Co-op and Research Keep Cincinnati Native at UC
Chemical engineering doctoral student Stephen Fenimore was always interested
in chemistry. He especially loved his high-school chemistry class. “It
taught me how to reason,” he says. Stephen also loves practical application, “I
played with Legos a lot as a kid.”
After graduating from Hamilton High School, Stephen came to the University of
Cincinnati for an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering, which he received
in 2005. He was named a University Honors Scholar.
As an undergraduate Stephen co-oped at two jobs, one in Chicago working with
fiberoptic telecommunications and one in Japan working with electric steel. Cooperative
Education, or co-op as it is often called, had its global founding at UC in 1906.
UC invented the practice wherein students alternate quarters or semesters in
the classroom with quarters or semesters of paid, professional work related directly
to their major.
“
Those two research co-ops made me decide to go on and earn a PhD,” he says. “I
loved the environment of being in research.”
Stephen was recruited to be in the inaugural class of IGERT (Integrated Graduate
Education, Research and Training) Fellows. The IGERT program was established
by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide “future PhD scientists
and engineers with the interdisciplinary background and the technical, professional,
and personal skills needed to address the global questions of the future.”
The focus of the IGERT program at UC is the bio-applications of membrane science
and technology. This area includes the study of controlled drug delivery, cell
encapsulation, tissue engineering, biosensor development, biofunctional and
biomimetic membranes, affinity membranes for high-valued bioseparations, membranes
for hemodialysis
and the study of ion and small molecule transport in biological channels.
The UC IGERT program, under the leadership of Professor Joel Fried in chemical
engineering, received nearly $4 million from NSF. There are currently 17 IGERT
trainees pursuing PhDs in the colleges of Medicine, Engineering and Pharmacy.
An interdisciplinary executive board consisting of Professor Fried and three
co-principal investigators (Dave Butler, biomechanical engineering; Ron Millard,
pharmacology; and Horatio Rilo, surgery and pediatrics) helps administer the
five-year program.
Not only did the IGERT program help convince Stephen to choose UC for graduate
school, but it also helped him select a discipline.
“
Joel Fried came to our classes to talk about the IGERT fellowships,” he
says. “They held an orientation for us and we had the opportunity to rotate
through three labs with different professors, which regular students don’t
get to do. I chose Dr. Co because the work experience in his lab was great, and
I loved the friendly atmosphere among his grad students. It was a very supportive
environment.”
“
I had trained Stephen, my first IGERT student, with the express intention of
developing a researcher able to explore new topics independently and creatively,” says
Stephen’s mentor Carlos Co, an assistant professor in the Department of
Chemical and Materials Engineering. “I believe we have successfully accomplished
this together.”
“
Stephen is one of our first recruits into our IGERT program and one of the most
active,” says Joel Fried, director of UC’s IGERT program. “We
have weekly seminars throughout the year for IGERT students to discuss research
and current topics related to the IGERT theme on bioapplications in membrane
science and engineering and to foster interdisciplinary interactions among students
from very different disciplines. This is a key objective for NSF. Stephen always
attends and his comments and questions have always been very probing and have
helped promote participation from other students. He has been a very positive
force for the success of our program, now in its third year.”
Stephen’s particular area of research is polymers and drug delivery, a
very hot topic as scientists and medical professionals look for ways to improve
drug-delivery efficiency and efficacy. The polymers that Stephen is working with
would enable researchers or doctors to deliver drugs or gene therapy into a mammalian
cell, for example. He hopes to publish his work within the next few months.
