Cooper Thome (pictured above), a UTC Honors College student, spent the summer in Japan working on an internship in nanotechnology at the National Institute of Materials Science in the city of Tsukuba.
The chemical engineering major was one of six students chosen from across the U.S.
Cooper studied stem cells—usually about one millionth of a meter in size—by growing them for tissue engineering.
“The fabrication and characterization of the patterns is an important part of the project,” he says. “It has been shown that the actual patterns in which you grow the cells can influence their behavior greatly, so I am going to explore some of the implications of that.”
UT Chattanooga Called to Arms
During his annual State of the University address, UTC Chancellor Steven Angle issued a call to arms, urging faculty and staff to work together and create a plan to help students achieve their goals and be productive members of society.
“When a UTC graduate is asked if a collaborative learning experience made a difference, my hope is the response will be absolutely ‘Yes,’” Angle says. “They were encouraged to explore areas that are less defined than in a traditional classroom lecture.”
The chancellor announced enrollment for fall 2017 has increased to 11,586 students, with graduate enrollment up 3.5 percent to 1,411. Angle also said on-campus housing is full.
Inside Minds
Drew Bailey, a UC Foundation assistant professor of health and human performance, decided to find out what happens to runners during marathons.
He selected a group of 10 runners with varying athletic experience and skill levels who had signed up to run the Chattanooga Marathon and outfitted them with wireless headsets that recorded their brain waves during the race. He measured different mental states—anxiety, relaxation, right and left frontal asymmetry and meditation—as the runners weaved through downtown Chattanooga.
“Anxiety really showed up in two spots,” Bailey says: “Right at the beginning where the runners were nervous while waiting for the gun to go off and when they were coming up the hill by Ross’s Landing.”