The 2007 REU "Blast from the Past"

N thru Z

 

Andrew Newton
2003 Cornell University
Hi Melanie! I hope you are doing well. Here is my story: After the completion of the NNUN REU program at Cornell University, I returned to Kansas State University and graduated in 2004 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an emphasis in Bioengineering. I started law school in the fall of 2004 at The University of Kansas School of Law and I graduated in May 2007 with my Juris Doctor degree. Upon law school graduation I moved to San Diego, California and have recently begun my career as an Intellectual Property (IP) attorney with the law firm of Fish & Richardson P.C. My practice specialties include Patent Prosecution and IP litigation. My education and REU experience provided me with an amazing and unique background which helped me obtain a job at the largest IP law firm in the world. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great day! Andrew Newton

Que Anh Nguyen
2005 Stanford University
Ms Mallison - I attended NNIN in the summer of 2005 at Stanford University. There I worked with Professor Bruce Clemens in the Materials Science and Engineering Department. Now I am just across the bay at UC Berkeley, where I am a Chancellor’s Fellows and NSF Graduate Research Fellows. I am about halfway through the 2nd year of my PhD program. My research in the MSE department involves metal-oxide nanostructures for applications in electrochemical devices, like dye sensitized solar cells and Li-ion batteries. NNIN was a great learning opportunity for me. I really enjoyed the research I did at Stanford and became sure that I wanted to attend graduate school after finishing my BS. And so far, graduate school has been great. There are definitely ups and downs, but overall I am very happy with what I am doing. I hope that all is well for you and a happy 10th to NNIN !

Emily Norvell
2006 UC Santa Barbara
Since my internship at UCSB during the summer of 2006, I am still in school working towards my undergraduate degree in Materials Engineering with a minor in Environmental Studies at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. This past summer I worked as an intern at Lockheed Martin in order to contrast working at a company with doing research at a university. I also attended a leadership program on sustainability in Slovakia for 18 days. I’m still not entirely sure if I want to go to grad school but I’m definitely interested and I was really inspired by the research I did at UCSB regarding new solar cell technology. The experience gave me a base on the topic of solar cells with which I’ve become very interested in and have been looking into for career/research opportunities. I also appreciated the exposure to the grad student lifestyle of having direct control of what you’re working on and think it is a life that I could live. Emily Norvell

Virginia Noxon
2005 Howard University
Hey Melanie! I have done a lot since my first REU with NNIN in 2005. I am now a senior at Emory and Henry and my past two summers, 2006, 2007, have been full of fun and adventure. I did another REU at the University of South Alabama on proteins in breast cancer for the 2006 summer. This past summer I went abroad to Ireland and Italy for 6 weeks. Major fun over there, which included seeing The Who in Cork. Other than those summers, I have been working at my classes and I am now getting ready to apply to graduate school to get a PhD in a field of biology. I hope this helps. Take care, Virginia Noxon

Nate Olds
2004 Georgia Tech
Hi Ms. Mallison, Since graduation a year ago I’ve been able to get two job offers, and am currently working on my 3rd. I’ll never forget one interview where I was asked to prepare a presentation. I immediately thought it strange, but remembered my experience as a NNIN REU. I found my research presentation from that summer, dusted it off, and used it for the interview. It came in rather handy even for an interview! Regards, Nate

Vaidehee Padgaonkar
2004 Cornell University
Hi Melanie, How are you doing? Here is my update for the book: Since my summer as an NNIN REU (summer 2004), I graduated from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering. Shortly after graduation, I moved to Oregon to work for Intel Corp. as a Product Development Engineer. My team provides hardware and software support for speedpath debug. Although I didn’t pursue research, NNIN did give me exposure to a state-of-the-art clean room and a great fabrication experience! I learned a lot and I feel the exposure to fabrication is something every Electrical Engineer should have. At Intel, there are many stages a processor goes through before it gets sold to the customers ( i.e. Dell, Apple, etc.). Although I don’t work in the clean room at Intel, the NNIN experience gives me insight to that portion of the product life cycle just before it comes to our debug lab. On a separate note -- the research project I was working on while at Cornell was in Professor Michael Lipson’s group under the guidance of a post-doc Sameer Pradhan. He and his wife also works for Intel in Oregon now, and I meet up with them from time to time. Small world, huh?! When I first moved to Oregon from Michigan, they were the only people I knew! So NNIN and my particular project also helped me in this way when I started my job at Intel. =) I am doing great out here. Oregon is a very outdoorsy place - I have had a chance to enjoy white water rafting, snowboarding, and the many hiking trails they have around here. Hope everything is well with you! Take care, Vaidehee

