Five McKelvey Engineering graduate students selected for Olin-Chancellor’s Fellowships
Program recognizes second-year doctoral students with exceptional academic and research accomplishments
Rosana Alfaro, Taylor Barnett, Daniel Cher, Jackson Cox and Wenxuan Xue, graduate students in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, have been selected as Olin-Chancellor’s Fellows.
The prestigious fellowship, awarded annually, recognizes the students’ exceptional academic and research accomplishments in their first year at WashU. The program empowers future scholars and leaders who will contribute to advancing knowledge and addressing challenges in a global society through innovation, integrity and intellectual endeavors.
In addition to a competitive award package, fellows receive professional development opportunities as well as access to unique resources, networking, programming and mentorship.
Learn more about the fellows below.
Rosana Alfaro, Department of Biomedical Engineering
As a doctoral student in the lab of Chao Zhou, professor of biomedical engineering, Alfaro’s research focuses on optimizing biocompatible optical clearing agents to enhance light penetration and imaging depth in biological tissues, with broad applications in optical imaging and therapy. By characterizing the optical clearing properties of various absorbing dyes, she aims to improve the performance of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) for translational research. Her work includes temporarily rendering the human eardrum transparent for middle-ear imaging and clearing mouse skin and muscle to enable in vivo visualization and characterization of adipose tissue subtypes.
Taylor Barnett, Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering
As a doctoral student in the lab of Young-Shin Jun, professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering, Barnett’s research focuses on addressing energy and environmental challenges by improving our understanding of the fundamental interactions between ions at the air/water interface. Her work provides new information that can control the nucleation of critical minerals to improve their effective recovery, enabling a circular water, energy and materials economy. She uses a unique combination of advanced surface-sensitive techniques and state-of -the-art synchrotron-based X-ray techniques at Argonne National Laboratory. Additionally, she utilizes nanobubbles for precise control to promote solid nucleation.
Daniel Cher, Division of Computational & Data Sciences
As a doctoral student in the lab of Nathan Jacobs, professor of computer science & engineering, Cher’s research focuses on applying computer vision and machine learning to geospatial challenges. Broadly, his interests lie in developing methods that use images and geospatial data to better understand environmental and societal patterns and change.
Jackson Cox, Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering
As a doctoral student in the lab of Andrew Clark, associate professor of electrical & systems engineering, Cox’s research focuses on the safety verification of autonomous systems when they are experiencing a mechanical or electrical fault. These faults can void a system's safety property and risk damage to itself and the world around it. Using mathematical tools such as control barrier functions, his work aims to verify the safety of autonomous systems even when experiencing unexpected or unknown faults.
Wenxuan Xue, Department of Biomedical Engineering
As a doctoral student in the lab of Abhinav Jha, associate professor of biomedical engineering, Xue’s research focuses on personalizing acquisition protocols for myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) with SPECT, a widely used diagnostic tool for evaluating coronary artery disease. Patients with obesity or those who are unable to raise their arms often have poor image quality. Moreover, a substantial fraction of patients undergoing MPI SPECT experience these large-anatomy-related challenges. Xue’s research aims to develop strategies that improve image quality for this patient population.
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- Research
- Graduate Students
- Electrical & Systems Engineering
- Computer Science & Engineering
- Biomedical Engineering
- Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering
