A $1,000 scholarship was awarded to Ma-sum Abdul-Hamid, a doctoral student in the biomedical engineering department at Penn State University (PSU), working under the direction of Dr. Igor Aronson. Abdul-Hamid, a native of the Republic of Ghana, completed his undergraduate studies in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering at New York University. There, he conducted innovative research on microfluidic biodevices under the supervision of Professor Mohammed Qasaimeh. Results generated during his undergraduate research have been published in the prestigious “Lab-on-Chip” journal, the International Journal of Infection Control and several conference proceedings.
As a first-year graduate student at PSU, Abdul-Hamid will be working with Professor Igor Aronson to investigate the behavior of anisotropic heterogeneous particles in magnetic and acoustic microfluidic biodevices of complex shapes, which has direct applicability to biodevices for such applications as targeted micro-robotic drug delivery and precise bioprinting for tissue and organ engineering. Abdul-Hamid is also participating in a joint research project with Dr. Amir Shaikhi in the Department of Chemical Engineering, which will investigate the hierarchical patterning of microgels. The study leverages microfluidic devices to generate artificial vascular networks, examining how particle friction and lubrication properties influence microgel organization.