Chris Pontius
2003 The Pennsylvania State University
Thanks for the inquest! Nothing special but here you go: I participated in the NNUN REU program the summer of 2003 under Dr. Pantano at Penn State. I completed my bachelor’s degree in biotechnology at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester NY, in 2005. After graduation I took a worked for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Rouses Point NY, for 2 years as an LC Chemist. With the announcement that the facility would be closing Dec 2009, I found new employment with a contract pharmaceutical manufacturer in Norwich, NY. I perform quality assurance testing on a variety of finished drugs and active components. I also help write and validate the methods used to test these products. My experience at Penn State opened my eyes to the instrumentation side of science. I had intended to go to graduate school for molecular microbiology but I’ve now discovered the lucrative business of analytical separations. Thanks REU!!! Sincerely, Christopher Pontius

Diego Rey
2002 Cornell University
Since my REU experience at Cornell I’ve made the long journey ... back to Cornell ... and I’m still here! After getting my BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara I embarked on a quest for a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Cornell officially started its BME department the same year that I graduated from UCSB and with the great reputation for interdisciplinary work that I had experienced as an REU I decided to come back. I joined Professor Carl Batt’s laboratory where I develop and use nanoparticles for cancer imaging and therapies. In addition, through taking advantage of the entrepreneurial resources at the Cornell Johnson School of Management, I’m in the process of starting diagnostics company, Bold Diagnostics. The plan is to continue with the company full time after Cornell. How did the REU experience get me here? Through working with graduate students I got a glimpse into the social and professional life in grad school. Experiencing the research environment at Cornell was the deciding factor in my decision to join. I also met Carl Batt through my REU experience. All in all, I really wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the REU program. Can’t wait to see the BFTP! Diego

Leila Joy Roberson
2006 Cornell University
Hello Lynn, Sorry for the late response. Hope things are going well for you and the rest of the CNF staff members.
This summer I am working in a lab at Texas A&M University in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. I will be graduating in December of this year, and I will be looking for a job. If you hear of anything (e.g., through Intel), or if you guys are hiring at Cornell (?), please let me know! Please tell Melanie-Claire I said hello. Regards, Leila Joy Roberson

Anthony Sanders
2006 Stanford University
Hey! Forgive me if this isn’t the most formal email that I’ve ever written, but I just graduated and I’m pretty excited! How’s everything going? I debated on whether I would go to grad school immediately, or work first and then go. I applied to seven different companys and three different Graduate schools. I’ve been blessed to land a job in New Mexico with Sandia National Labs. I’ve been hired into their OYOC program. For a two year commitment, they will pay for my Master’s Degree, and they will also pay me to go to graduate school. I’ll be attending Texas A&M University in the fall in the Solid State and Nano-Engineering Department. I just wanted to thank you guys for everything! Every job that I interviewed with took a look at my resume, saw Stanford, and I could tell they pretty much made up their mind to hire me right then. I received offers from every company that I applied to, so again, I just wanted to say thank you! On another note, I hear that two of my friends were accepted into the 2007 program. I think that’s great, and they are excellent students! I know that they are excited because they asked me at least 10 questions a day! Of course I told them exactly what they needed to succeed....Cheesecake Factory on Thursdays! Thanks again, and take good care of my fellow panthers for me. Sincerely, Anthony Sanders

Yaniv Scherson
2005 UC Santa Barbara
Hi! I’m a first year graduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. REU helped me gain research skills, experience, and a great recommendation while also solidifying my choice to go to graduate school for a PhD. I am doing great and loving graduate school!

