Student Receives WVNano Award

Aaron Kessman, a new doctoral student in the West Virginia University (WVU) Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has received a $5,000 WVNano Graduate Bridge Award for the 2007-08 school year.

WVNano Graduate Bridge Awards are designed to facilitate a smooth transition into graduate programs in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines, and may be renewed for a second year.

Students in the program attend the WVNano Seminar Series, participate in research, attend regularly scheduled advising/mentoring meetings with a WVNano or department advisor, complete surveys and provide annual updated demographic and educational data while enrolled in the Ph.D. program.

Kessman is a native of Boston and received his B.S. in chemical engineering from Northeastern University in 2002. He was admitted directly into the mechanical engineering Ph.D. program. He will begin studying at WVU in July, after accumulating more than five years of applied research and development experience as an employee of 3M and Alkermes.

Kessman’s research interests include design of structural-functional protective coatings by nano-scale tailoring and control of topography, chemistry and morphology of surface characteristics and design of self-assembled structures, and nano-composites with controlled topography, porosity, and other micro-structural characteristics of bulk materials.

WVNano is an initiative to accelerate research and education in the nanosciences and engineering in West Virginia, and to provide support for scientific shared-user facilities, new faculty and small research projects. Partners in the National Science Foundation-sponsored program include West Virginia Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (WVEPSCoR), WVU, Marshall University and West Virginia State University.