The 2007 REU "Blast from the Past"

A thru M 

Michael Adams
2006 Harvard University
I graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May 2007 with a B.S. in Physics, and got a year long internship with IBM. I'm now doing software development work, primarily in Java. After the IBM internship ends, I'm planning to attend a Medical Physics graduate program, for at least a Masters, preferably a PhD. Thanks, and let me know what the other interns are up to! Michael

Andrew Ballinger
2006 Georgia Tech
Hey Jennifer, I'm writing this e-mail for two reasons really, first and foremost I've been meaning to keep you up to date with what I'm doing. My NNIN REU in 2006 has benefited me in enumerable ways. When I got back to the University of North Texas I was asked by the administration at my high school/college to give a series of presentations to students and parents about REU's in general and the NNIN program specifically. The more I was asked to talk about the program, the more I came to realize how much the program has shaped and directed me. I applied to several schools within the NNIN in order to continue my undergraduate education and decided to go to the University of California - Santa Barbara. We've just started classes here in beautiful Santa Barbara and I'm starting to get to know the research opportunities available here. I heard that the convocation was held here this year, I came up for orientation that same week! I missed you by only a few days and I wish I could have gotten the chance to say hello. How was the REU program this year? I went online and read a few of the presentations, are there any Final Reports I should watch for? How are you doing? Still busy as ever? Still missing your pantry, Andrew Ballinger

Arthur Beyder
1997 The Pennsylvania State University
Hi Melanie, Hope all's well for you and the rest of the bunch at CNF. I am now at Mayo Clinic, being used as an experimental rat, better known as a medical resident. It's actually pretty fun, but a little draining. I've composed a short blurb (below) for you to use as you wish. Ta ta, art. Hard to believe it's been 10 years since that great summer! I have kept up and sharpened my skills over this time and continued working on MEMS. We have recently published several papers and patented a novel Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) cantilever that will surely revolutionize the field (...or, I just hope people notice and use these probes)! Currently, I am in medicine/research residency at Mayo Clinic, where I will help design and build novel endoscopic tools for futuristic gastroenterology. What if you could perform all of the surgery in a patient's body without ever cutting the skin? Well, this is already happening using a recently developed technique called NOTES (natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery).

McIntosh (Mack) Bonthera
2006 Cornell Intel
Hello again Melanie! Hopefully it's not too late to reply! I am fabulous. This past summer I did an internship with Merck and Co. It is because of my experience with NNIN and funding from Intel that opportunities were open to me and I was selected from many qualified applicants. I am grateful to Intel for this and the whole NNIN family in general. I am hoping to land an internship or co-op with a nanotechnology company for this summer but haven't got one as of yet. Thanks again and I hope to hear from you soon.

Blair Brettmann
2005 Cornell University
I just started grad school at MIT in chemical engineering and am planning on getting my PhD. I'm really thankful that I was able to do the NNIN REU and I hope that the program continues for a long time! ~Blair

Austin Brown
2000 UC Santa Barbara
Hey, I was an intern in 2000 I think. At UCSB. I'm currently a graduate student at Stanford in the Biophysics program. I'm defending my dissertation later this month, so I should be done soon!

Sarah Bryan
2006 Stanford University
Melanie-Claire - It was so nice to hear from you! What a big task it must be to try contacting all of your old summer interns! After spending the summer at the NNIN Stanford site, I decided that I wanted to do research in the nanofabrication field for my graduate work. I am now at Georgia Tech finishing the first semester of my Master's degree in Electrical Engineering. Hopefully I will be continuing on directly to my Ph.D. as of next fall. The NNIN internship was one of the most integral parts of my decision to enter engineering graduate school and I can't even begin to express all the amazing things I learned! Thank you again! Sarah Bryan

Caitlin Burger
2005 Cornell University
Hi Melanie-Claire! I've been doing really well! I'm currently a second year graduate student at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. I'm working on my Ph.D. in Materials Engineering, and have been conducting research regarding ultra-thin solid oxide fuel cells. I'm also a Purdue Graduate School senator, and am the acting president of my department's graduate student association. Currently, I teach middle school students about nanotechnology on Saturdays as part of a gifted education program. My summer at Cornell has proved to be an invaluable experience for me! My time in the NNIN REU helped increase my knowledge base in nanofabrication and gave me my first taste of research. Traveling to the end-of-summer conference at Stanford University is one of my fondest memories from the experience. Giving a presentation helped me realize that I enjoy discussing research with others, and aided in my decision of apply to graduate school. Because of my experience at Cornell, I have discovered the importance of outreach programs in shaping the goals of younger students, and intend to continue participating in educational outreach throughout my professional career. I hope you and everyone out in Ithaca are doing well!!!! Caitlin

