UTC alumna Andrea Goforth has received a prestigious grant from the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund, a Career Award at the Scientific Interface which will provide $500,000 over five years to support up to two years of advanced postdoctoral training and the first three years of a faculty appointment. She is one of only fifteen 2008 national recipients of this award.
Goforth grew up in Chattanooga and graduated from UTC summa cum laude with an undergraduate degree in chemistry in 2001. She completed a Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry at the University of South Carolina in 2005. She currently is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California at Davis.
The title of Goforth’s proposal is “Bimodal, luminescent/magnetic nanoparticle assemblies targeted to alpha-4-beta-1 integrin for tumor imaging and therapy.”
“Andrea got her first opportunity to do research as an undergraduate student at UTC,” said Dr. Greg Grant, Grote Professor in the UTC Chemistry Department. She co-authored two publications in international chemistry journals and presented her work at four professional conferences during her time here. She had the chance to do meaningful scientific research as an undergraduate student and to discuss her work with other professionals–special features that are possible at a UTC-type institution, but not possible at a larger school. Her research experiences at UTC were important in preparing her as she embarks on a very successful career in materials chemistry.”
Unlike many junior faculty who expend a lot of effort to obtain funding when they enter their positions, this award will allow Goforth to initiate her own research program with external funding, allowing her to buy important instrumentation, travel to broaden her knowledge and purchase necessary chemicals and supplies.
“Initially, it will fund me for one year of a post-doc, when I will work on my interdisciplinary research project, involving the Medical School, the Department of Chemistry, and the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Hopefully, it will help me to obtain a great faculty position and excel quickly,” said Goforth.
