Graduate student Yao Zhang, advised by ECE faculty Prof. Steve Koester and Chemistry faculty Prof. Phil Buhlmann was a finalist for the Best Student Paper Award at the 2016 IEEE Sensors Conference held in Orlando, Florida (Oct. 30 to Nov. 2). Yao’s poster “Glucose Sensing with Graphene Varactors” describes a new method of detecting glucose using a graphene variable capacitor, a sensor concept invented at the University of Minnesota.

The project, a collaborative research undertaking between the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic, could lead to a new type of wireless continuous glucose monitor for use in artificial pancreas, an innovative new platform for treatment of diabetes.