Shawana Tabassum

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT SHAWANA TABASSUM

10 years of experience in design and fabrication of innovative electrochemical and optical sensors (nanoscale structures resonating in visible & infrared) and systems at the nanoscale with applications in disease diagnostics and therapeutics, environmental monitoring, and sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture. • Hands-on experience with deposition techniques such as Electron beam evaporation, sputtering, spray, spin; material characterization techniques such as SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy), AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy), FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) Spectroscopy, UV-vis; and separating & analyzing compounds using chromatography-mass spectroscopy techniques such as GC-MS, GC-FID, HPLC. • Successfully established collaborations with researchers from medical schools at the University of Iowa on developing \"In-vivo glucose sensor for continuous monitoring/regulation and testing on animal models\" and with Rutgers University on developing \"Integrated biochip for sepsis monitoring in hospital settings from whole blood\". • Submitted two patent applications on the optical sensors, one of which has been licensed by an agricultural company in Midwest for possible adoption and productization• Entrepreneurial activities:(1) Completed Iowa State University’s (ISU’s) Innovations Corps Site program as the Entrepreneurial lead, conducted 20 interviews with Ag company representatives and farmers to capture the consumers’ i.e. industry and farmers’ outlook and to bring innovation to market, and won a seed grant Won ISU\'s Innovation Prize under the \'Best Global Impact\' category and won the second prize at ISU\'s Innovation Pitch Competition.