Huge congratulations to PhD student Ian Smith, who successfully defended his dissertation today! Ian's dissertation was titled, "Functional roles of Aquaporin 5 in breast cancer metastatic initiation modeled in vitro."
Ian’s dissertation focused on engineering in vitro systems to study the initiation of metastatic phenotypes in cells and the role that aquaporins play in that process. From his PhD work, we are expecting at least 15 publications (7 already published, 4 submitted, 4 in preparation), 7 of which he is first author on. Ian received a provisional patent for the Spheroid-Associated Angiogenesis Vascularization System that he developed and has presented his work at 3 national conferences (BMES and AACR annual meetings). Ian has received several graduate fellowships to support his research, including the Clark Doctoral Fellowship, the International Foundation for Ethical Research Graduate Fellowship, and the Fischell Fellowship. He was selected as one of 25 students from across the nation to attend the NIH Biophysics Fellows Research Conference, and he also received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award from the UMD Graduate School. Ian has also been a wonderful mentor for many undergraduate students in the lab, and his undergraduate mentees have had many accomplishments including co-authored papers, an Honors thesis, UMD department awards, and entrances into graduate school. Ian also completed the Future Faculty Program in preparation for a career in academia and has been an active member in the Bioengineering Graduate Student Society, serving as President and in other leadership positions. Congratulations, Ian!
Ian’s dissertation focused on engineering in vitro systems to study the initiation of metastatic phenotypes in cells and the role that aquaporins play in that process. From his PhD work, we are expecting at least 15 publications (7 already published, 4 submitted, 4 in preparation), 7 of which he is first author on. Ian received a provisional patent for the Spheroid-Associated Angiogenesis Vascularization System that he developed and has presented his work at 3 national conferences (BMES and AACR annual meetings). Ian has received several graduate fellowships to support his research, including the Clark Doctoral Fellowship, the International Foundation for Ethical Research Graduate Fellowship, and the Fischell Fellowship. He was selected as one of 25 students from across the nation to attend the NIH Biophysics Fellows Research Conference, and he also received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award from the UMD Graduate School. Ian has also been a wonderful mentor for many undergraduate students in the lab, and his undergraduate mentees have had many accomplishments including co-authored papers, an Honors thesis, UMD department awards, and entrances into graduate school. Ian also completed the Future Faculty Program in preparation for a career in academia and has been an active member in the Bioengineering Graduate Student Society, serving as President and in other leadership positions. Congratulations, Ian!
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