplanting these cells by giving them something to adhere to and vertically orienting them to mimic the natural structure in the retina. Thompson is currently studying how changing properties of the scaffolds influences cell behavior. Understanding how scaffold-stiffness, material choice, and structure affects the cells is a crucial step toward being able to test the scaffolds and transplantation process in animal models. Thompson's goal is to work for a company that specializes in tissue engineering.
To learn more about the Graduate College at the University of Iowa, click HERE.
About the University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is one of the nation's premier public-research universities, dedicated to academic excellence, groundbreaking discoveries and creations, commitment to Iowa and the world, and a culture that prizes community, diversity, and opportunity.
The UI is known around the world for its leadership in the arts, sciences, and humanities. It is home to the first and best creative-writing program in the world, a world-class academic medical center and one of America's top teaching hospitals, and a can-do culture that fosters a campus-wide dedication to student success.
To learn more about the University of Iowa, click HERE.
