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Biological Engineering Division recognizes student and faculty accomplishments

The Biological Engineering Division (BED) made the following awards to its students.

Biomedical Engineering Society Johnson & Johnson Excellence Awards for outstanding research in biomedical engineering were presented to graduate students Aimee Angel of Portland, Ore. (mechanical engineering), Jose (Manny) Otero of Greenwich, Conn. (BED) and Boon Tay of Singapore (mechanical engineering); George Gluck , a senior in biology from Miami; and juniors Roshni Aggarwal of Glastonbury, Conn. (biology) and Raag Airan of Miami (physics).

The Bioengineering Undergraduate Research Award/Whitaker Research Award for outstanding undergraduate research in bioengineering went to the following seniors-- Nganfong Huang of Brooklyn, N.Y., Julie Watts of Baltimore, Gregory Nelson of Midland, Mich., Phillip Mahdjoob of Poway, Calif., and Chiao Chun Wang of San Jose, Calif. (all in chemical engineering); Megan Colpitts of Manalapan, N.J. and Melissa Horoschak of Ringtown, Penn. (both in biology); Lara Abbaschian of Gainesville, Fla. (materials science and engineering); Jeannette Stephenson of Little Rock, Ark. (computer science); and Faisal Reza of Bronx, N.Y. (electrical engineering and computer science).

The following juniors received the same award-- Aggarwal ;Edny Gula of New Bedford (biology); Marc Soares of Santa Barbara, Calif.; and David Yin of Tyler, Texas (both chemical engineering); Shogo Miyagi of Honolulu (chemistry). Adil Zhugralin of Kazakhstan, a sophomore in chemistry, also received the award.

The Biomedical Engineering Society's MIT student chapter presented awards to members for service-- Mahdjoob (president), Roozbeh Ghaffari , a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science from Los Angeles (vice president for special projects); Jonathan Coe , a senior in mechanical engineering from Hunter, N.Y. (vice president for publications); Yin (vice president for special programs); Paige Hopewell , a senior in nuclear engineering from Farmersburg, Ind. (vice president for publicity); Monica Sircar , a sophomore in chemical engineering from Bronx, N.Y. (vice president for campus relations); Julie Watts , a senior in chemical engineering from Baltimore (vice president for research activities); Tomoko Iida , a BED graduate student from Chiba, Japan (secretary); Dyanne Phillippe , a senior in chemical engineering from Shelburne, Vt. (treasurer); Amy Shi , a sophomore in chemical engineering from Ann Arbor, Mich. (industrial relations officer); and Joshua Aronson , a sophomore in biology from Centereach, N.Y. (vice president of information technology). Shi also received the MIT Society of Women Engineers Scholarship.

The chapter's presidential award recognizing outstanding commitment to biomedical engineering students in the chapter was presented to administrative assistant Suzette Clinton .

Keystone Symposia Scholarships for outstanding research and presentation were presented to BED postdoctoral associate Gracy Crane and BED graduate student Janice Lansita of New York.

The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientist and Engineers from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research was presented to Professor Scott Manalis , a faculty member in Media Arts and Sciences and BED. He also was on the TR100 Top Innovators list in Technology Review.

The Wei UROP Award for outstanding contribution in undergraduate research at the interface of life sciences and engineering was presented to Tetsuya Matsuguchi , a senior in biology from Saitama-ken, Japan. Matsuguchi also received the Whitehead Prize in Biology, given to a biology major who has shown outstanding promise for a career in biological research as demonstrated by academic scholarship and research.

The Ray A. and Robert L. Kroc Lecture Award and the Sophia Award of the Greek Institute in Cambridge were presented to Professor Iannis Yannas , a faculty member in mechanical engineering and BED. The Brigid G. Leventhal Award for Women in Cancer Research was presented to BED postdoctoral associate Maryann Smela .

A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 5, 2002.

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