The Ohio State University has partnered with the Momental Foundation to support this flagship program. The Mistletoe Research Fellowship offers a unique career and funding opportunity to postdoctoral scholars by combining $10,000 in unrestricted research funding with professional development training via remote entrepreneurial collaboration. All Mistletoe Research Fellows participate in two programs designed to build communication and project management skills that will help them to succeed and work more effectively with outside collaborators, whether they seek industry careers or to pursue a position in academia.
Fellowship recipients are required to attend a Match Workshop in which they are onboard to the program and are introduced to startups, mentors, investors, and community partners. Following the workshop the MRF Startup Collaboration is hosted on our Online Learning Community platform.
In 2021 Ohio State received 2 Mistletoe Research Fellowships:
Caymen Novak
Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute
Caymen Novak is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Drs. Ballinger and Ghadiali’s lab in the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute at The Ohio State University. She received her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Oakland University and her PhD from the University of Michigan. Her PhD in biomedical engineering studied the impact of compression and shear stress on the progression of breast and ovarian cancer. Her current research studies the influences of mechanotransduction on macrophage-fibroblast co-culture in the pulmonary microenvironment. In Dr. Novak’s spare time she enjoys running, biking, and caring for her excessive plant collection.
Tianlin Wang
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and ElectroScience Laboratory
Tianlin Wang is currently a President’s Postdoctoral Scholar with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the ElectroScience Laboratory, The Ohio State University. He received a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research work contributed to calibration/validation and geophysical retrieval for the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System NASA Earth Venture mission. His research interests include microwave remote sensing, microwave measurements, and radio frequency (RF) circuits.
Dr. Wang is a member of Tau Beta Pi, IEEE Eta Kappa Nu, and an Early Career Member of Commission F of the U.S. National Committee (USNC) for the Union Radio Scientifique Internationale (URSI). He is the recipient of the IEEE Mikio Takagi Student Prize at 2018 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, the Outstanding Student Presentation Award at 2018 AGU Fall Meeting, 2020 Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Prize for Distinguished Academic Achievement and Distinguished Leadership Award from the University of Michigan, and the Ernest K. Smith USNC-URSI Student Prize (2nd Place) at 2021 USNC-URSI National Radio Science Meeting.
In 2020 Ohio State received 2 Mistletoe Research Fellowships:
Nicole A. Pfiester Latham
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dr. Nicole A. Pfiester is a President’s Postdoctoral Scholar with the Krishna Infrared Detector Lab in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. Presently, she uses resonant structures to reduce the dark current in infrared photodetectors based on Type II superlattice materials. As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, she received the first Joint-PhD in Electrical Engineering and Materials Science Engineering from Tufts University for her work on metamaterial selective emitters and filters in the near infrared. Nicole received a B.S. in Physics from Purdue University, where she worked with self-assembled GaN nanowires grown via molecular beam epitaxy. Her research interests include combining physics and materials science approaches to improve the performance of electrical devices, with an emphasis on light manipulation and sensing.
Jay Srinivasan
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Dr. Srinivasan will concentrate on the effect of inhibitors on localized corrosion – which is related to but separate from the work performed with materials science and engineering professors Jen Locke and Eric Schindelholz of Ohio State’s Fontana Corrosion Center (FCC).
Jayendran (Jay) Srinivasan is a postdoctoral scholar in Prof. Jen Locke’s group at the Fontana Corrosion Center (FCC) in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. In Prof. Locke’s group, Jay works on the atmospheric stress corrosion cracking of stainless steels used for long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel. He also collaborates with Prof. Eric Schindelholz at the FCC on how humidity affects the kinetic mechanisms of atmospheric pitting corrosion.
Before joining OSU in Apple 2019, Jay worked in the consumer electronics industry as a reliability engineer with Apple and in the biorenewable startup sector in the North Carolina Research Triangle on sustainable water and sanitation technology solutions for developing economies.
Jay received his PhD in materials science and engineering from the University of Virginia in 2016, where his dissertation on critical stability factors for localized corrosion was advised by Prof. Rob Kelly at the Center for Electrochemical Science and Engineering (CESE). Prior to his doctoral work, Jay worked at the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research GmbH in Düsseldorf, Germany. He also holds an MS in materials science and engineering from the University of Florida, and undergraduate degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, India.