John Carlson
1999 Cornell University
I am working as a flight controller for the International Space Station program. My primary responsibility is downlinking payload science data and video from the station for the research community. John Carlson (1999)

Ashley Carson
2005 Georgia Tech
I participated in the 2005 NNIN program at Georgia Tech. I graduated from Clemson University that following spring in 2006. I am now in my second year of graduate school at Georgia Tech in the Biomedical Engineering PhD program. My experience in the NNIN program played a huge role in where I am now. It was my first research experience, and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to pursue my PhD. My main reason for coming to Georgia Tech was because I had such a wonderful experience as an intern. Being here also gave me the opportunity to interact with the 2007 interns here which was very rewarding for me. I hope to be a mentor myself for a future intern!
Ashley Carson

Michael Chestnut
2005 Howard University
Dear Melanie-Claire, I would first like to thank you, the NNIN program, and the staff at Howard University for the wonderful opportunity that was given to me. After the program I did research my college campus in the area of nano-electronics. I then took a semester off 'cause I was tired from school, and finished my research by presenting at a summer symposium. In the fall of 2006 I began co-opting at Analog Devices. This was a wonderful experience and I finished my second rotation with them this past summer. I will be getting my Computer Engineering Degree in December, hopefully my Electrical Engineering degree in May, and then pursuing a graduate degree next fall. I hope all is well and I would just like to thank you again for the experience, Michael D. Chestnut II

David Coats
2006 University of Minnesota
Well Hello Ms. Mallison! Since I interned at the University of Minnesota in 2006, I have had a whirlwind of a life. Aside from the regular school, I do research in the Optical Coherence Laboratory here at Harvey Mudd College. This latest summer I worked at a functional magnetic resonance imaging laboratory in Singapore. Both experiences have convinced me, however, that my future lies in Finance. I am applying for jobs at a few hedge-funds and hopefully I will be working next year. - David Coats

Peter Cochran
2004 UC Santa Barbara
Hey, I was a 2004 intern at UC Santa Barbara researching Atomic Force Microscope anodic-oxidation lithography with Professor Evelyn Hu. Later, I graduated in 2006 with a BSE Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics degree; also was captain of our University of Pennsylvania track team. NNIN REU lead to an industry internship and later several industry career offers a year before graduation! I began at Intel here in New Mexico in our Rotating Engineer Program and am now a career engineer. I have had the opportunity to thank Professor Hu at UCSB many times---she was a great mentor during my NNIN REU and graciously wrote recommendations for several summer internship applications and two graduate school applications---thank you. I was accepted by the Management Science and Engineering graduate program at Stanford and then chose to attend through Stanford's on line Honors Co-op Program. Nano-science is my academic engineering field along with a decision analysis concentration -- Intel pays all costs. No matter how silly it may sound to say my internship at UC Santa Barbara was life-changing, well, it was. Beyond education and career, I now coach track and field, am an avid soccer player, and volunteer through our Native American education organizations. Peter A. Cochran

Eva Cornell
2006 University of Minnesota
I'm finishing up my last year of undergraduate work at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. I'm working on applying to grad schools to study biophysics. My REU definitely helped me clarify my plans and listening to all the talks at the end of the summer helped me realize that biophysics is the field I'm most interested in. I'll know a lot more about my future plans in a few months, but for now I'm looking forward to traveling next summer and then starting work on getting a PhD. Eva Cornell

Henry Daise III
2006 Howard University
To Ms. Melanie-Claire Mallison, Hello to you and how is everything going for you? First, congratulations on the NNIN REU Program and the 10 years of success it has brought to me and the my fellow interns from the program. Lastly, I apologize if this is getting to you late, I have been busy lately and for about the past couple of days, I have been trying to recover, from the week that I had, also below is the update of what, I have done since, the summer of '06. I am doing fine. Since being an intern in the NNIN program, I have graduated from Morehouse College, in May 2007, with my bachelor's degree in Computer Science. Currently, I am in San Bernardino, California, doing a one year fellowship with the Integrated Technology Transfer Network, at California State University - San Bernardino. Since being in the program, I have gained a stronger appreciation for the science and mathematics. As a result of being in the program, it helped me to get accepted into the current fellowship program and has helped give me a foundation, for studying entrepreneurship and expanded my research interest for graduate school. Henry Daise III

