The Koerner Family Awards for Graduate Students in the College of Engineering continues to support the research of Drexel Engineering graduate students this year by awarding nine students. Founded by Robert M. Koerner, Ph.D (’56, ’63) and his wife Paula Koerner, the awards fund allows graduate students to continue to pursue research in electrical, chemical, mechanical, environmental, and biomedical engineering.
In order to qualify for an award, students must have completed the departmental candidacy examination toward a Ph.D, provided proof of US Citizenship, and submitted a resume and written summary of research done throughout the prior school year.
Drexel would like to congratulate the following students on their achievements and continued success:
Alex Krick, ’16, is a third year Ph.D candidate in materials science and engineering advised by Steven May, Ph.D. His research is focused on engineering the electric properties of (La,Sr)FeO3 thin films. The Koerner Award will help to advance his research in investigating these films for device applications.
Amber Choquette, ’17, is a third year Ph.D candidate in materials science and engineering advised by Steven May, Ph.D. Her research is focused on engineering the optical and electronic properties of (La,Eu)FeO3 thin films and superlatticies. The Koerner Award will help to advance her research in developing a better understanding the perovskite oxide family in order to work toward innovative applications of such.
Andrew Dillon, ’18, is a Ph.D candidate in chemical engineering advised by Aaron Fafarman, Ph.D. His research is focused on the electrochemical challenges of fabricating semiconducting thin films by electrophoretic deposition of semiconductor nanocrystals. The Koerner Award will help to further his research in understanding the electronic properties of electrophoretically deposited semiconductor films by incorporating dopants from the electrophoric deposited bath into the deposit.
Anita Johnson, ’16, is a Ph.D candidate in environmental engineering advised by Peter DeCarlo, Ph.D. Her research is focused on determining the ratio of outdoor particulate matter in indoor versus outdoor environments. The Koerner Award will help to further her research in exploring the impacts of various environmental conditions on the movement of outdoor pollutants into the indoor environment.
Jacob Price is a Ph.D candidate in environmental engineering advised by Christopher Sales, Ph.D. His research is focused on the chemical kinetics and molecular biology of algae metabolism in photobioreactors. The Koerner Award will help to further his research in producing reactor kinetics and metagenomics sequencing data.
Logan Shannahan, ’17,is a Ph. D candidate in mechanical engineering advised by Leslie Lamberson, Ph.D. His research is focused on polymer fiber composites and piezoelectric ceramics. The Koerner Award will help further his research in piezoelectric ceramics and the applications of such.
Pamela Graney, ’16, is a Ph.D candidate in biomedical engineering advised by Kara Spiller, Ph.D. Her research is focused on the role of immune cells in tissue disease and regeneration. The Koerner Award will help to further her research in delineating the role of macrophages in blood vessel development and tissue regeneration.
Sadella Santos,’18, is a second year graduate student in chemical engineering advised by Giuseppe Palmese, Ph.D. Her research is focused on polymers and electrochemistry. The Koerner Award will help further her research in the effect of capsule size on healing efficiency in thin films that are representative of coatings.
Salvador Decelles,’15, is a Ph.D candidate in electrical engineering advised by Nagarajan Kandasamy, Ph.D and Matthew Stamm, Ph.D. His research is focused on automated detection of incipient faults in continuously-running software systems. The Koerner Award will help to advance his ongoing work in developing techniques aimed at reducing the overall computational cost of the system, techniques aimed at reducing the overall communication of the system, and alternate techniques to be applied to the overall methodology.
The students awarded are all driven, bright, and devoted to their research and for this, Drexel again congratulates them and looks forward to their no doubt impactful futures.