2005_vprdoc PSpreads2.qxp - University of Akron

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Stephanie T. Lopina —choosing the academic life Dr. Stephanie Lopina has worked with a variety of students on a multiplicity of subject matters and research foci. But talk to enough of the students and they start to sound alike. Which, of course, is a good thing when you listen to what they have to say about their mentor. 14 The same words consistently emerge in these discussions and none more commonly than “knowledge.” All are in relative awe of Lopina’s wealth of knowledge. “Her versatility of knowledge and her approach to dealing with individual situations and technical problems has provided me with an altogether different outlook on how to deal with such problems,” says Parth Shah, one of her students. “Also, due to the expanse of her knowledge, she has been able to guide me through some difficult times. Besides her
In sixth grade, Dr. Stephanie T. Lopina, associate professor of chemical and biomengineering and associate professor of biomedical engineering, felt her interest in chemistry beginning to bud. That initial interest eventually fully blossomed, to say the least. Likewise, an early fascination with academia (though a few years after primary school) also grew over time. The two aspects converged during Lopina’s quest for higher education and she is now a leader in the field of biochemical engineering. “Polymers, in particular, and medicine were always interests of mine,” says Lopina, who has since gone on to conduct some of the most groundbreaking and fascinating scientific research The University of Akron has ever seen. Her move to academia wasn’t immediate, though it was her goal early on during her days as an undergraduate student at Notre Dame University, where she earned a degree in chemical engineering. Seeing her peers heading into various industry jobs, and realizing that many members in her academic field do the same, Lopina decided to give that a whirl. “I made it a specific goal of mine, after I finished my B.S., to go into industry and see, ‘what does a B.S. chemical engineer do’,” she recalls. “So I did that — and loved it, absolutely loved it — with the intention of going on to a graduate school.” Eventually, Lopina reached a decision. She chose academics, knowing she could always return to industry, and headed to graduate school. She earned a Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and did postdoctoral work at Princeton University. It was at M.I.T. that Lopina did her first work with artificial livers. The benefit of that experience was two-fold. First, it got Lopina started down a path of research on which she has remained, and it enabled her to peer into a window of how things work in the academic world. Lopina was her graduate adviser’s initial student. “It was a very good learning experience,” she says. Drawn to Akron by its reputation for innovative polymer research, Lopina felt she had come to a place where she could not only teach, but continue her polymer medicine-based research. Lopina Her research at Akron focuses on developing novel biomaterials, which are primarily polymeric. She also is exploring new platforms for tissue engineering or drug delivery. Some of that involves developing new polymers. “The idea is to take a polymer that induces bone growth, put bone cells on it, and plant that into a bone defect,” Lopina says. “The bone cells take over the polymer, grow, and eventually you have bone, instead of a titanium rod or steel screws or something like that. We’re trying to take natural building blocks — amino acids — and make polymers out of those. We’re doing interesting chemistry.” Another area of focus involves drug delivery. Specifically, Lopina is interested in developing new polymers or new forms of polymers to meet drug delivery controlled release, extended release, targeted release applications and tissue engineering. Lopina enjoys all aspects of research and teaching, but she particularly enjoys when the two are combined and she can collaborate with students in a research environment. “What’s really nice and interesting about research, as opposed to a classroom, is we have ideas and we see if they work. In the classroom, the problem is set up so it has an answer,” Lopina says. “We don’t have an answer. We have to explore why things don’t work. It’s very nice to see Ph.D. students getting used to working that way, with inquiry-based learning. Most graduate students and undergraduate students have never thought that way. It’s very eye-opening. And we use their ideas, too; not just my ideas.” Lopina went to Princeton planning to focus on polymers. Her emphasis then was looking at putting cells onto the polymers, rather than polymers onto the cells. “I’m looking at the cell interaction and how I modify the polymers, rather than studying the interbiological pathways within the organs,” she says. Shah Kanjickal knowledge, she is always keen on listening to our comments and feedback and ideas, and fusing them together to provide a new research direction, thus giving our research a diverse outlook,” Shah continued. Ph.D. student Deenu Kanjickal credits Lopina for letting students conduct research independently, but also for being there when they need her. “She encourages the student to pursue ideas and activities that foster innovative thinking” Kanjickal says. “She also encourages students to present their work at conferences, giving them the opportunity to interact with professionals from the industry.” 15
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