UA Engineering Student Receives Dingwall Asian Ancestry Grant

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Ynhi Thai, a senior in The University of Alabama’s chemical engineering program, will receive a prestigious and highly competitive William Orr Dingwall Foundation Asian Ancestry Grant.

Thai has been awarded approximately $18,000 for her undergraduate studies and research project. The Dingwall Foundation Grant, awarded to 15 students nationally each year, is given in addition to existing awards the student may already receive. The Asian Ancestry Grant is awarded to undergraduate students pursuing a degree at any college or university. Eligible students must be at least 50 percent Asian ancestry. Thai was born in Vietnam and moved to the United States when she was four years old.

Working with Dr. Chris Brazel, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, Thai is investigating magnetic materials for hyperthermia-triggered drug delivery to promote bone tissue growth. Her project involves synthesis and characterization of composite materials based on manganese ferrite nanoparticles imbedded in hydrogels.

From Long Beach, Miss., Thai is a member of The XXXI, Golden Key International Honour Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, Phi Eta Sigma, Tau Beta Pi and Alpha Lambda Delta honoraries. She is involved in UA’s Honors Program, the International Honors Program, and the department of chemical and biological engineering honors program. She also serves as the associate editor of JOSHUA, the Journal of Science and Health at The University of Alabama.

Thai traveled to Peru as part of a site assessment trip with Engineers Without Borders in 2006, and she participated in the study abroad program in China in 2007. She has interned at the Naval Research Laboratory and co-oped with Eastman Chemical Co. In 2008, she interned at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory-Ocean Chemistry Division in Miami, Fla., as part of earning an Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship.

The William Orr Dingwall Foundation was created in honor of a professor of the department of hearing and speech sciences at the University of Maryland at College Park.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has more than 2,300 students and more than 100 faculty. In the last seven years, students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater scholars, Hollings scholars and Portz scholars.