Chasing opportunity
Engineering student to present at AIChE conference
11:56 a.m., Sept. 16, 2011--Melissa St. Amand, a doctoral candidate in the University of Delaware’s Department of Chemical Engineering, will present her biotechnology research at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) annual meeting on Monday, Oct. 17.
AIChE is the world's leading organization for chemical engineering professionals, with over 40,000 members from more than 90 countries.
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St. Amand was one of 10 women chosen to attend the conference as a recipient of the 2011 AIChE Women’s Initiatives Committee (WIC) Travel Grant, a $500 travel award given to women who demonstrate “strong scholastic achievement combined with a demonstrated passion towards promoting the entry, development and participation of women with AIChE and profession of engineering.”
St. Amand’s presentation, entitled “Controllability Analysis of Protein Glycosylation in CHO Cells,” assesses the protein glycosylation and its role in improving quality control strategies in the biopharmaceutical industry.
The work is based on research she conducted during a summer fellowship in Singapore through the National Science Foundation’s East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes (EAPSI).
St. Amand is co-advised by Babatunde A. Ogunnaike, interim dean of the College of Engineering and William L. Friend Chaired Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Anne S. Robinson, professor of chemical engineering.
“Melissa is hardworking, energetic and personable. She is a model of leadership, and she works hard to be an example for other young girls to pursue science and engineering careers,” said Ogunnaike.
St. Amand earned dual bachelor's degrees of science in chemical engineering and biochemistry at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2007 and worked as a process engineer at Genzyme before pursing her doctoral degree at UD.
Article by Gabriella Chiera
Photo by Ambre Alexander