The Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology at Georgia Tech has announced the winners for the 2016 Spring Seed Grant Awards. The primary purpose of the IEN Seed Grant is to give first or second year graduate students in various disciplines working on original and un-funded research in micro- and nano-scale projects the opportunity to access the most advanced academic cleanroom space in the Southeast. In addition to accessing the high-level fabrication, lithography, and characterization tools in the labs, the students will have the opportunity to gain proficiency in cleanroom and tool methodology and to use the consultation services provided by research staff members of the IEN Advanced Technology Team.  In addition, the Seed Grant program gives faculty with novel research topics the ability to develop preliminary data in order to pursue follow-up funding sources.

The 4 winning projects, from a diverse group of engineering disciplines, were awarded a six month block of IEN cleanroom and lab access time. In keeping with the interdisciplinary mission of IEN, the projects that will be enabled by the grants include research in materials, biomedicine, nanoelectronics, and packaging applications.

The Spring 2016 IEN Seed Grant Award winners are:

• Moez Aziz (PI Hua Wang, Electrical and Computer Engineering), Developing Cellular Sample Delivery and Isolation Techniques on the Integrated CMOS Nanoelectronic Platform
• Meredith Fay (PI Wilbur Lam, Biomedical Engineering), How Do White Blood Cells Talk to Each Other? Leveraging Microfabricated Systems to Investigate Direct Neutrophil-to-Neutrophil Communication
• Augustus Lang (PI John Reynolds, Chemistry and Biochemistry & Materials Science and Engineering), Electrofunctional Paper: Flexible Paper-Based Displays
• Amar Mohabir and Sterling Smith (undergraduate)(PI Mike Filler, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering), Plasmonic-Phononic Hybrid Nanoparticles: New Materials for Extreme Infrared Light Focusing

Awardees will present the results of their research efforts at the annual IEN User Day in 2017.

For more information about IEN cleanroom facilities, research capabilities, and collaboration opportunities please visit www.ien.gatech.edu.