Siavash Dejgosha
2003 Stanford University
Hi Melanie, I'm doing great. The internship really stirred an interest in nanotechnology and research. After the internship, I took a research position in a biophysics lab at Cornell which I continued for a year and a half. That work culminated as a co-authorship in a Nature Methods paper published in 2006. I applied for a biophysics PhD program and was about to go to UMich - Ann Arbor, but did not want to spend 5-6 years in the midwest. Following a Masters, also at Cornell, I joined a tech startup in California and am now at Goldman Sachs in New York. The internship really got me excited about research and technology, and I still follow what I can, but the research path wasn't meant to be. While I do not use the specific knowledge I gained, the introduction to practical research and presentation skills learned have been invaluable studying at school, working at a startup, and now. Siavash

Luxue (Rose) Deng
2006 University of New Mexico
Melanie, Hi, I was a NNIN intern in 2006. Currently, I have taken a different road to my career since graduating this past May. I am studying Chinese at Beijing Normal University in Beijing, China, and have been job searching here. I'm not completely sure what job I will end up finding but I know I will be in China for an indefinite amount of time. The main skills that I acquired during my time with NNIN were research skills and presentation. It was the first time I presented in from of 60 plus people. I think it was a great experience and allowed me to get an idea of what academic research is like. Although I right now I am not completely sure if I want to become a full time researcher, it did help me see my options. I know now that if I did want to attend graduate school in the sciences it is not a far off option. I hope you get quite a few updates. It'll be interesting to see where everyone is at right now. -Rose

Laura Doyle
2005 Georgia Tech
Hi Melanie-Claire, The NNIN program actually wasn't too far from my mind recently because I ran into one of my fellow REUs when I was doing grad school visits. It was great to see her and check up on how she's doing, so I think that getting updates on as many REUs as possible is absolutely fantastic! My "Blast From the Past" follows: My research career sure has blossomed since doing an NNIN REU in the summer of 2005. I used the conference presentation skills I learned there when I gave a podium presentation at the Biomedical Engineering Society conference that following October. Since then, I've kept up with my research. The skills I learned as an REU and the contacts I made at the Georgia Tech site helped me get into all the graduate schools I applied to. Right now I'm enjoying my first year in a BME PhD program at Johns Hopkins. Doing the NNIN internship was a fantastic experience for me and I firmly believe that it helped get me where I am today. Thanks a lot for putting in the effort to organize this. I hope you'll e-mail us all a link to the finished copy when the time comes. Take care, Laura

Peter Ercius
2001 UC Santa Barbara
Hi Melanie, It is hard to believe that the program has been going for 10 years now. It was a great experience for me, and I actually think about it often. The program encouraged me to do research on nanotechnology, in fact. I graduated from Cornell University in 2003 with a B.S. in applied and engineering physics, and decided to continue on in the same program for a PhD. The lure of the newly built nanotechnology building was too much for me to resist. I started working for Professor David Muller who does materials and microelectronics research with transmission electron microscopes. I collaborate with IBM researchers on a 200keV scanning/transmission electron microscope with support from the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC). I image copper wires and interconnects from computer chips in three dimensions using a technique called electron tomography to help characterize and predict their performance. I hope to finish my doctoral studies soon and plan to find a job working with a high tech company such as IBM. All of the people involved in the NNUN program were great and spending the summer at UCSB was a valuable experience. That is what I have been up to. I'm looking forward to hearing about other interns from my program. I'll try to stop by some time to say hello since I'm still here at Cornell. Peter

Nkemdilim (Kemdi) Ezeife
2005 Cornell Intel
Melanie-Claire, I have been doing well since my participation in the NNIN program 2 summers ago. I graduated from Temple University in January 2007 with a B.S. in chemistry (Magna cum laude) and I am now a first year student at Temple University School of Medicine. My experience in the NNIN REU program helped me to get into medical school and has provided me with a good perspective into how academic research is done which may prove useful to me in the future. I wish the best of luck to you and the program's continued success. Nkemdilim (Kemdi) Ezeife, TUSM Class of 2011. P.S. I give my thanks for the Intel sponsorship as well.

