November-December 2009

November/December 2009 Volume IV, Issue 3

The Pioneer Newsletter is brought to you by the students, faculty, and staff of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedi-cal Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. The news-letter staff and its collaborators strive to bring you the latest news from all aspects of the BME com-munity. To submit articles, opin-ions, ideas, or events for publica-tion and for more information

about the newsletter, please visit:

Inside this issue:

Thinking About Becoming A “Doctor Doctor”? An Introduction to the M.D./Ph.D. Program

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BME Alumni Spotlight: Anu Parvatiyar from C.R. BARD

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NIH Director’s New Innovator Award Two Georgia Tech Winners

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Student Spotlight: Aileen Li

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Insight Into Graduate Admissions Do You Have What It Takes?

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BMED 1300 Whiteboards & Thermometers

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Faculty Spotlight: Gilda Barabino, Ph.D.

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And More !

www.bmes.gatech.edu/newsletter

fter the completion of a nationwide search, Me-chanical Engineering Professor Robert Guldberg has

been named the new director of The Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB) at the

Georgia Institute of Technology.

Guldberg, who currently serves as IBB associate di-

rector, will assume duties as director on November 1.

“We’re thrilled that Bob Guldberg has accepted this appointment,” said Senior Vice Provost for Research and Innovation Mark Allen. “We had an enormous amount of interest and we attracted candidates of the highest caliber. He has thorough grounding in IBB and a great understanding of where it needs to go strategically in the

next few years.”

By Don Fernandez

New IBB Director Named

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Robert Guldberg, Ph.D., to Assume Duties

Continued on Page 6 Professor Robert Guldberg (Photo: GTRC / GIT)

Buzz on Biotechnology By Andrew Lei &

Stacie Leung Atlanta Students Enjoy a Taste of Bioengineering

alking into a swarming pool of high school students in the atrium of

Georgia Tech's Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering & Bioscience (IBB) building, you could feel the excitement in this year’s Buzz on Biotechnology. Buzz on Biotechnology is an educational outreach program sponsored by the Bioengineering and Biosciences Unified Graduate Students (BBUGS). The morning of Saturday, October 24, high school students took part in fifteen different hands-on activities, toured stem cell and neuroengineering labs and attended presentations on bioengineering and

oceanography.

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Continued on Page 4 Graduate students from BBUGS set up the prosthetic station

during this year’s Buzz on Biotechnology. (Photo: Gopi Patel)

Faculty Sponsor Wendy Newstetter Editors Nida Dharani Kanav Jain Nikolaus Shrum Photographers Kelli Koenig Gopi Patel Kiersten Peterson Collaborators Don Fernandez Paul Fincannon Sally Gerrish Jennifer Kimble Megan McDevitt Adrianne Proeller Shannon Sullivan David Terraso John Toon Abby Vogel

Editors in Chief Willa Ni Chun Yong Staff Writers Nancy Kim Andrew Lei Stacie Leung Ruobin Ling Graham McAdory Elaina McLean Aswin Natarajan Ayesha Patel Karan Patel Elina Sarmah Rosemary Song Dhruv Vishwakarma Layout Editors Kevin Lam Annie Macedo Webmaster Elysia Hwang

Staff Members

“That’s So BME!” Voices From The Student Body

A Couple of Words

he Pioneer thanks all the readers for their support this semester. This November/December issue will be the last issue of 2009. In the in-

terim we will be evaluating our performance this semester and we en-courage you to join us. As usual, comments or suggestions can be e-

mailed to [email protected].

We also thank the staff, collaborators and advisors for their continued support, enthusiasm, impromptu brainstorming sessions, ideas, and time. With the Coulter Department's innovative curriculum, dedicated profes-sors, and eager students, we have a culture. The Pioneer not only strives to communicate this culture, but also embraces this unique and often-times quirky character we know as BME. So thank you for reading and

see you next year!

Yours sincerely,

Chun Yong and Willa Ni

Editors in Chief

The Pioneer

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From the Editors in Chief

"Planning group meetings around House and The Office

was bad enough, but now Glee?!"

- Distraught PBL Resident

"I was about to brush my teeth this morning when I realized I had left my toothbrush and a

pillow in our PBL room"

- Genuine PBL Resident

"My friend asked me why I dropped 2210. ‘What goes in

must come out,' I told him."

- W on Transcript

“Walking into research the Monday of Fall Break, I was sur-prised/amused to find two other undergrads already

there.”

- BME Lab Rat

Submit your student voices to: [email protected]!

By You!

“IBB Holds Secret Transformers Convention.”

Anagram of the Month: A Rearrangement of Letters

Paul Fincannon Painful Cannon

joint degree with a Ph.D. can be found in almost all professional fields from

veterinary medicine to pharmacy. The joint degree creates a professional that we call a physician-scientist. Doing the com-bined degree means that you do your first two years of medical school; typically those are your basic science classes. Then you start your Ph.D. Depending how success-ful your research is it will take you 3 to 5 years to complete it. After, you reenter medical school for your last two years;

those are your clinical rotation years.

