The Beckman Institute Graduate Fellows Program offers University of Illinois graduate students at the M.A., M.S., or Ph.D.-level the opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary research at the Institute. Research projects must involve at least one Beckman faculty member who carries out research at Beckman in addition to a second U of I faculty member, and preference is given to those proposals that are interdisciplinary and involve the active participation of two Beckman faculty members from two different research groups.
Nyssa Bulkes
Nyssa is pursuing her doctorate in linguistics. Her work with Darren Tanner and Kiel Christianson from the Cognitive Science Group applies novel cognitive neuroscience techniques to the study of word recognition in context in non-native speakers.
Kaimin Cai
Kaimin is pursing his doctorate in materials science and engineering. His work with Jianjun Cheng and Wawrzyniec Dobrucki from the Bioimaging Science and Technology Group is in the area of nanomedicine, specifically in the application of trigger-responsive materials to cancer diagnosis and drug delivery.
Eric Epstein
Eric is pursuing his doctorate in materials science and engineering. His project on “Mechanochemical Strengthening, Toughening and Assembly of Materials via Dynamic Molecular Coordination” is in collaboration with Paul Braun, from the 3D Micro- and Nanotechnology Group, and Jeff Moore, from the Autonomous Materials Systems Group.
Jamila Hedhli
Jamila is a Ph.D. candidate in bioengineering. Her project on “Adipose Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells as a Novel Therapy to Treat and Reverse Vascular Diabetic Complications” is in collaboration with Wawrzyniec Dobrucki and Marni Boppart from the Bioimaging Science and Technology Group.
Jiang Li
Jiang is a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience. Her work with Catherine Christian and Mark Nelson from the NeuroTech Group is on the application of neural spike train analysis to improve modeling of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neuron properties and networks.
Guillermo Monroy
Guillermo is pursuing his doctorate in bioengineering. His project with Stephen Boppart, from the Bioimaging Science and Technology Group, and Dr. Michael Novak, of Carle Foundation Hospital, is “Longitudinal tracking, verification, and characterization of human middle ear bacterial biofilms using optical coherence tomography.”
Kevin Stebbings
Kevin is a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience. His project on “Redox mechanisms of exercise-induced rescue of decline in neural function with aging” is in collaboration with Daniel Llano and Justin Rhodes from the NeuroTech Group.