David Schluneker
2006 Georgia Tech
Ms. Mallison, Here’s my update. Hope you’re getting a bunch! The biggest effect my NNIN summer had was to make me want to do more research. It really shifted my focus from industry internships and job hunting to trying to find more research opportunities and graduate school. Currently, I am in my senior year of college. When I came in as a college freshman I had no thought of going to graduate school. However, my experience in the NNIN REU program really opened my eyes. It helped me learn a great deal more about graduate school. Based on the new information, I began to realize that graduate school appeared to be the more fitting path for my interests. Right now I’m working on graduate school admissions papers trying to find the right school instead of going through the job search. Overall, the NNIN program helped me in a number of ways. The experience was priceless. I can’t count the times interviewers and hiring managers have asked me to elaborate on this experience. In fact, I will be re-presenting the material worked with at an on-site interview in the next week. Dave Schluneker

Neel Shah
2005 Stanford University
Hello Melanie, Below is a short paragraph of my recent mischief. Enjoy! I have graduated from Harvey Mudd College with a B.S. in Engineering. I received Departmental Honors and High Distinction awards during graduation. Currently I am working at Medtronic Diabetes in Northridge, CA. I design electronic wireless systems for insulin pumps. In a couple of years I plan to obtain a Masters either in Medical Devices or Electronics Communication. The REU at Stanford University University was the doorway to my shift from an aerospace engineering career to a medical engineering career. Working with Dr. Griffin was my first taste of engineering with biological systems. It was also my first hands-on experience with the emerging field of nanotechnology and sparked an interest in the field that remains very much alive to this day.

Shahid Shaikh
2004 Harvard University
I just graduated from UCSB this past June. I did apply to graduate schools and got into one (WPI) for my PhD in Chemical Engineering. However, they didn’t offer me any money, so I deferred the decision for a year, and will apply for some type of assistanceship or researchship for Fall 07. I’m also going to apply to more schools for Fall 07 in Environmental engineering in California and try to specialize in water. Why Environmental engineering? Well, now I’m working with the Alameda County Water District as a Water Quality/Operations Intern for up to a year, and they said that if I attend Cal or Stanford, they’ll pay for me. So, I’m going to give that a shot and apply to those schools, as well as some others. Anyways, that’s about it for me over here. Hope to hear from you soon. Regards, Shahid

Jason Slinker
2000 Cornell University
Hi Melanie, Actually, my REU experience at Cornell has had a tremendous influence on my subsequent graduate and postdoctoral research experiences. First of all, I had such a good time working for my REU PI, Professor George Malliaras, that I ultimately came to work for him as a graduate student at Cornell. It helped, of course, that the CNF staff helped me complete a successful project so that George would want me back. The REU program put me a step ahead--it looks great on the resume, the research connection directly paid off, and the skills carried over to my graduate research. We were able to complete about 4 or 5 projects involving significant nanofabrication over the course of my Ph.D on organic light-emitting devices. Now I am working as a postdoctoral scholar with Professor Jackie Barton at Caltech. My project leans even more heavily on nanofabrication as I am making miniaturized devices for multiplexed protein analysis. My previous nanofabrication experience has enabled me to make a fast transition to a completely new area of research and make devices with a high degree of independence. OK, that’s it for me. As for Keith (MCM notes: Keith Slinker, 1998 CNF REU, and Jason’s brother) -- it ends up he is now working at Lockheed Martin in Dallas, TX, largely due to his knowledge and expertise with electron beam lithography. Think the Cornell REU had anything to do with that? I’ll try to bug him for you. My pleasure to help. Thanks Melanie. Enjoy, Jason