As a physician-scientist, you will not meet a patient in the consultation room, walk back to your lab, whip up a concoc-tion that provides an instant cure and send the patient on his way. Instead, it gives you freedom in doing medical research. Also, if you want to go into academic medicine, you will be more marketable

with the M.D./Ph.D.

Does That Mean Paying For Extra

School?

Two tracks of funding exist for an M.D./Ph.D. program. One is doing a Medi-cal Scientist Training Program (MSTP) that receives governmental funding. MSTP win-ners get their M.D. and Ph.D. paid for and receive a stipend for living expenses. The alternative is funding from the school offer-ing the degree. These programs may pay

for either one or both degrees.

What If You Decide Midway That A

Ph.D. Is Not For You?

Depending on the contract a school has with you, you may need to pay back the school for everything. This is another rea-son to make sure a joint degree is for you

before signing on the dotted line.

What Is The Downside Of Doing An

M.D./Ph.D.?

For students who only want to do a little bit of research, a joint Master of Sci-ence degree is a better fit. You have to love research to do the M.D./Ph.D.! As one of my friends once said, “It’s hard to be stuck in a lab working on your research when all of your friends you entered med school with are doing their rotations and

getting ready for residency.”

Is It Hard To Get Accepted?

Schools will scrutinize your application. They want to make sure you have chal-

lenged yourself academically. Translated into numbers, this parallels a GPA of 3.8 or higher and MCAT scores of 12 to 13 in

each section.

Extensive research is another criterion. I recommend any pre-M.D./Ph.D students do the Research Option, present at con-

ferences, and get published.

My competitive M.D./Ph.D candidates also have strong letters of evaluation from professors and research supervisors. These students have clear educational goals and have communicated them to people around them; therefore, the evalua-

tors can incorporate that into the letter.

How Do I Apply?

First, investigate the potential schools. Some schools will not have the Ph.D. pro-gram you are looking for. Also, talk to research supervisors, graduate students, and people informed about your research interest. If you do find a professor at a university doing research that you would like to participate in, send that professor an e-mail stating your interest and your potential application to the M.D./Ph.D.

program.

Starting the spring of the calendar year before you want to start medical school (i.e. spring of 2011 for the fall 2012 entry class), attend all the application workshops offered by the Office of Pre-Health Advis-ing. In addition to essays on the actual application, you will need strong letters of recommendation, and even a writing sam-

ple from class.

After that step, every school handles the M.D./Ph.D portion differently. Most M.D./Ph.D. programs have two day inter-views. If you are accepted to only the M.D. or the Ph.D. program, ask if you can reap-ply to the joint program after pursuing that

single degree program for a period of time.

What is My Next Step?

Start researching about the M.D./Ph.D. program! Visit the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) website at www.aamc.org or schedule an appoint-ment with me to talk about your M.D./

Ph.D. goals (www.advising.gatech.edu).

Several events are also coming up that will teach you about the program. More

information is found on the right.

Thinking About Being a “Doctor Doctor”? By Jennifer Kimble An Introduction to the M.D./Ph.D. Program

M.D./Ph.D Events

Morehouse Medical School

M.D./Ph.D. Admissions Directors would like to welcome you to an event at Morehouse College’s Lead-ership Center (830 Westview Dr., Atlanta, GA 30314) on November 16 at 6:00 PM to help you learn more

about the program.

Translational Research Symposium

On January 15, 2010, the M.D./Ph.D. Programs of Baylor College of Medicine and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston’s Medical School and M. D. Anderson Cancer Center will host a special Translational Research Sym-posium and an M.D./Ph.D Career Development Workshop the next day. Information about these pro-grams can be found at http://

gsbs.uth.tmc.edu/symposium.htm

The Symposium illustrates state-of-the-art basic science research that is conducted and rapidly translated to improve clinical and public health outcomes. The Workshop has been specifically designed for current and prospec t iv e M .D . /Ph .D s tu -dents. Both the Symposium and Workshop are open and there is no charge to attend, but visiting students must register to attend the Work-shop by December 31, 2009. Some travel funds are also available for prospective M.D./Ph.D students to attend the symposium and work-

shop.

The deadline to submit an appli-cation for the travel award is No-vember 15, 2009, and instructions can be found at the aforementioned

website.

A

Jennifer Kimble is the pre-health advisor at the Georgia

Institute of Technology.

[email protected]

From Page 1 ...Dunwoody High senior Jasma Ine ex-plained that "One thing I learned from today is how much... an engineering back-ground correlates with chemistry and biol-ogy." Students also enjoyed the "Frozen Fun" demonstration, which involved liquid nitrogen, dry ice, flash freezing objects and smashing those objects. "Understanding how air from a blown up balloon can com-press into what is as thin as a sheet of pa-per… was very cool," says Caroline, a

Dunwoody High freshman.

Though many students attended the event to receive bonus points, Josh Buchs-baun and Ricky Liou of Chamblee High

commented that they “surprisingly found this to be very fun and filled with… a lot more hands on learning than [they] thought [it would]." Another junior form Chamblee High, Henry Adams took a lab tour and "was really excited about… the

neuroengineering lab."

