The DuPont-MIT Alliance has announced its newest graduate fellows for 2001-02. The Graduate Fellowship Program is part of the $35 million, five-year research alliance between DuPont and MIT and provides funding to 20 students spanning 10 graduate departments in the Schools of Engineering, Science and the Sloan School of Management.
The alliance supports projects that draw on science, engineering and business expertise at MIT, and that extend and better leverage the reach of DuPont's scientific expertise in biology, genetics, bioinformatics and catalysis.
"It's essential to maintain an academic environment in which first-year graduate students can freely explore options for their thesis research projects, unencumbered by considerations of need for immediate financial support of their educational program," said Professor of Chemical Engineering Robert E. Cohen, co-director of the DuPont-MIT Alliance. "This is particularly important for those who may be attracted to projects with multiple research advisors working in areas outside the range of the student's undergraduate experience. Because a large fraction of [the alliance's] research portfolio is comprised of interdisciplinary projects of this type, the first-year fellowship program is vital to the success of the alliance's research enterprise."
Graduate students funded by the DuPont-MIT Alliance receive tuition and a stipend for the academic year and are invited by DuPont for a tour and visit to the Experimental Station in Wilmington, Del.
The 2001-02 Fellows are Diana Borenshtein, Vikas Prabhakar and Alejandro Wolf-Yadlin (Division of Bioengineering and Environmental Health); Beau R. Peelle, April L. Peterson and James G. Ruby (biology); Michael J. Rappel, Marianne S. Terrot and Jian H. Yu (chemical engineering); Todd A. Ostomel and Kyle L. Bittinger (chemistry); Sara E. Larsen (electrical engineering and computer science); Ju Hyun Park and Yi Cheung Lok (materials science and engineering); Mealani Nakamura and Suraj S. Deshmukh (mechanical engineering); Hyman A. Carrel (physics); Li He and Jeroen Struben (Sloan School); and Elizabeth Khaykin (Technology and Policy Program).
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on October 17, 2001.
