Chemical and biomolecular engineering doctoral student Kevin Corn has been selected to take part in the 2023-2024 cohort of SEC Emerging Scholars. This fellowship program is intended to serve as a pathway and source of mentorship for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars across the Southeastern Conference to prepare them for tenured faculty positions.
Corn is one of five Vanderbilt graduate students selected for the program. The others are Ph.D. candidates Jordyn Barr, Biological Sciences; Darian Carroll, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics; Natalie de Lucca, Teaching and Learning; and Barbara Rodriguez Navaza, Anthropology. The cohort of Vanderbilt scholars will attend the upcoming SEC Emerging Scholars conference Oct. 1–4 at the University of Arkansas.
“These students represent some of Vanderbilt’s best and brightest,” said André Christie-Mizell, vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School. “This fellowship program is a novel approach to supporting scholars’ academic job search through enhanced career development, mentoring and networking.”
Corn is a member of Chemical and Biomolecular Assistant Professor Marjan Rafat’s Tumor and Tissue Microenvironment Lab. He focuses on studying radiation therapy’s effects on mammary gland adipose tissue. His research involves using in vitro and in vivo models, with a specific focus on the impact of obesity. Corn also explores other adipose tissue depots or tissues that change in adiposity over time.
Corn’s career goal is to become a chemical engineering professor and to lead an interdisciplinary research team at the interface of engineering, metabolism, cancer biology and immunology.