Though this event targeted high school students, graduate students had just as much fun as the participants. Ibana Ken-nedy, a first year graduate student at the Egg Drop table enjoyed "seeing kids com-ing and realizing… that this sort of stuff can be really fun." Daniel, a second year graduate student worked on the Motor

Illusions demo, which causes participants to lose their ability to touch their nose accurately or sense that they were falling backwards. “My favorite part of Buzz on Bio-technology was definitely interacting with all the kids... It was also really fun and a little challenging to explain

what was going on.”

At the prosthetics station, second year graduate student Chris found that adults “were actually just as excited or even more so about the prosthetics as the kids

were.”

Once again, this year's Buzz on Biotech-nology has demystified the world of a graduate student and helped high school students take one step closer to becoming a scientist or an engineer in the biotech-

nology field.

Students at the Egg Drop station preparing their eggs

for free fall. (Photo: Gopi Patel)

Recent Coulter Department Publications Congratulations to the Following Accomplishments in the Month of October!

High school students, parents, and volunteers gather to watch the

results of the egg drop competition. (Photo: Kelli Koenig)

Andrew Lei and Stacie Leung are undergraduate stu-

dents in the Coulter Department.

he Pioneer congratulates the following faculty, post-docs, and graduates for

this past month’s research publications. Accounts of Chemical Research “Semiconductor Nanocrystals: Structure, Properties, and Band Gap Engineering.”

Smith AM, Nie S

Annals of Biomedical Engineering “Disulfide-crosslinked polyion micelles for delivery of protein therapeutics.”

Heffernan MJ, Murthy N

“Selective targeting of nanocarriers to neu-trophils and monocytes.”

Karathanasis E, Geigerman CM, Parkos CA, Chan L, Bellamkonda RV, Jaye DL

“Systems Analysis of the Role of Bone Morphogenic Protein 4 in Endothelial In-flammation.”

Yin W, Jo H, Voit EO

Biomaterials “Polyketal microparticles for therapeutic delivery to the lung.” Fiore VF, Lofton MC, Roser-Page S, Yang SC, Roman J,

Murthy N, Barker TH

“Altered adherent leukocyte profile on biomaterials in Toll-like receptor 4 defi-cient mice.“

Rogers TH, Babensee JE

Biotechnology Progress “Expression of a recombinant elastin-like protein in pichia pastoris.”

Sallach RE, Conticello VP, Chaikof EL. Biotechnology and Bioengineering “Hydrodynamic modulation of embryonic stem cell differentiation by rotary orbital suspension culture. “

Sargent CY, Berguig GY, Kinney MA, Hiatt LA, Carpenedo RL, Berson RE, McDevitt TC.

Brain Research “Asymmetric connectivity reduction and its relationship to "HAROLD" in aging brain. “

Li Z, Moore AB, Tyner C, Hu X

Human Brain Mapping “Voxelwise and skeleton-based region of interest analysis of fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in young adults.”

Li L, Coles CD, Lynch ME, Hu X

Journal of Biomechanical Engineering “A phenomenological model for mechani-cally mediated growth, remodeling, dam-age, and plasticity of gel-derived tissue engineered blood vessels. “

Raykin J, Rachev AI, Gleason RL Jr

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Continued on Page 5

Research Assistant Needed!

The Precision Biosystems Laboratory is looking for

an undergraduate research assistant.

Principal Investigator: Craig Forest, Ph.D.

Graduate Student: Suhasa Kodandaramaiah

Topic: Completely Automated Capillary Array Based Instrumentation for Multi Patch-Clamp Re-

cording

Hours: Minimum of 10 hours per week

Requirements: Please submit a resume and an

unofficial transcript to Suhasa via email:

[email protected]

Looking for Undergraduate

Assistants? Submit details to

[email protected]!

BME Alumni Spotlight:

I nterested in entering industry instead of graduate school or medical school? Last winter, Anu Parvatiyar graduated with a major in BME and a minor in Economics and now works for C.R. BARD, a worldwide medical de-vice and supply company. Parvatiyar serves as a Research and Development Project Engineer in which she designs devices such as cardiac access ports, gastric tubes and tracheal tubes. With fellow engineering team managers, Par-vatiyar designs new devices that can aid

the health of many people at a time.

Parvatiyar has always wanted to help people and thought that designing a device that could make a difference in someone’s life could help so many more people at once. She explains that “after falling in love with design through my Senior Design Project and BME 2300 class, I saw that a job in en-gineering could probably make me hap-pier than becoming an actual doctor.” Parvatiyar also had clinical research ex-perience at the Grady Memorial Hospi-tal during her sophomore year. Her ex-tracurricular activities combined with the BME curriculum prepared Parvati-

yar for work with trained professionals outside the academic world. She also adds that we "have the benefit of hav-ing the best advisor ever [Paul Fincan-

non].”

