Page 3 - CEMS News Winter 2021
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                          CEMS NEWS
       ’08 with Lanny Schmidt), won a prestigious MacArthur “genius grant” (see article on page 8). Our long-standing, NSF-funded Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) was renewed with an $18 million budget for six years. Our newly formed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) working group made great progress on developing a strategic plan for enhancing DEI within the CEMS community. Enormous enthusiasm for DEI efforts also spawned a second, student-only group called SOAR for Students Organized Against Racism, which has worked to increase awareness of racism and DEI issues and to provide resources for self-improvement (see page 4
for more information). Overall, it was a year filled with accomplishments, many of them in response to adversity. I am certainly grateful to my faculty and staff colleagues, and to our students, for their tremendous dedication and persistence in advancing our research, teaching, and service missions in a very difficult year.
And this leads me to my near-to-final remarks for this newsletter. By mid-January of the new year, CEMS will say good-bye to five remarkable, long-time staff and faculty colleagues who have decided to retire: Teresa Bredahl (main office), Mary Kosowski (accounting), Bob Lewis (IPRIME), Wieslaw Suszynski (coating lab), and Professor William “Bill” Smyrl. Each of these individuals exemplifies
the dedication to CEMS that I mentioned above. All-told, these five colleagues have invested over 140 person- years in CEMS! We are extraordinarily grateful to them for their professional service and friendship. Please see articles about Teresa, Mary, Bob, Wieslaw, and Bill inside this newsletter.
As 2021 dawns, we look forward to a healthier, brighter, and more productive year. The vaccines, which represent a monumental scientific achievement, give us substantial hope. In this regard, I am sure that you will be interested and delighted to know that Mr. Stéphane Bancel (MS ChE ’95), CEO of Moderna, one of the two mRNA vaccine makers, is a CEMS alumnus. It’s a small world, isn’t it? CEMS connections abound in science and engineering.
Best wishes for a healthy and happy 2021!!
C. Daniel Frisbie, Head
      Stéphane Bancel, CEMS alumnus, leads vaccine development
Moderna, Inc., a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech firm led by Stéphane Bancel (MS ChE ’95), was one of the first companies in the world to react to the COVID-19 outbreak. Its Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine entered Phase 3 clinical trials in July. By November 16, the first interim analysis showed an efficacy of 94.5 percent. For the latest developments or to watch a video of how this mRNA works, visit: z.umn.edu/modernamilestones
Bancel is a former student of Professor Wei-Shou Hu. When asked what he remembers about the multilingual Bancel, Hu said, “Stéphane was very creative and charming. He returned to the U to give the Fredrickson Lecture to students, faculty and staff five years ago when he had just started at Moderna. He convinced many that he would take it to fruition, as he has accomplished now.” Hu, who still stays in touch with Bancel, is also busy with COVID-19 work. He is collaborating with the University of Minnesota Medical School to create a cell line that produces SARS CoV-2 spike proteins.
“Engineers have a mindset of systems,” Hu said. “We integrate. We synthesize. And that perspective is really important for translating scientific discoveries to something that directly impacts society.”
Learn more about Hu’s research: z.umn.edu/hucovidstudy
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