Ardavan Farjadpour
2003 Cornell University
Hi Melanie-Claire, It is a real treat to hear from you. My summer at the CNF in 2003 was really the start of my academic research career. My work on electronic devices and the experience gained working in a top-notch clean room environment definitely helped in making my decision to go to graduate school. I discovered my main research interests in computational nanophotonics the summer following the (formerly) NNUN REU program at the IBM Almaden Research Center in California and am now in my 4th year at MIT working on a masters in Computation for Design & Optimization and a doctorate in Materials Science & Engineering. I made a lifelong friend at the CNF in Mike Campolongo who I keep in regular contact with and have visited many times in the years since. That summer in '03 was a formative one and I have very happy memories of my time in Ithaca; it was a special summer for me. I hope all is well with you and your son. I will definitely stop by and say hello the next time I am in Ithaca visiting my old friend Mike C. All the best, Ardavan

Diane Fields Manzini
2004 Cornell University
Melanie!! I know everyone from my year still talks about how we miss our wonderful summer of 2004! Such a great time, valuable experience and wonderful people! I graduated in 2006 from Virginia Tech with my B.S. in materials science. Then I started working at Cree Inc. in Raleigh, NC as a process engineer on in their LED fab. I was in the clean room decked out in a bunny suit everyday just like my summer at Cornell. But I actually got married October 6th and I moved with my husband up to Groton, CT. We're only here till December and then the Navy is sending us off to Hawaii for a few years! I'm really excited! I'm hoping to get a job with the Navy or with a contractor on base once we get there. (Of course I'm also hoping to spend a lot of time on the beach!) Aloha! Diane Manzini (Fields)

Johangel (Joe) Figueroa
2005 University of Minnesota
Hi Melanie: I was part of the 2005 REU team in the University of Minnesota. Since my internship I graduated from my Bioengineering/Biotechnology degree and worked in the start-up process of one of the biggest mammalian cell culture plants of the world (Amgen, P.R.). I'm currently working in another Biotech plant start-up, this time in Indiana and pursuing my Masters degree in Biotech/Bioinformatics from John Hopkins University. I hope everyone from the '05 is doing great.... Later; Joe

Eric Fraser
2004 UC Santa Barbara
Hi Melanie-Claire, great to hear from you. I can't wait to see the research accomplishments of this year's class and read updates on my classmates! Here is mine. After my NNIN REU, I graduated with a degree in Physics from Pomona College. My REU research in Shuji Nakamura's lab at UCSB formed the basis of my experimental thesis about deep-UV light emitting diodes. After studying physics, I started studying law and business at the University of Chicago and will graduate with joint JD/MBA degrees in 2009. Of course, my REU gave me substantive science and engineering knowledge and research skills. More importantly, however, it refined my analytical thinking and helped me to discover and explore the delicate balance between science, law, and business. Now I can talk with friends and family about not only the benefits of LEDs, but also how the patent system fuels scientific research and how research, in turn, drives business. Eric M. Fraser

Tom Graziano
2002 UC Santa Barbara
Good hearing from you: Currently I am working on nuclear reactor core control equipment at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Schenectady, NY (i.e. not nanofab). I loved my internship though at UC Santa Barbara -- it was an experience I will never forget. I would love to hear from my friends to see how they are doing. Tom

Dewi Harjanto
2006 University of Minnesota
I'm finishing my final year of undergraduate work at Olin. I am currently in the process of applying for graduate school -- specifically, I'm looking for Ph.D. programs in bioengineering. The REU summer program really solidified my interest in pursuing research in academia. Dewi

Nathan Henry
2006 Cornell University
Hi Melanie-Claire, How are you doing? I know it has been a long while since we have seen each other or talked. So, I am in Italy right now. These keyboards are so hard to type on cause everything is in weird places. Italy is grand. Lovely city with many old artworks and buildings. I am staying in Turino, learning Italian and culture. This place is so different from America, much slower pace. I like it a lot. I don't want to come back to the US, but will have to sometime to finish my degree. Below is my statement: Partaking in the REU has offered me many treats. First, the REU offered me a rare glimpse into nanotechnology and fabrication. Being an EE, a greater appreciation is understood on chip design and fabrication along with present and future electrical technology. I met an amazing mentor, Ali Gokirmak, who dedicated much of his time and friendship into me and the project. And if life wasn't grand already, I spent a blissful summer in Ithaca's natural beauty. The summer spent working on nanowires, eating with Ali, and jumping into gorges is one that still reigns supreme in my mind. I am soon to graduate with my degrees in EE and BME this coming December. I have had an offer from my mentor, Ali, to do a PhD at the University of Connecticut on continuing the research into Crystallization of A-Si Nanowires for TFTs. I have also been researching jobs in the medical field with a passion to work on medical implants of the cochlear and retinal. It's another fork in life's roadway, and to tell you honestly, I have no idea where I will venture, and I love it!!! I hope my statement makes it into the books. If not, it is ok. At least you will know my opinion on the REU and my outlook for the future. I have included a couple of pictures of me taken in China. I am not if I told you or not, but Jon Swaim and I hungout in Beijing. Great times and lots of adventures. But I have to run to class. Interested in how you have been and how last years REU went. Bye M-C! Nathan  (MC notes: Nathan is now back at Cornell, working for six months on research for his former REU mentor who is now on the faculty at the University of Connecticut.)

