Christopher Chapman, Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering, has been selected to receive a 2014 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Currently Chris’s research focuses on an advanced material, nanoporous gold, due to its high surface area-to-volume ratio, ease of surface modification, tunable surface morphology, and electrical conductivity. In order to rapidly screen for the optimal material morphologies and surface chemistries that enhance biological response and electrophysiological performance, he is engineering a micro-chip-based high-throughput electrode testing platform. The long term goal of his research is to develop a novel neural electrode coating that both mitigates adverse tissue response and achieves high-fidelity electrophysiological recordings at a single-cell level. Chris will complete his project under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Erkin Seker in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.