Adam Zeiger, a fourth year MEM Undergraduate, will be leaving Drexel’s campus this summer to pursue a nine-week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at MIT with their Materials Department.

Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Zeiger was accepted to both MIT and Harvard for their programs. With a goal of attending graduate school at MIT for his Ph.D., the MIT program was an obvious choice.

Zeiger has been working with Dr. Bradley Layton since January of this year on protein mechanics and also participated in Research Day 2006 to present their work on a poster entitled "A Model of Cell Membrane Deformation due to Microtubule Structure Mechanics."

“The research is basically trying to determine the material properties of tubulin. Tubulin forms together in long protein struts called microtubules which act as the cytoskeletons in certain cells and are responsible for the shape of axons in neurons, “said Zeiger.

“Our goal is to use molecular simulation software to utilize the interatomic forces in individual tubulin dimers to perform tensile and compression tests and determine values for Young’s modulus for different sequences. These types of simulations have not been done before to our knowledge, and I'm hoping to get them published with Dr. Layton soon,” he said.

Zeiger is currently working towards his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Materials Engineering, is a member of the Pennoni Honors College, Pi Tau Sigma, Alpha Epsilon Pi, ASME, and has been participating in the Hess Honors Research program since June 2005. He has received the AJ Drexel Scholarship as well as the Alvin Wene Scholarship for research.

“I love research and I love teaching. I finally got an opportunity this year to be a TA and I plan on doing it every term until I graduate and especially in graduate school. I'm also really enjoying the research I'm doing with Dr. Layton. My goal to get my PhD and remain in the academic environment as a professor.”