Cary Smith
2006 Cornell Intel
You know I always come to see you when I visit. I’m sure you’ll be around next time.... This summer I am an REU at Carnegie Mellon. I see Erica every now and then when I’m here. Mack is not that far away from me either—he’s in Philadelphia on an internship as well. I was in Taiwan for the month of May learning Chinese. Jon and Nate are in China for the remainder of the summer doing the same. Everyone else, I have no idea where or what they are doing. ;-) We’ll tell all of your students that the CNF’s 29th year was better. lol I have been filling out graduate school applications over the past few months. A little about what I am doing in my career. I am doing research with my department working with nano-materials here at Jackson State University. I am applying to graduate school and will be pursuing a Masters in Industrial Engineering and a MBA. I am strongly awaiting graduation in May 2008 where I will receive a BA in Physics with a minor in Management. I hope everything is well, and hope to see you soon. Your favorite REU student, Cary Smith

Wafa Soofi
2005 Georgia Tech
Hi Jennifer!! Thank you so very very much for taking care of recommendation letters for me! Now that all of my decisions finally came in, I need to tell you all about my plans! I’ve decided to accept an internship in the Summer Undergraduate Clinical Research Program at the UT Health Science Center and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Both are located in the Texas Medical Center, right across the street from Rice University. It’s actually a joint program with Rice, so I’ll be getting course credit for my work this summer. It’s a very multifaceted program - there’s an anatomy class we take, plus a lab where it looks like we’ll actually be dissecting real human cadavers, which should be very interesting. Then there are the clinical rotations - I’ll be shadowing doctors in pediatrics, OR, ER, OB/GYN, internal medicine, and a few other fields. Finally (what I’m most excited about), there’s the clinical research. I’ve been assigned to work in the department of radiation physics. I don’t know much about my project yet, but I do know it involves improving tumor-targeting techniques in cancer radiation treatment by relying on implanted landmarks, rather than external ones. Anyway, it sounds really exciting, and I can’t wait to get started. And it’ll be in Houston, and I’ll have a car, so I’ll have the freedom to pop home whenever I want, as well as do all sorts of fun Houston-y things while I’m here. So: Thank you thank you thank you for the letters! I couldn’t have done it without you ;  ) So, after some very careful thought, I’ve decided I want to go into medicine after graduating from Rice. Thanks very much, and have a wonderful day!!! Wafa P.S. How is the MiRC gang doing? Hope it’s not too hot yet!

Chris Stoafer
2006 UC Santa Barbara
Hi Melanie-Claire, Here is my current life description: After experiencing the intern¬ship with NNIN in the summer of 2006, I returned to school at, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and participated in an internship with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. In this internship I conducted research in plasma and beam physics. I am now finishing up my undergraduate career and applying to graduate school. I plan to attend graduate school in either plasma, nuclear, or particle physics. I am also looking into studying and research the physics of quantum computing at graduate school. My experience with the NNIN internship seem to be crucial in my applications for graduate school. These graduate school plans are to commence in the Fall of 2008. I eventually plan to use my experience in a research and development career in industry or with a national lab. Hope everything is going well and hope you correct me for any grammar or other mistakes in my paragraph. Thanks again. -Chris Stoafer

Alexander Stolyarov
2004 Harvard University
Alexander (Sasha) Stolyarov (REU04) is at Harvard University Engineering and Applied Sciences in the 2nd year of a PhD program in applied physics.

Jon Swaim
2006 Cornell University
Hey Mel, I’m great! I graduate in one month and then I’m off to China for 3 months to teach English. It doesn’t look like I’ll be coming to Cornell next year for grad school, but I was accepted into Imperial College London, so that’s cool. Jon

Ethan Swint
1999 Cornell University
It’s good to hear from you! Say hello to Garry Bordonaro and Mike Skvarla for me. I’m now working on an ECE PhD at Virginia Tech in Switched Reluctance Machines, which I should finish up. I earned an BSME from the University of Texas at Austin in robotics before that, and I married the girl I met in ‘99 during my REU there. Going into the program I was quite interested in MEMS, but even though I enjoyed my work there, the summer helped me realize that I prefer to spend a bit more time in the daylight and not in the clean room. The short courses we attended there, e.g. Rathbun’s vacuum technology course, have also come in handy during my academic and professional endeavors. Thanks for the memories! -Ethan

