{"589690":{"#nid":"589690","#data":{"type":"news","title":"RBI announces 2017-18 Graduate Fellowship Awards","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Renewable Bioproducts Institute has announced the award of eight new graduate research fellowships of up to four years of funding, beginning with the fall term 2017.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe winners are:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ECyrus Aidun, ME, \u0026ldquo;Mechanistic methods to control intra-web transport in paper forming;\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EBlair Brettmann, MSE, \u0026ldquo;Increasing solids into the dryer via rational design of polyelectrolyte complexes;\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ERoger Jiao, ME, and Nagi Gebraeel, ISyE, \u0026ldquo;Big-data driven predictive analytics for smart manufacturing process operations in the pulp, paper and packaging industries;\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EChris Muhlstein, MSE, \u0026ldquo;Is it really just creep? Cyclic fatigue damage accumulation mechanisms in paper;\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EChris Jones, ChBE, Stefan France, CHEM\/BioCHEM, \u0026ldquo;Upgrading cellulose byproducts to value-added chemicals and fuels through the Garcia-Gonzalez pathway;\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EA.J. Medford, ChBE, \u0026ldquo;Computational catalyst screening for lignocellulosic biomass to sugar alcohols;\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EWill Gutekunst, CHEM, M. Srinivasarao, MSE, \u0026ldquo;A universal approach to polymer-CNC composites using host-guest complexes;\u0026rdquo; and\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EDonggang Yao, MSE, \u0026ldquo;Conversion of lignin into moldable bulk graphite\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThese professors will recruit entering graduate students into their respective schools to conduct the research. The fellowships will provide up to four years of funding for these students, who will join more than 40 RBI Fellows on campus.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;We were very pleased with the enthusiastic response to the request for proposals, and with the strength of the responses this year,\u0026quot; said RBI Director Norman Marsolan. \u0026quot;We congratulate our winners, and hope to encourage the other submitting investigators, as this year\u0026rsquo;s project proposals presented a very competitive choice.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;We are also awarding seed-grant funding to four more proposals,\u0026quot; he added. \u0026quot;We are delighted to fund eight students through the endowment, and we can use additional member funding to support proof-of-concept research in several other areas of high interest.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe seed grant winners are:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EYulin Deng, ChBE, \u0026ldquo;Novel approach for converting lignin to value-added chemicals and hydrogen\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EJosh Kacher, CHEM\/BioCHEM, \u0026ldquo;Harnessing in situ TEM heating studies to improve the thermal stability of cellulose nanocrystals\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EKyriaki Kalaitzidou, ME, Mark Losego, MSE (et al.), \u0026ldquo;Enabling the integration of nanocellulose into polymer composites: Chemically modified nanocellulosic films\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ESurya Kalidindi and Aleksandr Blekh (et al.), \u0026ldquo;Optimizing metrology analysis for cellulose nanomaterials: An application of data science and informatics toolsets\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAll of the projects are available for additional sponsorship to augment the research, which can carry intellectual property rights. \u0026quot;I urge those interested in supporting these projects or engaging with the students and investigators to contact me,\u0026quot; Marsolan said. \u0026quot;Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s contract continuum has models to meet any company\u0026rsquo;s preferences. We are excited about these projects, and the opportunity to develop our students as future leaders of our industry.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Eight research fellowships include up to four years of funding"}],"field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Seed grants also announced"}],"uid":"28159","created_gmt":"2017-04-03 18:21:25","changed_gmt":"2017-04-03 18:21:25","author":"Kelly Smith","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-03-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-03-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"589689":{"id":"589689","type":"image","title":"RBI announces 2017-18 Graduate Fellowship Awards","body":null,"created":"1491243663","gmt_created":"2017-04-03 18:21:03","changed":"1491243663","gmt_changed":"2017-04-03 18:21:03","alt":"","file":{"fid":"224671","name":"generic microscope2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/generic%20microscope2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/generic%20microscope2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":114292,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/generic%20microscope2.jpg?itok=IuIjpUoL"}}},"media_ids":["589689"],"groups":[{"id":"217141","name":"Georgia Tech Materials Institute"},{"id":"372221","name":"Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"39461","name":"Manufacturing, Trade, and Logistics"},{"id":"39471","name":"Materials"},{"id":"39491","name":"Renewable Bioproducts"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EKelly B. Smith, 404.894.6700\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["kelly.smith@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}