In This Issue:

The Changing Face of Engineering—Fellowships

Columbia Engineering is actively fostering the scholarship of women in engineering and, as a mark of its success, two graduate students recently have been awarded prestigious fellowships to study abroad.

Stephanie Grancharov, who will complete her Ph.D. in materials science next October, is a Fulbright Scholar studying at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Surface Science in Potsdam, Germany. Elisabeth Malsch, B.S. ’99, Ph.D. ’03 in engineering mechanics, was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellowship and is studying at Technical University at Braunschweig in Northern Germany.

Stephanie Grancharov

Stephanie Grancharov, a native of California, received a B.S. in chemistry from Berkeley and came to Columbia Engineering for graduate work. After the first year, she became involved with the nanoscale materials group at IBM T.J. Watson Laboratory, and conducted most of her research there. “It’s been a productive collaboration,” she said, “with a patent submission, a cover article published in Nanoletters and another publication in the works.” She credits her advisor, Stephen O’Brien, and IBMers Chris Murray and Glenn Held for a unique and valuable experience.

Stephanie had been an NSF GK-12 Fellow (see story in box on page 2) but academics were but a part of her life at Columbia. A resident of International House, she was a Cultural Hour assistant, helping groups host presentations every month through performances, food and cultural exhibits. She was also president of the Columbia chapter of the Materials Research Society.

“One of my many interests is horses,” she said, “so I was on the Equestrian Team for two years and I helped organize Columbia’s Polo Club.” She is also a fan of ballet, scuba diving and rollerblading.
At the Max Planck Institute, Stephanie is working on making improved kinds of magnetic nanoparticles for use in MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), which, if successful, will be used by Schering-Plough in medical applications. The Fulbright, she said, “is a great opportunity to have exposure to European science labs and methods, and make some great friends and collaborations.”

Elisabeth Malsch

Elisabeth Malsch, a native of Amherst, MA, started her academic career at Columbia as a first-year in 1995 and left in June with a B.S., M.S., Ph.D., the Mindlin Prize (given to a graduate student with outstanding promise of a creative career in research and/or practice) and the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship.

Her work at the Institute of Applied Mechanics of the Technical University involves extending a method for modeling soil-structure interaction, developed at Columbia by her advisor, Prof. Gautam Dasgupta, and applying it to the practical problem of a wind turbine foundation. The method could be especially useful for predicting the structural reliability of off-shore turbines.

Elisabeth was struck immediately by one difference between the German university and Columbia. “Most of the students and all of the professors here are from Germany,” she said. “I remember the first day I arrived at Columbia as an undergraduate and I thought that the only other place I had heard so many different languages spoken was at JFK or Heathrow.”
She views her fellowship as an opportunity to meet people from around the world from many different scientific disciplines. She attended a meeting in Bonn of von Humboldt Fellows from more than 60 different countries. “Coming from Columbia,” she said, “I am convinced that international cooperation is important to academic research. The success of other Fellows I have met so far has certainly encouraged my own ambitions.”

What free time Elisabeth has, she spends traveling by bicycle or train, but has not yet found a group with which to play her viola de gamba, which she was able to do at Columbia. When she returns, Elisabeth hopes to find a research-oriented position in academia or industry. “I enjoy trying to find better ways to predict the behavior of the world around me,” she said, “and hope to have the opportunity to continue to do so.”