Recently, Parvatiyar attended the Biotechnology Career Fair as a repre-sentative of BARD. Parvatiyar states that competition for jobs has increased greatly within the last few years and re-cruiting for jobs has become even tougher. She received over 500 re-sumes for just 6 openings spots in the company, which gave Parvatiyar and her team great difficulty in choosing. “Obviously everyone learns as they move onto different things, but we look for someone who works great with others and someone in which we don’t have to ever question their abili-ties,” explained Parvatiyar. Parvatiyar thoroughly enjoys working with BARD and hopes that she can make a differ-ence in people’s lives through her pas-

sion in designing new medical devices.

By Ayesha Patel Anu Parvatiyar from C.R. BARD

After graduating with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and a minor

in economics, Anu Parvatiyar returns to Georgia Tech during the

5th Annual Biotechnology Career Fair to recruit BMEs for her cur-

rent company, C.R. Bard, a medical device and supply firm. (Photo:

Kiersten Peterson)

Ayesha Patel is an undergraduate student in the

Coulter Department.

“Microstructurally motivated constitutive modeling of mouse arteries cul-tured under altered axial stretch. “

Hansen L, Wan W, Gleason RL.

Journal of Biomechanics “Neural mechanobiology and neuronal vulnerability to traumatic loading.”

Laplaca MC, Prado GR.

Journal of Neural Engineering “Bioimpedance modeling to monitor astrocytic response to chronically implanted electrodes.“

McConnell GC, Butera RJ, Bellamkonda RV

“Implanted neural electrodes cause chronic, local inflammation that is cor-related with local neurodegeneration.”

McConnell GC, Rees HD, Levey AI, Gutekunst CA, Gross RE, Bellamkonda RV

Journal of the Royal Society Interface “Rate-dependent control strategies stabilize limb forces during human lo-comotion. “

Yen JT, Chang YH.

Want yours here? Submit recent publica-tions to [email protected]!

Recent Publications (con’t)

Contribute to The Pioneer! Submit student voices,

articles, or join the staff!

www.bmes.gatech.edu/newsletter

From Page 1 ...“We had an enormous amount of interest and we attracted candi-dates of the highest caliber. He has thorough grounding in IBB and a great understanding of where it needs to go strategically in the next

few years.”

Guldberg first joined the faculty ranks at Georgia Tech in 1996, serving both in IBB and the Georgia W. Woodruff School of Mechani-

cal Engineering. He was appointed associate director of IBB in 2004.

“It is a great honor to be asked to serve as the next director of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience,” said Guld-berg. “IBB’s original mission when it was launched in 1995 was to be a vehicle for accelerating Georgia Tech’s move into bio-related re-search. This was an incredibly successful experiment made possible by the generous support of alumnus Pete Petit and the vision and dedi-cated efforts of IBB’s founding director Bob Nerem and other leaders

on campus.”

When first launched in 1995, the mission of IBB was to create an awareness of bioengineering and bioscience on the Georgia Tech cam-pus. With the Institute now fully established, Guldberg said IBB is now “positioned to have an even greater impact by serving as the heart of the broader Georgia Tech bioscience and bioengineering community and an international model for interdisciplinary research and educa-

tion.”

Guldberg succeeds Mechanical Engineering Professor Robert Nerem in the role of director. Nerem has served in this leadership role at IBB since its inception. Nerem will continue contributing to promising research goals, along with fostering Georgia Tech’s evolving

relationship with Emory University in the field of bioengineering.

“I believe Bob [Guldberg] has the right set of skills to take the Petit Institute to the next level,” said Nerem. “He certainly

will have my full support.”

“As for me, I will turn my attention and energies to continu-ing to build our regenerative medicine research program through our joint Georgia Tech/Emory Center (GTEC). This includes expanding our efforts in stem cell technology. I also hope to help build further bridges between Georgia Tech and Emory University, as I believe Emory will in the future become

an even more important partner with Georgia Tech.”

Guldberg received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, his masters in bioengineering/mechanical engineer-ing and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Univer-

sity of Michigan.

The rich promise that IBB poses in such areas as regenera-tive medicine, stem cell research and cancer fighting drugs has Guldberg enthused about the future of the Institute and the

research that develops.

“Through leadership in addressing the challenges of transla-tional research in addition to new collaborative programs and facilities, IBB will bring scientists and engineers together to work towards creative solutions to important scientific and societal problems,” Guldberg said. “This is a great opportunity and I am tremendously excited to start this new chapter in the

life of IBB.”

Mechanical Engineering Professor Robert Nerem has served as IBB director since

its inception. (Photo: GTRC / GIT)

The Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience was first launched in 1995 (Photo: GTRC /

GIT) Don Fernandez is a media relations specialist from Georgia Tech’s Communica-

tion and Marketing.

NIH Director’s New Innovator Award

he National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the US government's primary agency

for conducting and supporting medical research, investing over $28 billion yearly into grants for researchers. Recently Melissa Kemp, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Coulter Department, and Christine Payne, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, each received one of these grants, the NIH Director's New Innovator Award. This prestigious grant awards $1.5 million over a five year period to newer researchers who "propose highly innovative projects that have the potential for unusually high

impact."