Joe Heremans
2005 Cornell University
Hello, Sorry for the near deadline submission. T'wasn't my intention to cut it this close but this fell right in my midterms and some rather interesting data collection. I attached the blurb in word form if you prefer, otherwise the body is just as follows: A year after my internship at Cornell University in 2005, I graduated from the University of Michigan and moved onto my PhD studies in electrical engineering at University of California, Santa Barbara. My time working as an REU solidified my wish to pursue graduate school and continue my path in academia. The skills and techniques I learned in the clean-room stick with me here at UCSB. I am currently a second year graduate student working for Prof. David Awschalom, researching the spin manipulations of Nitrogen-Vacancy centers in diamond for possible use in quantum computing. The past few months I have been using every fabrication trick I learned both from the staff at the Cornell NanoFab and the staff and fellow graduate students here at the UCSB NanoFab to process on my tiny 1mm by 1mm diamond sample. Hope all is well in Ithaca, Joe

Derek Hsu
2005 Stanford University
Hi Ms. Mallison, After my NNIN REU at Stanford, I spent the next two years finishing up my B.S. degree at Northwestern. Due to my increased interest in research as a result of my experience from NNIN, I worked as a research assistant at my school last summer, using Local Electrode Atom Probe tomography to conduct microanalysis and modeling of TiNi-based shape memory alloys for cardiovascular stents applications. Eventually, I continued this research into my senior capstone project, and received from my department the Hilliard Award for Undergraduate Research and Design for my project. Also, I collaborated with a team of five undergraduates, combining my experimental results with their computational modeling. Later, our team received the First Prize Award for the ASM Undergraduate Design Competition. I have benefited greatly from the NNIN REU because the experience gave me confidence in my abilities as a student, and paved the road for my interest and dedication to research in the past two years and beyond. Currently, I am working at the NET Lab in Oregon, using thermodynamic simulations to develop models for alloy oxidation behavior in ultra-supercritical steam turbines. I plan on enrolling in an MSE Ph.D. program next fall. Once again, thank you for the chance of experiencing the NNIN REU program. I will definitely encourage other undergraduates to apply for the internship in the future. Thank you. Sincerely, Derek Hsu

Jake Hughey
2005 Georgia Tech
Melanie-Claire, I'm doing well. In May I graduated from Vanderbilt in biomedical engineering and math. Most of the summer I just relaxed. I am beginning my first year in the PhD program in bioengineering at Stanford, with a Bio-X Bioengineering Fellowship. With my research, I hope to combine microfluidics and systems biology in order to gain a quantitative understanding of cell behavior. Since my research project for my NNIN REU at Georgia Tech was about synthesis of metal nanoparticles, the overlap in technical details is rather small. Nonetheless, my NNIN REU experience taught me the universal lesson that science is hard, so success requires perseverance and ingenuity. Plus, that summer at Georgia Tech was awesome. Jake Hughey

Stacie Hvisc
1999 Stanford University
Hi Melanie, Here's an update for me: After my REU, I graduated from Cornell with my B.S. and M.Eng. in engineering physics and started working on some very large things. My first job was working on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). This is a laser that takes up an entire building and quite opposite from the VCSEL's (vertical cavity surface emitting lasers) that I researched in my REU. I worked on a few other projects at LLNL before taking a leave of absence to return back to school. Currently, I am working on my PhD at the University of Arizona, College of Optical Science. My research group is involved in designing and fabricating large optics, especially large telescopes. My research is on field-dependent aberrations in misaligned optical systems. While I may not be working in nanofabrication anymore, I am grateful for the introduction to research my REU provided and for the opportunity to say that I have worked on all sorts of projects, from the very small to the very large. Stacie Hvisc

