Three awards were given out to Purdue BME IGERT students at the recent Society for Biomaterials Annual Meeting, held in Reno, NV.

Rachel Price received the 1st Place Protein and Cells at Interfaces Special Interest Group Graduate Student Award. Rachel's IGERT advisors are Prof. Tom Webster and Prof. Karen Haberstroh.

Grace Park received two awards: the 3rd Place Proteins and Cells at Interfaces Special Interest Group Graduate Student Award and the Honorable Mention Graduate Student Professional and Development Award. Grace's IGERT advisors are Prof. Tom Webster and Prof. Kiman Park.

To be eligible for consideration for the awards, the student's abstract must be accepted as either a presentation or poster by the existing review process and the student must be first author of the abstract. The eligible candidate for the award must also have been enrolled in an institution of higher learning at the time the abstract was submitted. Selection is made based on the originality and quality of the research being presented.

Another Purdue-related student received the Honorable Mention Orthopedic Special Interest Group Undergraduate Student Award. Karen Ellison, who participated in Purdue's Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program last summer, was presented this award based on her work with her faculty advisor, Prof. Tom Webster. Karen is currently attending the University of Idaho.