Congratulations are in order to Nelaka Govinna who successfully defended his PhD thesis on July 24! Nelaka joined the Cebe Research Group in the spring of 2016 and for the past three and a half years has worked tirelessly on his projects. His thesis focused mainly on the applications and fundamental properties of  the polymer PVDF blended with specialty copolymers for targeted filtration applications. His projects required him to master a multitude of techniques including fast scanning calorimetry and electrospinning. His skill and mastery of his work were such that when asked about the hour long closed session with his thesis committee, he said that the questioning was “pleasant.” We want to thank Nelaka for all his hard work and incredible achievements and wish him the best of luck for after his graduation. The author here will surely miss having someone to bounce ideas off of or share a good joke with. Nelaka will always be a member of the Cebe Research Group, and is always welcome here at Tufts!

For more on Dr. Govinna’s work, please see our Publications page and look for numbers 168, 171, 172, and 173