Thirteen PhD students at the University of Minnesota have been awarded PhD Graduate Assistantships through UMII. These awards are made to grad students involved in research at the intersection of informatics and any of the five MnDRIVE areas (robotics, sensors, and advanced manufacturing; global food ventures; advancing industry, conserving our environment; discoveries and treatments for brain conditions; and cancer clinical trials).

The awardees are:

Alex Hayes

• Guidance, Navigation, and Control for Targeted Reenty of Small Robotic Spacecraft Using Aerodynamic Drag
• MnDRIVE area: Robotics, Sensor, and Advanced Manufacturing

Yasamin Jafarian

• Learning High Fidelity Depths of Dressed Humans by Watching Social Media Dance Videos
• MnDRIVE area: Robotics, Sensor, and Advanced Manufacturing

Molly Kuhs

• Does Long-Term Soil Nutrient Management Alter the Disease-Suppressive Capacity of Soil Microbes?
• MnDRIVE area: Global Food Ventures

Emily Lecy

• Computational Models of the Direct and Indirect Basal Ganglia Pathways to Optimize Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson’s Disease
• MnDRIVE area: Discoveries and Treatments for Brain Conditions

Shijina Raj Manjankattil Rajan

• Determining the Effect of a Novel Probiotic, Propionibacterium freudenreichii, Alone or Combination With Salmonella vaccine on Salmonella Colonization, Cecal Microbiome, and Immunity in Turkeys
• MnDRIVE area: Global Food Ventures

Vinh Nguyen

• Data-Driven Robust Control of Flexible Cable-Driven Continuum Manipulators
• MnDRIVE area: Robotics, Sensor, and Advanced Manufacturing

Kelsey Peterson

• Characterizing Wild Populations of Silphium integrifolium to Improve Breeding Outcomes
• MnDRIVE area: Global Food Ventures

Carrie Sheeler

• Characterizing Underlying Pathology in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Derived Motor Neurons in SCA1
• MnDRIVE area: Discoveries and Treatments for Brain Conditions

Dorothy Sweet

• Using High Throughput Phenotyping to Enable a Sustainable Food System
• MnDRIVE area: Global Food Ventures

Lambros Tassoulas

• Drugs in Humans and Water: Studies on Metformin at the Intersection of Informatics, the Environment, and the Wastewater Industry
• MnDRIVE area: Advancing Industry, Conserving our Environment

Hanchu Wang

• Decarbonizing the Agricultural and Mining Industries in Minnesota via Green Ammonia and Synergistic Supply Chain Optimization
• MnDRIVE area: Advancing Industry, Conserving our Environment

Zengtao Wang

• Pharmacokinetics of Amyloid-Beta Protein Accumulation in the Blood-Brain Barrier Endothelium and Its Role in Cerebrovascular Dysfunctions in Alzheimer’s Disease
• MnDRIVE area: Discoveries and Treatments for Brain Conditions

Yufeng Yang

• Agricultural Carbon Credit: An Enough Stimulus for Farmers to Go Green or Not
• MnDRIVE area: Advancing Industry, Conserving our Environment

Research Computing partners:

• UMII