| Big grant, tiny research
 im Osedach ’05 knows something
about small wonders
and grand opportunities. Osedach, an Electrical& Computer Engineering
graduate with a physics minor,
was awarded a $90,000
National Science Foundation
Fellowship for graduate study
at Harvard University. Not
long ago, though, he was an
RU ECE, spending hours and
hours at Rowan Hall working
toward graduate school, and
as it turned out, toward the
NSF Fellowship, which he considers
an “immense honor.”
“I was surprised, but even
more, relieved. I knew that I
would be able to go to graduate
school and that I could do
some kind of work that interested
me,” said Osedach.
Osedach’s specialty is
nanotechnology, the study of
extremely small electronic devices
(a billionth of a meter, or
about 50,000 times smaller
than the diameter of a human hair) that could result in alternatives
to current computer designs. His NSF grant covers tuition
at Harvard and a stipend.
It was Rowan’s undergraduate
Engineering program that
prepared Osedach for such a
challenge. “Rowan’s Engineering
curriculum is unique in the
amount of hands-on and practical
experience you get. I became
very proficient in important
skills—electron beam lithography,
a nano-fabrication technique,
for example—that many
students from other universities
may never have even heard of. Also, many of the faculty, particularly
Dr. Krchnavek, provided
essential guidance and mentoring
throughout the process of
considering whether or not a
Ph.D. was for me,” he said.
Osedach is still feeling
out graduate school—“Things
are just getting started”—but
remembers his favorite thing
about his time at Rowan. “The
ECE program had a strong
sense of community. The professors
are truly dedicated
to the students, the grad students
help the undergrads, and
the older undergrads help the
younger undergrads. In retrospect,
I don’t think I ever fully
appreciated how lucky I was to
be studying in such a supportive
environment.”
Used to nano-scale perspective,
what happens after
Harvard is a big question, he
says. “I think long-term I’d like
to teach. But as far as what
to do immediately after finishing,
I have no idea. Five or six
years is a long time from now.”
—By Cass Young ’05
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