The American Society for Nanomedicine (ASNM) recognized PhD candidate Jae Kyoo Lee’s research presentation, "Observing the Death of Cell on the Nanoscale: Real-time Molecular Imaging of Retinal Ganglion Cell Apoptosis under Elevated Pressure", by a “Young Investigator Award” at its inaugural conference, October 22-25, 2009 (Potomac, Maryland).

The Biomedical Engineering Society has selected Xiwu Cao, a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering, to receive a Graduate Research Award for his paper, entitled "Dependence of Retinal Ganglion Cell Responses on Textures of Natural Scenes". This paper will be presented in the form of a platform presentation at the 2009 Biomedical Engineering Society Conference in Pittsburgh (October 7-9).

Lisong Ai, a PhD student in biomedical engineering, has been awarded a prestigious predoctoral fellowship by the American Heart Association. The fellowship will support Ai’s research project, entitled “A Real-Time Model to Assess Vascular Oxidative Stress and Mechanically Unstable Plaque”.

Nicholas Wettels, a third-year Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering, was awarded a NASA GSRP fellowship for 2009 to work on the Robonaut project at Johnson Space Center.