Kemp recalls receiving a phone call from Jeremy Berg, the Director of the National Institute of General Medical Sci-ences and thinking that she was about to be turned down for the award. Instead, Berg congratulated her on receiving one of fifty-five 2009 NIH Director's New Innova-tor Award. Kemp's research focuses on reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as "hydrogen peroxide and superoxide, which were thought to be harmful," but is actually a conduit of information for cells. With a systems biology approach, Kemp will model the effects of ROS on cellular signal-ing. Kemp will use the award to support her current lab members, hire additional

personnel, and purchase new equipment.

Payne focuses on the intracellular deliv-ery and targeting of nanoparticles. These nanoparticles could then be used in genetic engineering, cell imaging, and drug delivery. Her award will pay for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and additional sup-

plies and equipment.

The NIH Director's New Innovator Award is especially unique in its absence of supervision or artificial standards in the

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Melissa Kemp, Ph.D., (left) and Christine Payne, Ph.D., (right) received the National Institutes of Health

Director’s New Innovator Award. (Photo: GTRC / GIT)

By Ruobin Ling & Willa Ni Two Georgia Tech Faculty Members Receive Prestigious Grant

terms of the grant. Kemp explains that grants usually require recipients to be "precise and upfront" about the usage of the money. The flexibility of “this award lets you focus on the science,” remarks

Payne.

Ruobin Ling and Willa Ni are undergraduate students

in the Coulter Department.

November 3 - BMES: SANUWAVE Inc. Seminar

Find out more about SANUWAVE Inc. in this seminar hosted by the Biomedical

Engineering Society (BMES). 11:00-12:00 PM, Whitaker 1103.

November 5 - Russell Monds, Ph.D., Stanford University

Join Russell Monds, Ph.D., from Stanford University in his seminar TBA. 11:00-

12:00 PM, Cherry Emerson 320.

November 10 - IBB Breakfast Club

Join Eric Gaucher, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Biology, and his seminar “Evolutionary and Synthetic Biology.” Continental breakfast will be provided. 8:30-

9:30 AM, IBB 1128.

November 12 - BME Young Innovators Seminar

Join Edward Botchwey, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Orthopedic Surgery, University of Virginia in his “Sphingosine 1-Phosphate (S1P) Receptor Selective Activation Regulates Microvascular Remodeling, Osteoimmu-

nology and Bone Repair.” 11:00-12:00 PM, Whitaker 1103.

November 12 - BMES: General Meeting

There will be a general meeting for all members. 11:00-12:00 PM, Whitaker 1103.

November 12 - International Plan Advising Session

Learn more about the International Plan. 11:00-12:00 PM, Student Center Com-

mons, Cypress Room.

November 12-14 - ORNL Conference on Bioinformatics

This year, Georgia Tech continues the tradition of biennial International Confer-ences in Bioinformatics, bringing together leading, world-renowned researchers in genomics and bioinformatics to present recent advances in the field and to discuss

open problems. Held in the Ferst Center. For more information visit:

http://www2.isye.gatech.edu/binf2009/

November 13 - Annual Hilton Head Workshop Deadline

Abstracts for the 14th Annual Hilton Head Workshop are due. Back-to-back Hil-ton Head Workshops will be hosted. The first meeting, Heart Valve Biology and Tissue Engineering will be held March 7-10, 2010. The second meeting, Regenera-tive Medicine: Advancing to Next Generation Therapies will be held March 10-13,

2010. For more information, visit www.hiltonhead.gatech.edu

November 16-17 - Frontiers in Macromolecular Simulations

The 5th annual symposium is sponsored by the IBB. For more information, visit:

www.ibb.gatech.edu/frontiers

November 19 - Bioengineering Seminar

Join Newell Washburn, Ph.D., from Carnegie Mellon University in his “Design

Principles for Cytokine-Regulating Biomaterials.” 11:00-12:00 PM, IBB 1128.

November 26-27 - Official School Holiday

November 30 - December 4 - Dead Week

December 7-11 - Final Exams

December 8 - Cimona Hinton, Ph.D., Clark Atlanta U

Join Cimona Hinton, Ph.D., from Clark Atlanta University in her seminar. 11:00-

12:00 PM, Cherry Emerson 320.

December 10 - BME Young Innovators Seminar

Join Robert Mauck, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Orthopedic Surgery and Bioengi-neering, University of Pennsylvania in his “Engineering on the Straight and Nar-row: Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering with Dynamic Nanofibrous Scaffolds.”

11:00-12:00 PM, Whitaker 1103.

January 11 - Classes Begin: Spring Semester 2010

November & December Events

To submit events and other important dates,

please email: [email protected]!

*Events subject to change. For more information, please check www.gatech.edu/calendar, www.bme.gatech.edu/

calendar, and www.ibb.gatech.edu/events.

