Three UNL students received the 2014 Graduate Research Fellowships from the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience. The new annual fellowships honor a select group of doctoral graduate students on the basis of high scholastic performance and personal accomplishment. Fellows receive a stipend that supports students who are completing doctoral dissertations and final year of studies.

The 2014 NCMN Graduate Research Fellows are:

— Dimitry Papkov, a doctoral student in materials engineering. Papkov studies the control of nanofiber structure and properties on the individual fiber level. His dissertation research examines the size effects in mechanical properties of individual nanofibers and systematically addresses structure-property relations. His paper on polymer nanofibers was featured on the cover of ACS Nano and was chosen as a feature article in Nature, Nano Today, Materials Today and several other publications. Papkov has also received UNL’s 2013-2014 Milton E. Mohr Graduate Fellowship and the 2013 Wolford outstanding research assistant award.

— Timothy Martin, a doctoral candidate in biomedical engineering served as a combat engineer in the United States Marine Corps from 2002 to May 2008. His Bachelor of Science degrees in mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering serve as a strong foundation for his career aspirations in research and development of gene/drug biotechnologies. Martin’s graduate work has involved transferring DNA from one form of life to another and his interests focus on biotech applications in materials (e.g. biomaterials/tissue engineering) and nanomedicine (e.g. gene therapy, cancer research). His research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Gene Medicine published in 2013.

— Chieu Van Nguyen, a doctoral candidate in chemical and biomolecular engineering. Nguyen’s interests center on material science, especially those that leverage unique phenomena of nanoparticles and polymers to solving challenges in life such as renewable energy and cancer treatment. His research involves designing an artificial tactile sensor on par with the human finger both in resolution and sensitivity. The device has shown to be a good tactile sensor and it’s performance is currently being assessed. He has made numerous presentations at the Materials Research Society and American Physical Society national conferences as well as published articles in the ACS Nano Letters and Nano.

For more information about the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience go to http://www.unl.edu/ncmn/home.