Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia Graduate Students and Postdocs in Science will hold its third annual Scientific Research Day on May 20 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Paul D. Coverdell Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine.
This free, interdisciplinary event will feature presentations by graduate students, postdoctoral associates and other members of the UGA research community. Robert Langer, David H. Koch Institute Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will deliver the keynote address.
Langer has received more 180 major awards, including the 2006 United States National Medal of Science; the Charles Stark Draper Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for engineers; and the 2008 Millennium Prize, the world’s largest technology prize. His work combines biotechnology and materials science in a number of different projects, one of which is the study and development of polymers to aid in drug delivery, and polymer systems for tissue engineering.
“The purpose of Research Day is to provide graduate students and postdocs at UGA an opportunity to showcase their noteworthy research to an interdisciplinary audience,” said Phillip Callihan, GSPS executive chair and pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences doctoral student. “GSPS is very excited that Dr. Langer will deliver the keynote address, and we are looking forward to the event.”
Created in early 2009, GSPS provides a forum for graduate students and postdoctoral associates at UGA to prepare for science careers through professional development and networking opportunities. The organization has 314 members representing 30 departments and seven UGA schools and colleges. In addition to its annual research day, GSPS organizes a yearly career symposium and hosts regular open forums addressing topics ranging from balancing family and career goals to finding postdoctoral fellowships.
The keynote lecture is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research and the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc. Additional sponsors currently include the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute; the Institute for Behavioral Research; the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center; the UGA Graduate School; Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources; the department of pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences in the College of Pharmacy; the departments of chemistry, plant pathology and genetics in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences; the UGA Veterinary Medical Experiment Station; and the UGA Postdoctoral Association.
Cash prizes will be presented to the best oral and poster presentations. Registration, which is required to participate in the event, closes on May 10. For more information or to register, see http://www.gsps.uga.edu/register.html.