Two BioE Students Receive NSF GRFP Honorable Mentions
Meet the two bioengineering students who were honorable mentions of the 2025 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Awards, Kaitlyn Ramesh (above left) and Victoria Williams (above right). This prestigious program recognizes outstanding graduate students who have demonstrated the potential to be high achieving scientists and engineers early in their careers. The recipients of the five-year fellowship receive three years of financial support, including an annual stipend.
Kaitlyn Ramesh, E’25
Advisor: Assistant Professor Mingyang Lu
Kaitlyn Ramesh’s current work involves developing algorithms for single-cell gene expression data. Given the recent advances in capturing spatial gene expression (“spatial transcriptomics”), she is interested in working with this type of data to understand how cell-cell signaling and microenvironmental cues contribute to the spatial organization and patterning of biological tissues.
For the NSF GRFP, she proposed building a cell-cell signaling model to recapitulate epithelial cell differentiation in the endometrium. Her model would define epithelial cell lineages based on relevant signaling pathways (Wnt, Notch) and use single-cell and spatial transcriptomics data for inferring key parameters and validation. Through her model, she aimed to provide insight into how cell-cell communication influences the composition of the endometrium, with implications for understanding macroscale processes like menstruation and ovulation.
Victoria Williams, PhD ’28
Advisor: Associate Professor Chiara Bellini
Submission Title: “Mechanisms of Endothelial Dysfunction in Response to Wildland-Urban Interface Smoke Exposure: A Path to Assessing Community Risk”
Abstract: Wildfires account for over $130 billion in health-related expenses across the U.S. and are a leading source of air pollution. Humans are most at-risk for smoke inhalation from wildfires at the wildland-urban interface (WUI), the area between human establishment and undeveloped wildland. The composition of WUI smoke may be even more dangerous for human health, as WUI fuel includes higher levels of halogens, plastics, and metals from the man-made structures that burn alongside vegetation in WUI regions. While wildfire smoke (WFS) inhalation is known to increase the risk for CVD, the impact of WUI smoke inhalation is not yet understood and may be remarkably worse. She will evaluate the progression of CVD (endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness) on an established mouse model and a novel in vitro model after exposure to WUI smoke. She will then evaluate the effectiveness of antioxidant interventions on preventing endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness in both models.