Matthew Mieles

I am a doctoral student at Drexel University, pursuing my Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry. I am currently in my second year and have passed all required courses (GPA: 3.84) and preliminary examinations for my concentration. I have successfully defended my thesis proposal to my committee and I am now officially a Ph.D. Candidate. This summer I published my first paper as a co-first author with my colleague, entitled, Injectable and moldable hydrogels for use in sensitive and wide range strain sensing applications. The paper was published in April by the peer-reviewed journal Biopolymers.
As a teaching assistant, I have taught recitation classes of up to 30 students for five college courses and instructed labs of 24 students in over 15 undergraduate-level experiments. I have built a great rapport with many of my former students over the last two years and have even become mentors to two of them. I was pleased to receive recognition this year by the Graduate College for teaching excellence, specifically in classroom instruction. On my time away from teaching/research I like to volunteer at the local Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House, where I transport families to and from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and assist in the kitchen with meal preparations.
Finally, I am ecstatic to say that I got married late last year to the love of my life and my rock that has held me down throughout my journey of the last six years or so.