Western New England University graduate student Brian Dutra won first place in the Old Guard Oral Presentation Competition held at the 2012 American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ (ASME) International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition held in Houston, Texas.
Dutra claimed the top prize for his presentation on “Acoustophoretic Separation of Lipid Particles from Red Blood Cells,” a process of removing microscopic impurities from blood using ultrasonic standing waves.
Dutra was a summer intern at FloDesign Sonics and ultimately became an employee of the Wilbraham-based company. His internship was made possible by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center’s Internship Challenge – a workforce development program focused on enhancing the talent pipeline for Massachusetts companies engaged in life sciences. This year-round program reimburses eligible companies, like FloDesign Sonics, for intern stipends.