(4j) Development of Corrosion Resistant Implant Materials Using Biocompatible Thin Films

            There are
three major endeavors of any university which include research, teaching, and
service to others.  As a graduate
student at Mississippi State University, I have had the opportunity to perform
work in each of the three different segments. 

            My dissertation
project deals with different methods of coating metal implant materials.  Currently, we are working on applying
chitosan, a biopolymer, to three different metals.  We are using different methods, which include dipping, a
silane-reaction, and plasma deposition to modify the chitosan thin film.  The film hardness and bond strength will be
tested with a nanoindentor.  I have
structured my classes around my dissertation project.  In order to better analyze the data collected from the
nanoindentor, I have taken multiple statistics classes.  Since my dissertation project deals with
preventing corrosion within the body, I took Corrosion of Biomedical Implants,
to understand what causes corrosion. 
Finally, I took Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).  SEM is necessary to determine, after
nanoindention, where failure of the film occurred.  I also took immunology, in order to better understand the
reaction caused by foreign material, such as metal implants, in the human
body.  These classes are in addition to
the minor I received in Microbiology as an undergraduate student.

            I have had
many opportunities to assist the professors in Chemical Engineering and
professors in other departments and other schools.  I have been a teaching assistant for the Unit Operations
laboratory, along with teaching both Unit Operations I and Unit Operations
II.  I also helped create, and the
subsequently taught, the simulation lab that accompanied Mississippi State
University's Process Design class.  My
experience with X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) has helped me meet many
different professors around the campus, the country, and the world.  I have worked on projects with professors
from Plant and Soil Sciences, Agricultural and Biological Engineering and the
University of Texas Health Science Center. 
I also have assisted professors from other countries, such as Chile.

            As an
assistant professor, I plan to continue to combine teaching, service to others,
and research.  I am interested in
teaching several different classes, in helping others as I have at Mississippi
State, and continuing my research in modifying the surface of metal implants in
order to promote osseointegration and prevent biocorrosion, using my experience
in the laboratory as a graduate student and my experience as an undergraduate
earning a minor in microbiology.