TMFD graduate students awarded 2012 Skala Fellowships

10 Dec 2012    

Skala Fellowship recipients (l. to r.)  Yi Zhao, Shaobo Cai and Helan Xu
TCD Textile Science graduate students Yi Zhao, Shaobo Cai and Helan Xu were among recipients of Agricultural Research Division 2012 awards and fellowships. officially recognized on Tuesday October 30 at the annual Fellowship luncheon in East Campus Union. Zhou, Cai and Xu are recipients of the 2012-2013 John & Louise Skala Fellowships, recognizing outstanding performance as graduate students who are engaged in research for new industrial uses of agricultural products. The award comes with a $5000 stipend applied to the students’ assistantships.  

Yi Zhao received Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Textiles Materials & Engineering from Donghua University in Shanghai, China, before beginning her doctoral work at UNL. Her current research is focused on textile sizing from protein.

Shaobo Cai received his B.S. degree in biological engineering from Donghua University before starting his Master of Science program in TMFD. At UNL he has concentrated his research efforts in the area of bio-based textiles. His thesis title is Electrospun Plant Protein Scaffolds with Fibers Oriented Randomly in Three Dimensions for Biomedical Applications.

Helan Xu received Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from the College of Textiles at Donghua University, Shanghai, and is now pursuing her PhD here at UNL. Her research area and dissertation focus is titled Fabrication of Nanocapsules from Plant Proteins and Investigation of their Applications.

The three students are advised by Dr. Yiqi Yang, himself a graduate of Donghua University.

TCD congratulates Yi, Shaibo and Helan  on this accomplishment!