Three engineering students receive undergraduate research awards

The College of Engineering is pleased to announce that of three its students received awards at Wayne State's Undergraduate Research and Creative Projects (UROP) conference. John Drabik, Hamad Mirza and Owen Pierce were among 12 total winners recognized.

Drabik's poster covered the topic "Design and Implementation of a Custom Desktop Bioreactor System." Drabik presented on the creation and evolution of a desktop bioreactor system, inexpensively produced for assisting the growth of engineered vascular grafts as well as a variety of in-lab research applications.

"The level of undergraduate research being conducted at Wayne State is astounding," said Mai Lam, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and Drabik's faculty mentor. "[Drabik] is a hard-working and diligent student, who is passionate about research. His and other students' work presented demonstrates that undergraduate research is quite a valuable commodity to us at WSU."

Mirza presented a poster titled "Polyamidoamine Dendrimer"TPP as a Platform to deliver siRNA for Lung Cancer Treatment." Advised by former faculty member Sandro daRocha, the poster investigates the in vitro gene knockdown ability of short interfering RNA (siRNA) complexed with amine terminated generation 4 poly(amidmine) dendrimer (G4NH2 PAMAM) modified with a mitochondrial targeting agent.

Pierce's poster "Urban Flooding in the City of Detroit" presented research performed in his report that looks to affirm the fact that if more pavement is removed from the roads and replaced with grass, then the chance of flooding, specifically in Detroit, will be significantly reduced. Pierce's faculty mentor was graduate research assistant Michael Schrader.

Students interested in applying for the Winter-Spring/Summer 2016, should visit urop.wayne.edu for more information.