Twelve Graduate Students Earn Competitive BME Fellowships

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Second-year graduate students in biomedical engineering received named fellowships to help support their research

Twelve Graduate Students Earn Competitive BME Fellowships

PhD students in Duke University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering pursue innovative research during their time at Duke. To support their work, Duke BME has recently provided 12 graduate students with named fellowships available through the BME Second-Year Doctoral Fellowship Program.

Of the 12 fellowships provided by the department, eight were named in honor of BME emeritus faculty who played a significant role in supporting the growth and vision of Duke BME. The remaining fellowships include the Robert Hochmuth Fellowship, in honor of Robert M Hochmuth, emeritus professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, the Frederick Thurstone Fellowship, named after Frederick Thurstone, an early pioneer of 3D ultrasound and a former faculty member in Duke BME, the William “Monty” Reichert Fellowship, created to celebrate Reichert and his numerous contributions to Duke BME, and the Wanda Krassowska Fellowship, named after Wanda K. Neu, a professor in BME who specializes in drug delivery and gene therapy research.

“We’re thrilled to use this fellowship to support graduate students as they pursue challenging research in biomedical engineering at Duke,” says Joel Collier, the director of graduate studies in Duke BME. “This year we had a very strong pool of applicants, so the selection process was very competitive.”

The fellowships provided funding to support one year of PhD students’ research during their time in Duke BME. To apply for the competitive opportunity, candidates had to submit a one-page research description and a letter of recommendation from their advisor, as well as show a strong academic record.

To select the winners, a subcommittee of the Doctoral Advisory Committee ranked the applicants by merit. Individual labs were not allowed more than one fellowship winner, and the committee did not consider the funding status of the lab.

“The BME PhD students are the engine of our research enterprise,” says Ashutosh Chilkoti, the chair of Duke BME. “I’m pleased that the department can support their research through this program.”

Congratulations to this year’s recipients, listed below:

Tomothy Shoyer, The Robert Hochmuth Fellowship

Tri Vu, The Stephen Smith Fellowship

Riley Deutsch, The Frederick Thurstone Fellowship

Jonathan Su, The Howard G. Clark III Fellowship

Brandon Thio, The Robert Plonsey Fellowship

Kevin Erning, The William M. “Monty” Reichert Fellowship

Tianyu Wu, The Howard G. Clark III Fellowship

Brian Chan, The Morton H. Friedman Fellowship

Daniel Park, The John Strohbehn Fellowship

Chunxi Wang, The James H. McElhaney Fellowship

Hala El-Nahal, The Theo Pilkington Fellowship

Yuqi Tian, The Wanda Krassowska Fellowship