Josh Symonds
2005 Stanford University
I was hesitant to reply to your email when I got it, since I had yet to take a qualifying exam and I felt my future was too uncertain to commit to a book, lest I jinx it! But I finally have notification that I’ve passed them all, so I can finally divulge my status. Anyway! I’m doing a Ph.D. program in physics at Georgia Tech, working with a group in the chemistry department. The NNIN REU played a big part in helping me determine what I liked about academia and how I wanted to continue my work in graduate school. Of course, I’m sure it made the admissions process easier, and I’m quite glad it went smoothly! Incidentally, one of my roommates since coming to Tech in August ‘06 has been a fellow NNIN REU student that I lived with in Stanford. He happened to enroll in a different Ph.D. program here, and was the only person I knew in Atlanta! It has worked out wonderfully, life is good. Thanks! Josh Symonds

Dane Taylor
2006 University of Washington
Dear Melanie-Claire Mallison, I am Ashutosh Shastry, the Research Associate with Karl Bohringer at University of Washington, Seattle who had mentored Dane Taylor for the NNIN Summer REU program of 2006. You’d be pleased to know that our work has been accepted at Transducers 2007 and we are also writing a journal paper. Thank you very much for sparing the time and thought. Sincerely, Ashutosh Shastry, Ph.D.

Abbie Tippie
2005 Harvard University
Abbie Tippie (REU05) is in a Phd Program in Optics at the University of Rochester.

Paul Vallett
2004 University of New Mexico
Hello! Wow, that certainly was a long time ago... Since the summer of 2004 at UNM, I finished my chemistry degree at the University of Vermont. I completed research with Professor Dan Savin over the next two years on synthesizing and characterizing block copolymers for use in biological systems. I also spent the summer of 2006 and 2007 working at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden Colorado with John Turner, working on systems to use solar energy to split water and make hydrogen. Those research projects have been extremely interesting and hopefully should be published soon. I applied to graduate schools in the fall of 2006 and was accepted to Berkeley, Stanford, and UC Boulder’s Physical Chemistry departments. I decided to pursue my doctorate degree at UC Boulder, primarily so I could continue research at the Renewable Energy lab. In the spring of 2007 I decided to defer attending graduate school for a year to do something different and spent some more time in Vermont. I ended up being a chemistry teacher at a private high school called the Vermont Commons School. I’m enjoying teaching and will continue to teach in various forms until the springtime when I will move back out to Colorado. I am looking forward to getting back to doing research at school, however, and I am glad for the opportunity that the NNIN REU gave me to jump start my career doing research! Hope all is well! - PV

Ken Vampola
2002 Cornell University
It was nice to see you at the convocation. It was an interesting experience to see the whole REU from the other side as a mentor. (This summer, I mentored Jonathan Aguilar.) I am in the Ph.D. program at UC Santa Barbara. I am working to make ultraviolet LEDs brighter and more efficient. I do a considerable amount of process design and development. These are skills that I learned and developed during my summer at Cornell. Outside of school, I am involved in a number of extracurriculars, including the UCSB triathlon team. -Ken

Josef Velten
2006 University of New Mexico
Hello, I’m now doing graduate work at UT Dallas’s Alan MacDermit Nanotechnology Institute, studying dye sensitized solar cells, working on my way to a PhD. I could reasonably say that the internship that I took through NNIN made me seriously look at a career in nanotechnology research, considering it is what I am doing now. Not sure what else to add here. The internship was probably the most enjoyable summer I had during my time as an undergrad.

