Media contact: Yvonne Taunton
Vineeth Vijayan, Ph.D.Vineeth Vijayan, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Material Science and Engineering and Department of Physics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has been awarded a seed research grant from the National Science Foundation to yield further insight into environment-friendly and faster ways of generating silica and titania nanoparticles using dusty plasma.
The seed grant from NSF EPSCoR CPU2AL, a program that involves a partnership comprising nine universities and a research corporation in Alabama, aims to support young investigators to get subsequent larger external funding from federal agencies.
“I want to use this grant to research fundamental and applied aspects related with dusty plasma modified polymer scaffolds for bone tissue engineering and generating preliminary data that will be useful for getting further bigger research grants,” Vijayan said.
Vijayan will lead an in-depth, systematic exploration of the new method of synthesizing nanoparticles and its application in bone tissue engineering. The research will be carried out in collaboration with a bone tissue engineering group at Alabama State University.
“This seed grant is an encouragement for a young postdoctoral research scholar like me to build my independent research profile. This will definitely help me to accomplish my future goal of attaining a faculty position in academia,” Vijayan said.
Vijayan thanked his mentors Vinoy Thomas, assistant professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Yogesh Vohra, professor and associate dean, Department of Physics, for their constant support and encouragement throughout the process.