Awards

Post-Doctoral Fellows

Antonio D'Amore, Christopher Hobson, John Stella, Nicholas Amoroso, Rong Fan (2011)

  • Poster award winner MIRM retreat for modeling: Micro-Meso Scale Based Biomechanical Models to Assist the Design and fabrication of Scaffolds for Cardiac Tissue Regeneration
    Antonio D'Amore, Christopher Hobson, John Stella, Nicholas Amoroso, Rong Fan, William R. Wagner, Michael S. Sacks

Antonio D'Amore (2010)

  • Winner of a post-doctoral fellowship + research grant ($300,000 = $70k/year for 4 years) sponsored by Fondazione Ri.MED in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) (2011)
  • MTCAP Travel Award to attend the ASME 2010 Summer Bioengineering Conference

Sharan Ramaswamy (2008)

  • Awarded a 3 year $308,000 Scientist Development Grant from the AHA to study non-invasive detection and tracking of cells in developing and remodeling engineered heart valves.

Jun Liao (2005)

  • Awarded a 2 year $100,000 Beginning Grant-in-Aid from the AHA, PA-Delaware Affiliate to study the effects of decellurization on native aortic valve extra-cellular matrix.
  • Assistant professor, Mississippi State.

Jiro Nagatomi (2003)

  • Awarded a 2 year $150,000 grant from the Spinal Cord Research Foundation to study the effects of spinal cord injury on the urinary bladder wall.
  • Assistant professor, Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University, SC.

Sarah M. Wells (2000)

  • NSERC fellow.
  • Assistant professor, Department of Physics (Materials) and Biomedical Engineering, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia.

Arun K.S. Iyengar (1998)

  • Awarded a 2 year $100,000 Beginning Grant-in-Aid from the AHA, PA-Delaware Affiliate to study the bioprosthetic dynamic heart valve motion.

Ph.D. Students

Chris Carruthers

  • BiRM T32 Trainee.
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2009.

Chad Eckert

  • BiRM T32 Trainee.
  • NSF EAPSI Award to study in New Zealand, 2008.
  • AHA Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, 2008.

Diana Gaitan

  • Fullbright Fellow.

Erinn Joyce

  • University of Pittsburgh's Provost's Development Fund Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, 2008.

Silvia Wognum

  • Fullbright Fellow.
  • 2nd place award, student competition at the 43rd Annual Technology Meeting, Society of Engineering Science, August, 2006.

John Stella

  • Cardiovascular Bioengineering Training Program Trainee.
  • Presented one of top 10 abstracts at the Society of Heart Valve Disease 4th biennial meeting, New York, June 2007.

Rebecca Long

  • Recipient of an ORAU fellowship to attend a meeting of the Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany, July, 2005.
  • CATER T32 trainee.
  • Selected to attend the Second Annual NIH National Graduate Student Research Festival, October 2007, on the NIH main campus, Bethesda, MD.
  • Finalist, Student Paper Competition (Ph.D. level) at the 2007 ASME Annual Conference.
  • Awarded McGowan Trainee Career Advancement Program Travel Award to attend the Society of Biomaterials Meeting in Chicago, IL, April 18-21, 2007.
  • Awarded one of five Graduate Research Awards for travel to the 2008 annual fall BMES meeting in Los Angeles, CA.

David Merryman

  • 3rd place award, Student Paper Competition at the Ph.D. Level, 2006 ASME Annual Conference.
  • Recipient of "TA of the Year" award, Department of Bioengineering, spring 2007.
  • AHA Pennsylvania-Delaware Predoctoral Fellowship entitled "Effects of local stress on aortic valve interstitial cell phenotype and resulting synthetic function," July 1, 2005-June 30, 2007.

George Engelmayr

  • AHA Pennsylvania-Delaware Predoctoral Fellowship Awardee.
  • NRSA Post-doctoral awardee.
  • PhD Paper Award Finalist at the ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference in Vail, Colorado (2005).
  • ISACB Young Investigator's Award for 2006 ISACB meeting in La Jolla, CA.

M.S. Students

Thanh Lam

  • Outstanding TA/TF for academic year 2002-2003.