Planning to go to graduate school? Already a graduate student? Apply for the NSF Graduate Fellowship to help fund your work to-wards a doctorate. Full proposals are due in No-vember. Contact Dr. A m a n d a G a b l e ([email protected] ch . edu ) o r v i s i t :

www.nsf.gov/grfp.

National Science Foundation Graduate

Fellowships

Study Abroad Sessions Interested in an academic adventure over-seas? A study abroad advisor will be available to answer questions and provide information about the program. All sessions are located

in the Savant Building, Room 211.

General Study Abroad

Every Tuesday, November, 11:30-12:30 PM

Every Wednesday, November, 4:00-5:00 PM

Non-GT Study Abroad Every Tuesday, November to December,

11:30-12:00 PM Every Wednesday, November to December,

11:30-12:30 PM

Exchange Program Info Sessions

November 3, 3:00-4:00 PM

November 19, 3:00-4:00 PM

November 23, 9:00-10:00 AM

December 1, 2:00-3:00 PM

China Undergraduate Research Experi-

ence (CURE) Program

Applications are now being accepted for the year-long research program beginning in Spring 2010 and commending in Fall 2010. Academic credit will be given for research at Georgia Tech/Emory Uni-versity during spring and fall while 11 weeks of pay will be given for research at Peking University during summer. Pick up an application form in the BME Academic Office and turn it in by 5 PM, Fri-

day November 13!

his past month, the American Medical Student Association co-hosted the AMSA Regional Con-

ference (Regions 5, 7, 9) at the Emory School of Medi-cine. The event was a huge success with over 300 reg-istered members from 12 different states across the

nation.

In addition, GT AMSA participated in Team Buzz at Medshare International, volunteered at Trinity Soup Kitchen, hosted a field trip to the Bodies Exhibit, and provided information sessions for several medical schools, including Morehouse School of Medicine, the Medical College of Georgia, Mercer School of Medi-

cine, and the Medical University of South Carolina.

This month, GT AMSA will be sponsoring Global Health Education Week during November 2-6. This event will take place on Skiles walkway where students from AMSA will focus on various diseases (mental & physical health, sexual health, cold/flu season, skin can-cer, heart disease and diabetes) each day of the week. In addition, guest speaker Professor Teresa Snow will give a presentation on American College of Sports Medicine's “Exercise is Medicine” campaign on Novem-ber 3 at 5:30pm in room 105 of the Instructional Cen-

ter (food will be provided).

Other events for the rest of fall include Medshare volunteering sessions and information sessions for the Pritzker School of Medicine (University of Chicago)

and the Emory School of Medicine.

To find out how you can join AMSA, please visit:

www.amsa.gatech.edu.

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Have a great idea? Submit your Intent to Compete online at: http://inventureprize.gatech.edu/!

he Georgia Tech Biomedical Engineering Society (GT BMES) has been very busy this year providing events for GT BMEs. The fall

semester got off to a quick start in early September during the annual Fall Kickoff in which over 100 students joined GT BMES. Students were entered into a raffle as they joined and throughout the afternoon won prizes such as new DVDs, nalgene bottles, draw string backpacks, and other GT BME memorabilia. However, to receive their prizes, the new members had to introduce themselves and answer random questions about themselves as well to lighten the atmosphere. WREK, Georgia Tech's campus radio station, supplied a DJ for the event and provided live music. This was a great opportunity for fellow students to meet other BMEs and gave a chance for the elected officers to introduce themselves while getting great food. The GT Biomedical Engineering Society has been working tirelessly to get new speakers and hold events for its members this year. Already, GT BMES has hosted industry speak-ers from Edward Life Sciences and SANUWAVE, speakers from the Work Abroad and Co-Operative Program at Georgia Tech, and a semi-nar by Dr. Todd McDevitt, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, for students on best practices for requesting and receiving letters of recommendation. But that's just the beginning! In addition to the monthly general meetings in which members socialize with BMESers, request speakers, suggest ideas, and get free food, GT BMES is planning much more. On the horizon are industry tours, gradu-ate and faculty research panels, and graduate school, medical school, and industry seminars featuring GT BME alumni. For more information, please contact Rafeed Chaudhury ([email protected]) or visit

www.bmes.gatech.edu.

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The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., (IEEE-USA) is launching the organization's third online engineering video compe-tition for undergraduate students on "How Engineers Make a World of Difference." IEEE-USA will present four scholarship awards total-ing $5,000 to undergraduates who create the most effective 90-second video clips reinforcing for an 11-to-13-year-old audience how engi-neers improve the world. Entries must be submitted through YouTube by midnight Eastern Time on January 15, 2010. Winning entries will be announced and shown during Engineers Week, February 14-20, 2010.

For more info, visit: http://www.ieeeusa.org/communications/video_competition/

enior Georgia Tech undergraduate Aileen Li has some very sound advice

for all students. From exploring her pas-sion for teaching as a teacher's assistant (TA) to conducting research and interning with Genzyme, Li has taken advantage of

many opportunities offered to students.

