Undergraduate Research Spotlight

When FAMU-FSU Engineering student Bobby Haney first tried to explain to his parents that he wanted to continue going to school after graduating, his parents were less than enthusiastic. After all, as a chemical engineering graduate with his bachelor’s degree he could get a job with a guaranteed income right away. Haney explained that this is the type of decision that students who come from low-income situations like his have to face when thinking about pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree. But for him, there was never a doubt.

MXenes are an intriguing new family of two-dimensional, high-performance electronic materials that could be key to advances in the field of energy conversion and storage. The atoms-thin ceramics are already used in medicine and optoelectronics but recently have emerged as a promising nanomaterial in the development of sustainable energy technologies.

Engineering Senior Design Day happens every year in every engineering school in the nation, and FAMU-FSU College of engineering is no exception. It is an event filled with college students in suits scurrying through the school— mostly dark, serious suits with the flair of youth, and maybe colorful sneakers or a tie. Some students carry projects in their hands; other prototypes are so large it takes an entire team to cart them into the building.

The National Institutes of Health is funding a $1.8 million project led by a researcher at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering that will use artificially grown, simplified mini-organs to create medicine that targets brain cells damaged by stroke.

The research team will use stem cells to create miniature organs that resemble human brains. From those so-called brain organoids, they will harvest particles that are naturally released by cells and engineer them to act as medicine where it’s needed in the brain of a patient.