Mahmoud Matar Abed receives GEM Fellowship sponsored by NASA

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (05/10/2022)—Mahmoud Matar Abed, a second-year graduate student in Professor Christy Haynes’ lab, has been awarded a GEM Fellowship from the National GEM Consortium. The GEM Fellowship program promotes the participation of underrepresented groups in post-graduate science and engineering education and the technical workforce.

In addition to financial support, GEM Fellows are provided with practical engineering summer work experiences through an employer sponsor. Matar Abed is sponsored by employer partner NASA. As a NASA Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) GEM Fellow, he will work at the Kennedy Space Center in summer 2022 on projects related to in-situ resource utilization.

Matar Abed earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico-Humacao and his Master’s degree in Materials Science & Engineering from Arizona State University, where he studied the catalytic activity of nanomaterials with enzyme-like characteristics.

In the Haynes lab, Matar Abed works on the development of plasmonic/SERS sensors for the detection of bacteria and viruses. Haynes expressed her happiness having him as a member of her group, saying “Mahmoud is bright and a great collaborator. I look forward to hearing about all he learns during his NASA summer research.”

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