This summer will be a busy one for two of our Supplemental Instruction leaders, Abdel Sharkasi and Eric Gabilondo.
Sharkasi and Gabilondo are two of 10 students named as this year's Birla Carbon Scholars.
The Birla Carbon Scholars' Program was created in April 2014 to support research opportunities for Kennesaw State University’s
College of Science and Mathematics students. The pledge of $250,000 ($50,000 per year) was designed to create summer research opportunities for undergraduates each year.
Sharkasi and Gabilondo will be conducting research with professors in the College of Science and Mathematics. They will present their research to a team of scientists from Birla
Carbon's Marietta facility during the Birla Carbon Symposium 2015. The winner will receive $2,000 toward travel expenses to present his/her research at a national scientific conference the next academic year.
Sharkasi will be working with Dr. Michael Van Dyke to research protein functions and genes associated with the protein functions in E.coli.
Gabilondo, also named the 2014 Ed Brooks Scholarship recipient, will be working with Dr. Heather Abbott-Lyon to design and construct an effusive molecular beam that will launch methane gas, at temperature ranges from 300-900 K, into the sample chamber of Dr. Abbott-Lyon's Ultra-High Vacuum chamber. He will also be performing predictive modeling calculations to evaluate the sticking coefficients of methane on the vanadium sample.
As announced in KSU’s College of Science and Mathematics news (April 2014), Birla Carbon is the world's largest manufacturer and supplier of high-quality Carbon Black additives. Its customers include leading brands and companies from the Tires, Rubbers Goods, Plastics, Inks and Paints sectors globally. The Company has 17 manufacturing facilities in 12 countries and two State-of-the-Art Research & Development
Centers, one of which is located at their operational headquarters in Marietta, Georgia, USA. The company has a history of many firsts among its accomplishments, including being the first to produce Carbon Black Beads and patent Dustless Carbon Black in 1927, and being the first Carbon Black Company to use an Industrial Electron Microscope in 1940. The focus on R&D continues to be relentless with resources committed to constantly enhancing the technical and environmental impact of its products and operations. Sustainable operational excellence is a key business driver for Birla Carbon, and the company is investing the required resources on its sustainability initiative.
Birla Carbon is a flagship business of the $40 billion Aditya Birla Group, an Indian conglomerate with a leading presence in aluminum, apparel, cement, financial services, retail and telecom sectors. The group operates in 36 countries with more than 136,000 employees belonging to 42 different nationalities.
More information about Birla Carbon and the Aditya Birla Group is available on their website www.birlacarbon.com and www.adityabirla.com.
Student Research
Supplemental Instruction Leaders named Birla Carbon Scholars