Li's internship with Genzyme, a bioengi-neering company that treats people with enzymatic deficiencies, was a 6 month project that placed her in Boston, MA. Li's project determined the validity of the processes carried out by the manufacturing department on the industrial scale. Li notes that when working in industry, the ability to quickly and independently understand processes is essential. Thankfully in Li's ex-perience the BME program does "a very good job of training students to learn things very quickly and independently and

be able to catch up on critical thinking."

Li encourages all engineering students to work in industry by finding an internship or co-op for several reasons. Not only can students explore available career options and interact with people outside your field of expertise, but students are also allowed to learn from mistakes without the harsh consequences that come with having a for-mal position at the company. Additionally, Li is still in touch with many of her friends

from Genzyme.

Her research under Manu O Platt, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Coulter Department, focuses on the differentiation

decisions of monocytes, precursor cells, into either macrophages, debris engulfing white blood cells, or osteoclasts, bone ma-trix disintegrating cells. That Li truly enjoys her work is apparent. Platt remarks that Li "has a drive for research and a passion for new data and ideas. That motivates her to really put in hours in the lab, which for a GT undergrad taking a full course load, is no easy feat." In turn, Li points out that she is "very fortunate to be doing something she enjoys with great people and under a

great PI [Platt]."

As a CS 1371, Introduction to MAT-LAB, TA and a BMED 3100, Systems Physi-ology, grader, Li enjoys standing in front of a class and talking and interacting with the students. She compares learning program-ming and physiology to learning to ride a bike - “It’s one of those things that neces-sary, useful, and you should learn it. It’s not difficult once you get the hang of it, like anything. You want to be able to think about what you're doing; you can't just ap-

ply formulas."

Pertaining to classes, Li advises students to truly learn class material despite a lack of immediate application. She explains that "you might not think that it [coursework] is very important at the moment, but you never know when the material will come in

handy."

After finishing up her Bachelor's degree, Li plans on attending graduate school. Her attitude towards learning, exploration and

Student Spotlight: Aileen Li By Dhruv Vishwakarma Teacher, Researcher, and Student

Aileen Li, a senior undergraduate student in the Coulter

Department, at the Biomedical Engineering Society Annual

Fall Scientific Meeting at the David L. Lawrence Conven-

tion Center in Pittsburgh, PA. (Photo: Lazarina Gyoneva)

S

experience is exemplary and her advice for students is sound and useful - "Work hard, try to understand the material, try to truly

learn, and what you get is what you get."

Dhruv Vishwakarma is an undergraduate student in the

Coulter Department.

The Genzyme Center in Cambridge, MA. (Photo: www.genzymecenter.com)

s leaves shed their summer hues, cooler weather approaches and gradu-

ate school paperwork looms overhead. Given the January deadlines for many appli-cations, undergraduates interested in graduate school usually spend the fall of their senior year preparing the necessary material. In addition to their basic applica-tion, students must also submit a personal statement, three letters of recommenda-tion, a transcript, and GRE/Test scores. In the Coulter Department, Shannon Sullivan, the graduate academic advisor, receives the paperwork and looks through the ap-

plications with other faculty members.

As Gilda Barabino, Ph.D., Associate Chair for Graduate Studies, explains, the BME graduate program is not only looking for "top students from around the country, but also the students who are best fit for our program." In that capacity, Sullivan says that undergraduate research is essential to competitive application. Undergraduate re-search will show that a student has "aptitude and interest in research, which is fitting since graduate school focuses heavily

on research," remarks Barabino. Overall, a student is evaluated as a whole. "No one is expected to be flawless in every category," so Barabino says that reference letters, test scores, leadership positions, and GPAs

are all taken into consideration.

Also, Barabino points out that "students who do best in graduate applica-tions are able to communicate that they have a plan for their academic and profes-sional career. Not that you have it all fig-ured out, but you at least have a direction in mind." Given the huge commitment that graduate school requires, the review team wants to know that an applicant is ready to

embark on this journey.

Once they are in graduate school, the average student takes between five to six years to complete the degree. Aspiring graduate students should expect the first one and a half to two years of graduate school to be mainly coursework with only a small amount of time spent in a labora-tory. However, after this period of time, they will be spending almost all of their

time exclusively in the lab.

Fortunately, not all time is spent on academics. Many graduates are involved in the Bioengineering and Biosciences Unified Graduate Students (BBUGS), a social and professional organization made up of graduate students in biotechnology-related departments in Georgia Tech and Emory. BBUGS hosts academic and professional development seminars, volunteer activities, and several other social events such as tail-gates. Many graduate students are also in-volved in more casual activities such as in-tramural sports. Indeed, Sullivan says, the graduate student body is as varied as the

undergraduate population.

With students maneuvering between classes and social activities, Sullivan says that students sometimes come to her for help in finding balance and managing expec-tations. In this respect, she says that gradu-ate school is a unique place where students are students, but that it is also akin to

holding a full-time job.

Insight Into Graduate Admissions Process By Karan Patel and Willa Ni Do You Have What it Takes?