Gizy Irizarry Rosado
2002 Cornell University
Hello Melanie! It is nice to hear from you. Here is my "Blast from the Past" story: My name is Gizaida Irizarry Rosado from Puerto Rico and I participated in the 2002 REU Summer Internship program. It was a very rewarding experience and it was a first step in my career path. After REU, I participated in other undergraduate Internship programs until I graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez Campus. In 2003, I worked in Merck Sharp and Dohme of Barceloneta, Puerto Rico as an engineering student in the Engineering Department. In 2004, I worked in the Research and Development Center of Guidant at Minnesota. In 2005, I started working in the San Juan Office of The Trane Company as a Mechanical Engineer for the Applied Sales Department and have being working there since. To be part of Trane, I had to successfully complete an intensive six-months training in La Crosse, Wisconsin in the field of HVAC: Products, Designs, Analysis and Components. These past years in Trane have being very challenging and of great professional growth for me. This year, I also enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus to pursue a Master's Degree in Business Administration. Hopefully, I will complete this MBA in 2010. I encourage any student that wants to be successful to participate in summer Internship programs. These programs provide you with good learning and great experience. Thanks! Gizy

Miktosha James
2005 University of Texas at Austin
Since the internship I have had some amazing opportunities. I just finished working for NASA this summer. Graduation is approaching this December. The experience of the REU opened my eyes to explore or areas of engineering. From then on things have gotten better by the years. I was with child when I did the REU and after the internship I knew that I could accomplish anything. I am right now working on a project that is leaning toward a patent. Thank you for giving me a chance to prove myself. My son is about to be two and I am a success all because someone looked past my personal life and gave me a chance to create a successful path. THANK YOU for the bottom of my heart. Miktosha James

Jevon Johnson
2000 The Pennsylvania State University
Hi Melanie, Good to here from you, I definitely look back on those months at Penn State with fond memories. Since completing the experience in 2000, I went on to finish my last two years of college at Xavier University of Louisiana with a B.S. in Biology. I started med-school in the fall of 2002 at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and got my M.D. in 2006. Soon after this I started my residency in psychiatry at UC Davis Med Center. I am currently in my second year of the four year program. During this time period I got married and my wife and I are expecting our first child in February. Although hands-on research has not played a major role in my career up until this point, my experience with the REU program definitely taught me the importance of bench work research in respect to future developments in applicable science. I hope everything is going well with you too and it was good hearing from you. Jevon J. Johnson

Joy Johnson
2005 Cornell Intel
Presently, I am a MS/PhD student at MIT in Electrical Engineering on both an MIT Presidential Fellowship and the Intel GEM PhD Fellowship. I interned at Intel for two summers in the Flash Memory Group, including speaking on behalf of Intel at the 2007 NNIN REU Convocation at UC Santa Barbara and attending the GEM National Conference 2007 in Las Vegas. I volunteer with MIT's SEED Academy working with underrepresented minorities in engineering on Saturdays. I am just doing SEED and grad school right now. I graduated from NCSU, Magna Cum Laude with degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering in May of 2007. That's pretty much it, Joy

Ami Kone
2003 Howard University
Hello Melanie, This is Mimi. It is a pleasure to hear from you. I am now the process engineer in concrete manufacturing company, CEMEX. I am currently living in Ontario, CA, only 3 hours from Santa Barbara, where we had our end of internship presentation. I hope that everything is going well with you all. I would like to thank you all, especially the Howard University group, for contributing to my professional development. Best Regards, Mimi

Michael Krause
2002 Cornell University
Hello Melanie-Claire, I am doing well, graduating ~4.5 years ago with my BSEE degree. I am working at a major global automotive supplier as a senior engineer in the Chicago area. I married my wife, Melissa, in early 2006 and we are expecting our first child (a girl) at the end of 2007 to the beginning of 2008. The NNUN internship was extremely helpful in preparing me for the fast pace, creative design environment I work in today. Thank you for the learning opportunity that helped open doors. Sincerely, Michael Krause

Ken Kuehl
2005 University of Minnesota
Hello Melanie-Claire! I hope things are going well and I hope the program is healthy and running well. It was a really good experience for me and I hope others are getting that as well! Since I completed my internship (Summer of 2005) I have graduated, started grad school and begun a full-time job. I was between my junior and senior years and I graduated that next spring, May 06. I started a full-time job at Raytheon Co. in Tucson in August after working with a professor from the Materials Science department at the University of Arizona over the summer. I am working with a group that works with design engineers to infuse some manufacturing know-how into the development. I started my MS degree in Materials Science Engineering in the Spring '07 semester and am progressing slowly and steadily at this point. Things are going well and I am still talking with a couple of people that I met a couple of summers ago once a month or so. Hope that's what you are looking for and I hope things are going well! Ken Kuehl

