Tess Fallon
Columbia University
Project Title: Real-time functional assessment of multicellular engineered filtration systems
Azeloglu/Daehn Labs
Tess Fallon is a third-year student at Columbia University. She is majoring in Electrical Engineering and minoring in Biomedical Engineering. Tess is passionate about the intersection of engineering and medicine and is excited to see where the rest of her educational path takes her. She aspires to pursue a career in biomedical research and hopes her research will one day help to expand treatment options for terminal disease. In the past, she has worked on research projects studying neurodegeneration in fruit flies, helped to build computational models of neural circuits, and aided in designing an affordable ultrasound system. Outside of the lab, Tess likes to play badminton, drink coffee, and cheer for the Chicago Cubs.
Neepa Gupta
University of Pennsylvania
Project Title: Identification and Provider Recognition of Symptom Burden in Patients on Hemodialysis
Chan Lab
Neepa Gupta is a rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying bioengineering with hopes of becoming a physician. Originally from Hopewell Junction, New York, she was exposed to research in high school where she worked on a project involving expansion microscopy of allergy tissue. She now works at Dr. Chodosh’s laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania where she is working on identifying genes related to breast cancer recurrence mechanisms. Outside of research, Neepa is Vice President of the Biomedical Engineering Society and is involved in Penn Masti, a South Asian fusion dance troupe, and CityStep, an arts and service program aimed at building self expression in West Philly elementary schools. In her free time, you can find her dancing, exploring new cafes for chai tea lattes, and playing the ukulele and piano.
Amanda Hertel
University Of Kansas
Project Title: Development of DACH1 reporter screening assay
Kaufman Lab
Amanda Hertel is a current Junior studying Chemical Engineering at the University of Kansas. After completing her Bachelor’s degree, she hopes to attend medical school to become a physician-scientist. She first started research in Dr. Dhar’s laboratory the summer after her freshman year through an NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at the University of Kansas. That summer, Amanda worked on projects studying the impact of nanoparticles on the stability of lipids modeling lung surfactant. That work resulted in a peer-reviewed publication, of which she is second-author. Recently, in Dr. Dhar’s laboratory, she has studied the role of tau protein and lipid dysregulation in the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease. This spring, Amanda also won a Second Place Award for her poster presentation at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Mid-America Regional Conference. Outside of research, Amanda serves as an Undergraduate Teaching Fellow, is Vice President of Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honor Society), Volunteers at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, and is a Mentor for a FIRST Robotics team.
Lynne Kim
Yale University
Project Title: Quantitative analysis of cardiac abnormality caused by SARS-CoV-2 viral protein ORF3A
Zhou Lab
Lynne Kim is a rising Junior at Yale University studying Biomedical Engineering. After graduating from Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles, she now calls New Haven Connecticut her new home. At Yale, she is a board member of the Society of Women Engineers advocating for a more gender equal representation in the STEM field and mentoring underclassmen interested in majoring in engineering. She is also a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society and the Yale e-Nable chapter, a robotics club focused in 3D printing prosthetics for children in need. As a student researcher at the Integrative Cardiac Biomechanics Laboratory, she studies cardiac tissue mechanobiology of protein mutations along with stem cell biology processes. In her free time, she loves to explore New England nature, hike, and rock climb.
Katherine Liu
Columbia University
Project Title: Deep-learning detection of vascular abnormalities in kidney transplants
Zhang/Murphy Labs
Katherine Liu is a senior in biomedical engineering at Columbia University. She is from Shanghai, China and has been in the United States for around a decade. Her previous research experiences involve signal processing and building simulation models in a focused ultrasound study, which she has been a part of from its preclinical to clinical stages. In her free time, she likes to do yoga, play the piano, and play with her ragdoll cat Louie.
MERRIT is a collaborative training program bringing together nephrology researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the engineering educators at The Cooper Union to promote advances in the development of kidney disease treatment.