Jennifer Briggs is a first-year bioengineering PhD candidate working under the mentorship of David Albers, associate professor of pediatrics, and Richard Benninger, associate professor of bioengineering. Jennifer’s project emphasizes applying advanced mathematical and data science techniques to further the study of medicine.

Her project focuses on two areas: diabetes and brain injury. In the study of diabetes, she seeks to use Graph Theory techniques to understand the emergent network properties of the Islets of Langerhans, the tissues responsible for insulin secretion. In the field of brain injury, she hopes to develop new, non-invasive techniques to diagnose cerebral autoregulatory function and predict intracranial pressure. This project aims to aid clinical decision making and prevent secondary injury in traumatic brain injury and stroke victims.

The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship funds graduate students, rather than being a project-specific grant. This provides Jennifer with the unique freedom to pursue her own projects, helping grow her research skills for the future.