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Metro Washington
Chapter

2019-20 MWC Scholars

2019-20 MWC Scholars

2019-20 MWC Scholars
Georgetown University Scholars

Graduate Scholars, $15,000 Award 

Andrew W. Kelly

ARCS/MWC Chapter Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Chemistry
  • Research in supramolecular chemistry with a focus on binding interactions involving halogens and organometallic synthesis.  Additional research involving catalysis for the synthesis of pharmaceutically relelvant compounds.
Alyssa N. King

Danaher Corporation Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Biology
  • Research using genetic tools to determine the role of the non-coding, regulatory RNA, RsaD in Staphylococcus virulence, specifically how RsaD contributes to the development of multicellular communities during infection.
Sean M. MacVaney

MWC Endowment Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Computer Science
  • Research using modern machine learning techniques to improve information retrieval systems, including systems that answer complex questions, systems that find relevant medical literature to support physicians, and systems that can identify those suffering from mental illnessess by analyzing social media activity to provide early support. 
Daniel N. O'Brien

Forster Family Foundation Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
  • Research using micro-scale fabrication techniques to design and develop novel medical devices for biomarker sensing in non-invasively sampled human intestinal fluid.
The George Washington University

Graduate Scholars, $15,000 Award 

Benjamin P. Bowman

Mars Foundation Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Computer Engineering
  • Research in graph theory, machine learning, and applied cybersecurity, to develop new graph-based techniques for modeling knowledge derived from source code to detect vulnerabilities. 
Monica M. Flores

ARCS/MWC Chapter Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Chemistry
  • Research in laser spectroscopy using ground-based measurement to obtain verical profiles of atmospheric water vapor and temperature at varying altitudes in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. 
Jeannette Gonzales Rodriguez

McNicholas Family Foundation

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Biomedical Engineering
  • Research using optical mapping and optogenetic techniques to increase understanding of, and test novel treatment methods for highly prevalent cardiac diseases like heart failure and myocardial infarction toward the ultimate goal of decreasing mortality from cardiac diseases.
John Hopkins University

Graduate Scholars, $15,000 Award 

Avery E. Baumann

ARCS/MWC Chapter Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Chemistry
  • Research in development and characterization of safe, high energy density lithium-sulfur battery materials utilizing metal-organic frameworks.

 

Emily K. Lo

JCM Foundation Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Biomedical Engineering
  • Research in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas to 1) characterize and computationally model the cell identity changes that occur due to transcriptional and epigenetic changes during cancer initiation, and to 2) identify novel biomarkers for early cancer detection. 
Joshua E. Porterfield

Lynn Heebner Memorial Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
  • Research in dendrimer based nanomedicine approaches to provide cell-specific systemically delivered treatments for prevention and attenuation of inflammation-based diseases of the back of the eye including age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. 
University of Maryland, Graduate

Graduate Scholars,  $15,000 Award

Emily E. Fisler

ARCS/MWC Chapter Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Aerospace Engineering
  • Research of an emerging battery for technology: lightweight lithium sulfur battery design, fabrication, and scale-up for application in electric takeoff and landing aircraft.  Development of both a conceptual aircraft sizing program and predictive model for lithium sulfur battery behavior.
Laura A. Paquin

Lockheed Martin Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Aerospace Engineering 
  • Research in experimental hypersonics, involving the development, calibration, and application of terperature-sensitive paint to wind tunnel models to provide global maps of temperature and heat flux at high Mach numbers.
Elizabeth J. Paul

MWC Endowment Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
  • Research in applications of numerical optimization techniques to the design of electromagnetic coils and magnetic fields for magnetic confinement fusion devices.  The goal is to obtain configurations with good confinement properties for the next generation of stellarator experiements. 
Micahael J. Zuzak

Lockheed Martin Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Electrical Engineering
  • Research in securing custom integrated circuits against piracy, trojan insertion, and reverse engineering at the architectural levels. 
University of Maryland, Undergraduate

Undergraduate Scholars, $5000 Award 

Elizabeth McFarland

Lockheed Martin Corporation

  • 2nd Year Scholar
  • Undergraduate, Aerospace Engineering 
  • Research in instrument testing and development, specifically in the characterization of LED arrays to perform microscopic spectroscopy for future landed planetary missions to other bodies, and in collision detection simulation for robotic satellite servicing. 
Julia Mittelstadt

Lockheed Martin Scholar 

  • 2nd Year Scholar
  • Undergraduate, Aerospace Engineering 
  • Research to understand the structural proerties of swept-tip, composite blades in order to reduce vibration at high speeds for tiltrotor aircraft.  Research specifically looks at reducing vibration in the wings of a V-22 Osprey.  By reducing vibration at high speeds, the wing's stiffness can be lessened allowing the overall weight of the aircraft to decrease. 
Charis Smith

Lockheed Martin Scholar

  • 2nd Year Scholar
  • Undergraduate, Electrical & Computer Engineering 
  • Research in the electrical characterization of commericial IGBT power modules subjected to reliabilty testing to better detect and prevent catastrophic failure. 
University of Virginia

Graduate Scholars, $15,000 Award

Jean Sebastian Giudice Vilar

Beulah Bateman Memorial Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
  • Research in traumatic brain injury using a combination of experimental and computational approaches, including performing experiments to quantify brain deformation during severe head rotation and creating sophisticated, patient-specific brain computational models that forge a link between brain mechanics and clinical outcomes. 
Grayson C. Johnson

ARCS/MWC Chapter Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar 
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Chemistry
  • Research using colloidal synthesis techniques to develop well-defined nanomaterials and uses a combination of DFT and in-situ/in-operando spectroscopic techniques to study the design principles of effective catalysts for reactions such as CO reduction and CO2 oxidation. 
Jack Lanchantin

Florine Gompf Memorial Scholar

  • 1st Year Scholar
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Computer Science 
  • Research on deep learning models for predicting and understanding how proteins interact and bind to DNA in order to regulate gene expression.