Diana Landwehr McHale
1998 Cornell University
Hi Melanie-Claire, 10 years-wow! I was an REU student in the summer of 1998, at Cornell. I worked for Prof. Craighead trying to pattern biological materials to aid in the growth of nerve cells. I continued the research during my senior year at Cornell. After graduation, I moved to Boston and coached Novice Women's Rowing at Boston College for 3 years. Then I moved to Denver, and I got my masters in Transportation Engineering from the University of Colorado. I am currently married, working as a Traffic Engineer in Denver, and we are anxiously awaiting the birth of our first child (actually my due date is today!!). Good luck, I hope you hear from lots of us!! I was just cleaning out a filing cabinet and found all my REU stuff (which I saved of course!) and it seems soooo long ago! Denver is great, but around this time of year I am always missing Ithaca a little more! Hope this finds you well, Diana (Landwehr) McHale

David Lavenson
2006 University of New Mexico
Life since my NNIN REU has been full of great opportunities. After completing the research program and the convocation, I headed back to Lehigh University as President of my fraternity, the Kappa Alpha Society. I attended the AIChE national student convention in November of 2006 and presented my work in the student poster contest. I secured an internship the summer after my junior year (summer of 2007) with Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. in St. Louis, Missouri. I worked in process control and quality assurance fields at the manufacturing site. I'm now currently the Vice President of our student chapter of AIChE and Vice President of the Interfraternity Council during my senior year. I'm interviewing with companies like Merck, Exxon Mobil, and Arkema, while also considering graduate school at UCSB, U of Washington, UCLA and UCSD. I'm also doing research with my department on the Weissenberg phenomena in the blending of oil additives for automobile engines. Since my summer in UNM, I've been able to do so much more in my life related and unrelated to my career. The experiences, friends and connections I made from the program are ones I will never forget and would like to extend many thanks to everyone in the program for their hard work. Have a good one! DML

Juliet Lawrence
2006 Howard University
Hello there, After the summer program, with the help of Melanie-Claire and my mentors from Howard Nanoscale Facility, my summer paper was published in the undergraduate Journal of Young Investigators (JYI). I've also been able to get a full time job within a month of my graduation from USC as a Safety Engineer Associate for the city of Los Angeles with a salary that's to die for. During my time here I've learned that there is a real need for safety regulations in the field of nanotechnology, so now I'm trying to find out what I need to do in order to get involved in the world of nano-science to protect both the pioneers that are leading this scientific research and the consumers that will eventually be benefiting from it. Thank you NNIN REU for a wonderful summer experience and the foundation I'll use to jumpstart a career with endless possibilities. Juliet Lawrence

Grace Lee
2003 Stanford University
Hi Melanie, Great to hear from you! Fantastic that the program has grown tremendously. I've gain so much insight from the program and are still in touch with some of my peers from the program. Here's a quick update on what I've been up to since the program. I got my Masters in Economics and is now working for Accenture doing management consulting work for financial institutions, as well as doing strategic analysis on sustainable practices. Although the day to day isn't pertaining to the research I did in undergrad, many of the skills I've gained are still applied on a daily basis. Again, great to hear from you. Please give me updated on the progress. Best in your endeavors! Smiles, Grace H. Lee

Niall Mangan
2006 University of Michigan
We are pleased to inform you that your article, "Influence of N on the electronic properties of GaAsN alloy films and heterostructures," M. Reason, Y. Jin, H.A. McKay, N. Mangan, D. Mao, R.S. Goldman, X. Bai, and C. Kurdak, has been published online today, 20 November 2007, in Journal of Applied Physics (Vol.102, Issue 10): URL: http://link.aip.org/link/?JAP/102/103710. DOI: 10.1063/1.2798629. Your article may be accessed via the issue's table of contents at this link: http://link.aip.org/link/?JAP/102/10/htmltoc

Ali Masandi-Shirazi
2003 Cornell University
Hello Melanie-Claire, Hope all is well with you and the rest of the CNF staff. The memory of those good old days of summer 2003 is one of the most vivid in my brain. I kind of diverged from the field of nanofabrication and entered a field with more math : D. I am a 3rd year PhD student now at ECE Dept. UC-San Diego in the field of signal processing and machine learning. The CNF REU experience helped me a lot in getting to a good graduate school and I want to thank you all. Please convey my regards to the other CNF staff especially Rob Illic and Mike Skvarla. Sincerely, Ali Masnadi-Shirazi

