Two College of Engineering faculty members, Mira Olson and Antonios Zavaliangos, recently received U.S. Department of Education Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) awards.
Associate Professor Mira Olson of the Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering (CAEE) department received a GAANN award titled, “Drexel University GAANN Fellowships in (Appropriate) Research Management in the Urban Environment.” The objective of this support is to advance successful civil, architectural, and environmental engineers and to effectively train them in research and teaching intended to promote resource recovery, resource protection, energy efficiency, and appropriate resource management of the built environment into both their engineering professions and future academic curricula. This award will support a selected number of highly qualified graduate students to obtain their doctoral degrees in the CAEE department.
Professor Antonios Zavaliangos of the Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) department has received a three-year GAANN grant. This marks the seventh GAANN grant awarded to a PI who is from the MSE department. “GAANN: Engineering for Pharmaceutical Applications” will support Ph.D. students in the areas of novel drug design, an interdisciplinary research area that is responsible for many improvements in quality of life of patients with chronic or previously incurable diseases; drug delivery optimization, which aims for efficient and effective action of drugs within the human body; and pharmaceutical manufacturing, where understanding of operations offers the opportunity to minimize costs.