“The CDP is a public project, meaning scientific work will be published and there are no commercial interests involved. ”
Berit Strand, Ph.D., Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
October 19, 2009
Adewola, who is working on her doctorate in bioengineering received the highly competitive awards, which include $20,000 to assist in dissertation research and writing. . .
Adeola Adewola wants to continue her research to improve treatment for diabetes. Priscilla Zuconi Viana hopes to become one of the first women professors of environmental restoration in Brazil.
To help them towards their dreams the two international Ph.D. students in engineering were awarded International Dissertation Fellowships for 2009-10 from the American Association of University Women.
Adewola, who is working on her doctorate in bioengineering, and Viana, who is studying for her doctorate in civil and materials engineering, both received the highly competitive awards, which include $20,000 to assist in dissertation research and writing.
Adewola, from Nigeria’s Osun state, did her undergraduate work at the University of Minnesota Morris. Her dissertation focuses on finding a suitable environment for donor pancreatic islet cells before they are transplanted to type-1 diabetes patients.
“There’s a need for an environment for these cells outside of the body,” she said. “These cells need time to recover from the stressful procedure during cell isolation from a donor pancreas.
“The second part of my project is to improve the current method of testing the islet function of pancreatic cells to make sure they’re suitable for transplantation, and to predict the transplantation success rate.”
Viana, from Brasilia, Brazil, did her undergraduate work at the State University of Campinas in Sáo Paulo and received her master’s degree at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Her doctoral work focuses on investigating the effectiveness of low-cost sustainable technologies for remediation of heavy metal contaminated sediments.
“I’m evaluating how multiphase chemical speciation and in situ (natural) biogenic metabolic products influence the environmental fate of metal and organometals in sediments undergoing capping,” Viana said.
“My research has great potential to help mitigate the risk of heavy metals to human health.”
AAUW International Fellowships are awarded for full-time study or research in the United States to women who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
AAUW describes its fellowships and grants program as support for “women breaking through educational and economic barriers as aspiring scholars around the globe, teachers and activists in local communities, women at critical stages of their careers, and those pursing professions where women are underrepresented.”
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