SDSMTGraduate Education

A South Dakota Mines team received a prestigious NSF I-Corps National award and represented Mines in a highly competitive national cohort that included teams from MIT, Columbia University, UC Berkeley, and other leading institutions. It carries a monetary award of nearly $50,000. This project is being led by Sunith Varghese, Ph.D. candidate as Entrepreneurial Lead, Manoj Tripathi, Ph.D., Research Scientist as Technical Lead, Jim Quinn as Industry Mentor, prior PhD student Dr. Ramesh Devadig, and Venkataramana Gadhamshetty, Ph.D., Professor and Co-Director of the 2D-BEST Center as Principal Investigator. The team successfully completed the National NSF I-Corps program for their NanoGuard technology. Through the program, the team conducted 100+ customer discovery interviews, gaining critical insights into real-world challenges in corrosion, fouling, sensor reliability, and infrastructure protection. These interviews helped the team refine NanoGuard’s value proposition, assess market needs, and identify potential pathways for commercialization. Their participation highlights South Dakota Mines’ growing strength in translating advanced materials, environmental engineering, and biofilm-interface research from the laboratory to real-world applications. This national recognition reflects the broader research and innovation ecosystem being advanced under Dr. Gadhamshetty’s leadership, including emerging graduate training opportunities such as the NSF AI-BEST National Research Traineeship, which prepares students at the intersection of artificial intelligence, biofilms, 2D materials, and translational environmental technologies.
Congratulations Sunith and team!

"Program Feature Friday!" Today we present our Mining Engineering and Management program. Do you or someone you know have an interest in this program? Please contact Dr. McCormick.

Attention grad students: 2D-BEST Center is recruiting MS and PhD thesis track grad students for the AI-BEST National Research Traineeship (NRT) program, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Benefits include a stipend, and tuition and fee support. For more information visit the Official NSF-ETAP Application Portal: https://etap.nsf.gov/award/8484/opportunity/11987

#nsf #aibest #graduatefellowship #materialsscience #bioinformatics #genomics #datascience #environmentalengineering #stem #southdakotamines #usd #bhsu #olc | NSF NRT: AI-BEST 🚀 CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: NSF AI-BEST NRT Inaugural Cohort 🚀 The U.S. National Science Foundation AI-BEST NRT program is officially seeking highly motivated MS and PhD students to join our collaborative, transdisciplinary research cohort. This dynamic, statewide collaboration spans South Dakota...

"Program Feature Friday!" Today we present our Mechanical Engineering program. Do you or someone you know have an interest in this program? Please contact Dr. Romkes.