Brandon Walker
2005 Cornell Intel
Hello MCM, How are you doing? I am doing great. I am in my second your of graduate school at the University of Iowa, Department of Chemistry (Ph.D program). I am a GAANN fellow. I work for Dr. Amanda Haes and my research focus entails the use of nanoparticle technology in combination with molecular beacon systems for improved pathogen detection. There is a lot more to say about it but I am very short for time. I have just completed my departmental seminar and I am eager to start the comps. procedure in the spring. Regards, Brandon M. Walker

David Welch
2005 The Pennsylvania State University
I’m doing as well as any graduate student can. I am in the first year of a PhD program in Bioengineering at Arizona State U. I successfully completed my undergraduate degree at Tulane University even though Katrina did her best to prevent it. The NNIN program was the start to my research career and likely helped me land an REU the following summer at the University of Minnesota. Thanks for the experience. -David Welch

Daron Westly
1999 Cornell University
Daron graduated from the University of South Florida and then joined the staff of the Cornell NanoScale Facility in 2001. He is now one of the CNF’s Electron Beam Lithography Engineers.

Claude Wu
2006 Georgia Tech
Dear Jennifer, How are you? How was the NNIN REU internship this year? I have graduated from UCLA recently with a bachelor degree in electrical engineering. A picture from my commencement is attached. As of now, I am in a training program for Bible truth and church services. It is a full-time program with strict regulation and schedule. Still, I plan to continue to study at a grad school after the training. I sure miss you and the other interns and the time we spent together at Georgia Tech. I am sure you also had a good time with the REU interns this year. Hope that in the future we will have chance to have a reunion. Keep in touch, Claude Wu

Allen Yang
2004 Cornell University
Melanie, I did my REU program at Cornell University in the summer after my junior year of undergrad. I made a lot of friends that summer along with doing interesting research. I am now currently a third-year chemical engineering graduate student at Cornell working in the lab of David Erickson. My research interests lie in the development and study of optofluidic transport, which is a chip-based system for moving small objects using guided optical energy. I still do my fabrication work in the CNF, which is continually changing and improving itself. The REU was instrumental in my post-undergrad career decisions. The research experience in developing nanotechnology opened me to a world of cutting edge research I had not known about previously. I still talk to my program PI and we converse about many things, including his lab’s ongoing research. When the first opportunity arose, I became a mentor for the same REU program in which I participated, and that was a very rewarding experience. The REU program was great for me, and thanks to Melanie for allowing me to help contribute to it and make it better.

Kaylie Young
2006 University of Washington
Ms. Mallison, After participating in the NNIN program at the University of Washington during the summer of 2006, I have continued to conduct research in the field of nanotechnology. Currently I am a senior at Brown University working on my thesis project which involves functionalizing magnetic magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles with functional molecules such as chemotherapy drugs. I am working on developing a new, inexpensive linker chemistry that (i) allows monodisperse Fe3O4 nanoparticles, originally synthesized in organic solvent, to be water soluble and (ii) allows for the attachment of functional molecules to these particles for drug delivery, bio-imaging, bio-separation, enhanced MRI contrast, etc. My experience with the NNIN program was one of the best academic experiences I have had in college. I was able to network with professors who are very well known in the nano field, which is extremely helpful when it comes to applying for graduate programs, and meet some of my future colleagues. Additionally, my work from the summer of 2006 was published in the online undergraduate journal JYI (Journal of Young Investigators). I am currently applying to graduate programs in chemistry. Thank you for doing this Ms. Mallison! It will be very interesting to see what everyone is up to. I am applying to work with my NNIN advisor (Younan Xia who is now at Washington University in St. Louis) for grad school and am also considering Cornell’s program. Thanks! Kaylie Young : ) PS: I wanted to share with you a recent achievement of mine which has led to an article on the Brown homepage. http://www.chem.brown.edu/undergraduate/kyoung.html

Yu Jennifer Zhao
2003 Stanford University
Hi Melanie, I participated in the NNUN REU back in 2003 at Stanford, and I graduated from Cornell’s Material Science Engineering in 2005. I’ve been working at GE’s Global Research Center in the Edison Engineering Development program for the past 2.5 years. I’ve worked on exciting technologies such as MEMS, photovoltaics, and fiber optic sensors. The REU program was definite an eye opener for me. I got to experience laboratory research first hand and worked with world class scientists, plus it was so much fun! Thank you for the great opportunity. I recommend the program for all undergrads interested in research! Jennifer Zhao

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