The engineering students who will gather in Darden Court this spring to celebrate their graduation have a wide variety of interests, are committed to contributing to society and have an insatiable curiosity. Among them will be three outstanding students who are emblematic of the engineers of tomorrow: technically proficient and well-prepared to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world. Their passionate interests and wide-ranging life experiences have enhanced their professional training and education, and they are eager to go forth and make the world a better place. We applaud these students and their peers.

Daniel J. Glanz Jr. (Aero '07)

Photo by Tom Cogill.

Daniel Glanz doesn’t view earning his Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering this spring as anything exceptional. But those who know him are inspired by his latest accomplishment in an already eventful life.

An Alexandria, Va., native, Glanz earned a B.A. in foreign affairs from U.Va. in 1993 and worked as a paralegal. Always fascinated by flight, he took up skydiving, coached others and has performed more than 1,400 jumps.

Glanz also became a soldier. After serving in the ROTC while earning his first degree, he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserves. Upon attaining the rank of captain, he became a battalion logistics officer in Maryland.

Glanz returned to U.Va. to enter the Engineering School, but his studies were interrupted. “After September 11, I knew I would be going on active duty, and I was proud to do so,” he recalls.

He put his degree on hold to serve as a civil affairs officer during two combat tours in Afghanistan. While traveling from a meeting in June 2005, Glanz and his unit passed a suicide bomber, who detonated a bomb as the soldiers passed by. Glanz lost his right arm below the elbow. He returned to the U.S. bearing two Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart and the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award; and with encouragement from Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Associate Professor Robert Ribando, he resumed his studies while still undergoing physical therapy and rehabilitation.

Now married and retired from the military, Glanz is a full-time student in the Engineering School, where his thesis focuses on improved data acquisition capabilities in the Supersonic Combustion Wind Tunnel. After graduation, he plans to join rocket manufacturer Aerojet and work on solid-fuel rockets.

Glanz is grateful for the support he received from engineering faculty and staff. “They were always there to lift my spirits and keep me in the game.”

Erika M. Chin (CS '07)

Photo by Tom Cogill.

Erika Chin, who will earn her Bachelor of Science in computer science from the Engineering School this spring, chose her major because she enjoys finding innovative solutions to real-world problems.

“I’m interested in security in computers, and there is a lot of opportunity for improvement in that area,” says the Burke, Va., native.

Chin, a Rodman Scholar, was selected by the Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research to participate in its Distributed Mentor Program, which matches female students with engineering research professors across the country. She co-authored a paper with University of Washington Professor Maya Gupta on the study of inverse color management in printers, which has been submitted for publication.

Chin also has been recognized for academic excellence. The winner of the Engineering School Class of 1986 Scholarship, Chin was a finalist for the prestigious Anita Borg Scholarship, awarded by Google to women seeking a future in computing and technology. She also received the Marshall Green Education Program Award for proficiency in Japanese, a language she has been studying for eight years.

Chin, who plans to pursue a doctorate in computer science, has another passion that is decidedly non-academic. A skilled dancer, she is vice-president of U.Va.’s Ballroom Dance Club and has placed well in several regional dance competitions.

“As a child, I was always dancing around the house on tiptoe,” she says. “The costumes make me feel like I’m dancing at a ball, in another place and time.”

Michelle D. Kofron (BME '07)

Photo by Tom Cogill.

Michelle Kofron, who earns her doctorate in biomedical engineering this spring, did not originally plan to come to U.Va. The Montclair, N.J., native was working on her doctorate at Drexel University when her mentor there, Dr. Cato Laurencin, moved to U.Va. to chair the University’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery sports medicine division. Kofron followed, and she’s glad she did.

“It’s a great school, and since it’s larger than Drexel, it’s easier to conduct research because many core centers are right here and available to me,” she says.

Kofron, who earned a biology degree from Bucknell University, is using tissue engineering, including ex vivo gene therapy, to accelerate bone healing. When there is trauma to bone tissue, it will not heal unaided. Laurencin’s lab uses a biodegradable material to construct a scaffold that fills the bone defect and provides a surface on which new bone can grow. Other researchers have investigated adding cells to the scaffold prior to implantation. Kofron adds an active gene that encodes bone morphogenetic protein-2 to these cells. This gene causes them to secrete a protein that induces bone regeneration.

This discovery has exciting implications for future treatment of bone tissue trauma. It has also garnered Kofron the U.Va. Excellence in Science and Engineering Award, the Outstanding Biomedical Engineering Graduate Student Award and the Jill E. Hungerford Outstanding Graduate Student Award, as well as several fellowships and opportunities to present her work.

Kofron is looking forward to launching her career. “I’m torn between academe and industry,” she admits, “but I believe I could handle either because of all I’ve learned from Dr. Laurencin. He is a terrific mentor whose enthusiasm for his work is contagious and incites me always to do my best.”

Learn more at www.seas.virginia.edu/spotlight