UCLA Engineering: UCLA Engineer Magazine

Gifted Mechanical Engineering Graduate Students Benefit from Department of Education Fellowships

GAANN recipients Erica Shim, Jennifer Blackwell, Melissa Gibbons, and Sarah Warren.

GAANN recipients (clockwise from upper left) Erica Shim, Jennifer Blackwell, Melissa Gibbons, and Sarah Warren.

The exceptional level of graduate student talent in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department has been recognized through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, which will fund five Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) fellowships for up to 3 years.

“We’re fortunate to have received these fellowships,” said mechanical and aerospace engineering department chair Thomas Hahn. “The financial support we can offer outstanding students will help us retain top-notch students in mechanical and aerospace engineering from underrepresented groups.”

Secured by Hahn and assistant professor Laurent Pilon, the GAANN fellowships will help exceptional graduate students from underrepresented communities pursue their academic goals, and also provide them with teaching experience. The department received $581,440 for the three-year program. Thus far, four students have been selected with three more fellowships reserved for this year’s incoming students. (The GAANN fellowships are cost-shared four to one by the UCLA Graduate Division.)

“In selecting four doctoral students to receive the GAANN fellowships,” explained Pilon, “our decision was based on merit, and took into account their academic performance, financial need and the department’s need for diversity. We’re pleased to have students from a number of fields in the department, working with four different faculty members.”

First-year doctoral student Jennifer Blackwell is specializing in microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS). She is conducting research with Pilon, developing a non-invasive method to detect and/or monitor type 2 diabetes by observing the autofluorescence of skin.

Melissa Gibbons, in her third year at UCLA, is a member of the Comp-utational Solid, Structural, and Biological Mechanics Laboratory directed by assistant professor William Klug. Her research is focused on developing coarse-grained finite element models of spherical viruses that simulate atomic force microscopy experiments to unravel the mechanical properties of biological materials.

Erica Shim is in her first year of the doctoral program. A member of Hahn’s Multifunctional Composites Laboratory, she is focusing on MEMS and nanoimprinting. The issue of reliability is among the most crucial challenges to be met before nanoimprinting is seen as a successful alternative method to traditional silicon processing.

“The GAANN fellowship means more to me than just a fund that pays my tuition,” noted Shim. “When I wasn’t sure if I had what it takes to pursue a PhD, it provided me with the confidence to move forward. The GAANN fellowship has opened up a door for me to step into a brighter future.”

First-year mechanical engineering PhD student Sarah Warren is focusing on systems and controls. She is working with assistant professor Emilio Frazzoli in his Aerospace Robotics and Embedded Systems Laboratory on the control system of an economical cooperative micro-vehicle test bed for developing multi-vehicle motion planning algorithms.

“This fellowship has inspired me to pursue my PhD instead of taking an engineering job in the private sector,” said Warren. “The requirements of GAANN are designed to condition students for lifelong careers in academia, which I had not seriously considered before.”

Audrey Pool O'Neal.

The GAANN program has also benefited Audrey Pool O’Neal who received a fellowship in 2004-05. She is completing her dissertation research under the direction of Hahn, focusing on manufacturing and design, with minors in fluid mechanics, smart materials and robotics. She received her MS in mechanical engineering from UCLA in 1999, an MS in engineering science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and her BS in mechanical engineering from Kettering University.

- Marlys Amundson