Andrew Melton
2005 Stanford University
Melanie-Claire, Josh Symonds just forwarded me your message requesting updated information on what we've been up to since completing the NNIN REU program. Hoping that it is still not too late, here is what I've been up to: After completing the NNIN REU program at Stanford, I was absolutely sure that I wanted to go to graduate school and pursue a career in research, so during my final undergraduate year at the University of Portland, I applied to electrical engineering Ph.D. programs at several graduate schools around the country. I am quite sure that my experience with the NNIN REU program was helpful in getting me admitted to most the schools to which I applied. I chose Georgia Tech from and started as a Ph.D. student in August 2006. I was a graduate teaching assistant for my first two semesters and am currently a graduate research assistant with a group that is focused on optoelectronic and ferromagnetic materials growth. I found out the summer before moving to Atlanta that Josh Symonds (one of my fellow NNIN REUers at Stanford) was going to be starting graduate school at Georgia Tech at the same time as me. We've been roommates since moving here, which has worked out very well. We often reminisce about the fun we had during our REU summer, as it was a very positive experience for both of us. ~Andrew Melton

Jami Meteer Wiedemer
1999 The Pennsylvania State University
After my NNUN REU internship at Penn State in 1999, I finished my BS EE at Notre Dame. In 2000, I started an MS/PhD program in EE at Cornell, during which I worked in CNF (both old and new facilities). While at Cornell, my adviser hosted an REU intern each of two summers, and I had a chance to work with both of them. After completing my PhD in January 2005, I started working as a device engineer at Intel in Hillsboro, OR, as part of the team developing Intel's high-k metal-gate 45 nm technology. On a personal note, my husband Matt and I were married in October 2005. During my participation in the NNIN/NNUN REU program, I gained valuable exposure to a micro/nano-fabrication facility and a multi-disciplinary research environment. Although I had some similar experience through my undergraduate program, the REU program was good preparation for graduate school, as it provided a more realistic taste of the persistence and discipline required to survive in research.

Paul Molnar
1997 UC Santa Barbara
Melanie-Claire, I'm glad to hear the REU is still going strong! Here is my recent bio; After graduating from Cornell with an MEng degree in '99, I have been working for Nortel as a software engineer. I have recently completed a Certificate in Software Engineering Management from the University of Texas at Austin. I have worked on various projects at Nortel including: a graphical voice prompt editor, a graphical programming environment for an Interactive Voice Response system, a streaming video server, a speaker verification system, and a Unified Messaging system. I am currently living in Holbrook, New York. I look forward to the final product! Cheers, Paul Molnar

Josh Montague
2005 Cornell Intel
Hi Melanie, Good to hear from the CNF again. A brief summary of what I've been up to: I participated in the NNIN REU program the summer before my senior year at Colby, so I went back and finished my undergrad program with a degree in physics and mathematical science. I was accepted to, and deferred a year from, the graduate physics department at the University of Colorado at Boulder (where I am, now). During the year after undergrad, I taught physics at a private high school in Massachusetts (Phillips Academy - Andover). That was a great experience for me, and I can definitely see myself getting back into teaching at some point. Now I'm a first year grad student at CU, and just trying to keep my head above water! Classes are intense, and I'm TA-ing a first year physics lab, as well. I'm still trying to find a lab group to get involved with for research in the future... it's a work in progress. My summer at CNF definitely helped me realize how much I enjoy scientific research. I had an amazing experience working under Mike Guillorn, and I'm thinking I may get into some research here that is similar to what I did over there that summer. That's about all from this end. Good luck with the compilation and I look forward to hearing about everyone else! -Josh Montague

Jessica Montanez
1999 The Pennsylvania State University
Hey Melanie, It is great to hear from you. I look at the NNUN REU internship as one of my best internships because it was the first work experience I ever had and it opened the doors for me to other exciting and rewarding internship and work opportunities as well. At NNUN REU I learned what working in a professional environment is, what research is about, how to do presentations, and many other things. I was also impressed and honored of being able to work in such a high-tech environment and with the leaders in the field of nanotechnology. In addition, this internship was a very high paying one and very well organized too. Having the opportunity to travel to Stanford University to present the results of my research was a really nice added bonus. Thanks for a great experience! This internship allowed me to find other work opportunities at the Department of Energy Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California, Eastman Chemical Company in Tennessee and Kraft Foods in Illinois. Having all these opportunities allowed me to discover that I wanted to work in environmental issues and thus, I currently work for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Jessica

Aghapi Mordovanakis
2000 Stanford University
I know this is way too late, but better late than never. I rarely check my Hotmail address, so I did not get your email until a few days ago. Anyway, I just defended my PhD at the University of Michigan in Optics and currently looking for a job. I'd be very grateful if you sent me the updated email list of the group of summer 2000. Happy new year, Aghapi Mordovanakis (2000) 

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