Elahe Ganji awarded the University Doctoral Fellowship

Congratulations to Elahe Ganji, a fourth year PhD student in Mechanical Engineering (University of Delaware) on being selected for the University Doctoral Fellowship Award from the University of Delaware! This award will support Elahe for her doctoral research over the next academic year and is a competitive award. Elahe was one of two students nominated from her home department.

Among her academic accomplishments, Elahe is an advocate for women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and has led multiple different programs for STEM outreach targeted at young women and girls. For over two years, she has been involved with the Perry Initiative as a Program Specialist and is enthusiastic about mentoring young women through Perry Outreach Programs. She was the lead coordinator for the Serviam Outreach Program and led a summer high school outreach course for mechanics. In addition, Ms. Ganji is an excellent mentor to undergraduate students, especially women, in the laboratory. Ms. Ganji has mentored six undergraduate women from various programs (e.g., engineering, agriculture) and other institutions (e.g., Vanderbilt, Delaware Technological Community College) and has helped build confidence and enthusiasm in the undergraduate trainees that join our group. She was also the Graduate Student Liason, assigned by Dean Levi Thompson, for the College of Engineering Strategic Development Committee and was on the Graduate Student Diversity Committee working group led by the Associate Dean of Graduate Affairs (Dr. Jill Higginson). In her role on the Diversity Committee, she has helped to develop advising tools to improve the overall graduate student experience in COE. She has formally contributed to undergraduate education in both Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering through teaching assistantships, and was the Lead Instructor for BMEG310 Biomechanics I laboratory in Fall 2019.

Elahe is currently a visiting graduate student at the University of Michigan and will be completing her doctoral work using optogenetic stimulation of skeletal muscle for controlling tendon loading in the ORL.