E ach semester, students in BMED 1300 (Problems of Biomedical Engineering I) tackle three problems in teams of eight with a faculty facilitator. This semester, the second of those three problems asks the teams to "identify a factor that would affect the accuracy, repeatability, or reproducibil-ity of either a tympanic or temporal ther-

mometer."

One group chose to analyze the effects of condensation on tympanic thermometer accuracy based off of a published study in-volving thermometer accuracy. According to group members, leadership was an ab-solute necessity. Sophomore Cate Donaldson explained, “For this problem, leadership was especially influential to-wards getting everyone on the same page to achieve the goal of the experiment.” The experiments were conducted during the week of October 19 utilizing various thermometer brands such as the Braun In-frared Tympanic Thermometer which boasts professional usage in hospitals and

doctor clinics.

Wendy Newstetter, Ph.D, Director of Learning Science Research and 1300 pro-fessor describes how she chooses these highly complex problems. “Over time, we thought of 1300 as a methods course. The first two problems have to do with mini-mizing error under a screening method and an experiment.” The second and third problems are companions in the sense that each problem involves hypothesis testing, one with human subjects such as the re-cent thermometer experiment, and one with mathematical modeling. Newstetter explains that “the third problem used to be ethics-related, however we [the Coulter Department] changed it to make it more relevant to future courses such as Conser-vation Principles in BMED 2210, and Bio-

statistics in BMED 2400.”

On the faculty side of the class, New-stetter reveals that when she goes abroad to discuss problem-based learning, her au-dience is astounded that the BME faculty enjoys teaching 1300. “Believe it or not” she remarked, “faculty do not usually like to lecture. Our faculty enjoys teaching

1300 because in a sense it is similar to their research lab. One of the things we hope happens is that the students em-power themselves to be biomedical engi-

neers”.

Biomedical Engineering 1300 By Graham McAdory Introduction to Whiteboards, Group Dynamics and Thermometers

Wendy Newstetter, Ph.D., Director of Learning Science

Research and professor of BMED 1300 (Problems in

Biomedical Engineering I) introduces young BMEs to the

problem-based learning system. (Photo: GTRC / GIT)

A

Karan Patel and Willa Ni are undergraduate students

in the Coulter Department.

Graham McAdory is an undergraduate student in the

Coulter Department.

Faculty Spotlight: Gilda Barabino, Ph.D.

W ithin the Georgia Tech BME bubble, adjectives such as interdisciplinary and collaborative apply to endeavors at all levels.

Stepping outside of this bubble in her roles as Vice Provost for Academic

Diversity, two-term Treasurer of BMES, and principal investigator on faculty

development grants, Gilda Barabino, Ph.D., the associate chair for graduate

studies and professor in the Coulter Department, applies these very same

traits to a very different set of problems.

This past fall, Barabino spearheaded Georgia Tech's first annual Diversity

Symposium, which among other goals wanted to draw attention to the

connection between the diversification of faculty and student diversity and

achievement. Faculty, administrators, and students heard from a panel of

experts and then participated in a working lunch. Sitting in groups,

participants talked about how to best infuse diversity at Georgia Tech. This

flow of conversation in itself impacts the progression of diversity at Georgia

Tech. As Barabino explains," We are all in our own disciplines and we don't

cross boundaries enough. So if we break down barriers and connect people

across departments, across institutions, across whatever population an

individual is a member of… we learn about shared interests and shared

goals. And when we work together towards those goals, we’re more likely

to achieve them and provide better solutions to complex problems." In fact,

student participants in the first annual Diversity Symposium aim to hold a

similar venue for discussion geared more towards students.

In her research with cartilage tissue engineering, Barabino applies a

similar concept of combining diverse areas of expertise. Drawing from her

background in fluid mechanics and bioreactors, which provide a platform to scale up the cultivation of cells and tissues, Barabino seeks

a way to "engineer cartilage that mimics that found in the

body." Fluid mechanical forces stimulate cell growth and

influence the tissue properties. Currently, Barabino's

laboratory has developed cartilage that resembles native

cartilage in looks, but not mechanical strength. Ongoing

studies are directed towards a better understanding of the

hydrodynamic parameters required to impart mechanical

strength. Besides tissue engineering, Barabino's laboratory

also studies the abnormal blood flow and blood cell

interactions with the vessel wall in sickle cell disease.

Given her range of involvement from the bench to the

board, one wonders how Barabino found her way to such

a variety of positions. With a smile, Barabino says that "it is

all related." For example, her experience in the classroom

and laboratory mentoring students and her work funded

by the National Science Foundation to increase the

participation of underrepresented minorities and women

in the academy is applicable in doing work as the

associated chair of graduate studies and to her work as the

Vice Provost of Academic Diversity.

By Willa Ni Paving the Road to Cross-Campus Collaborations

Gilda Barabino, Ph.D., is a professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Depart-

ment of Biomedical Engineering. (Photo: GTRC / GIT)

Vice Provost for Academic Diversity and BME Professor Gilda Barabino talks with an attendee at

the Women’s Resource Center’s 10th anniversary celebration. (Photo: GTRC / GIT) Willa Ni is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department.

November-December 2009

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