Dr. Komal Vig works to educate a high-tech plasma workforce for Alabama
Dr. Komal Vig is very busy, but she doesn’t mind.
A professor of biological sciences at Alabama State University (ASU) and a Future Technologies & enabling Plasma Processes (FTPP) lead investigator, Dr. Vig has been leading two 10-week summer programs that kept her fully involved until they recently concluded. It’s part of her ongoing effort to populate an educated workforce to advance Alabama’s regional and national leadership in plasma science and engineering (PSE).
“I have been training undergrads this year,” Dr. Vig says.
“Last year, I had an FTTP summer intern working with me and he came back again this year in my Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. I sent that student to two scientific meetings and we had many other projects as part of his internship.”
Dr. Vig says she has been running the NSF REU program at ASU, “and I have been including plasma aspects in training students in this field.”
collaborative projects
She’s also spreading the word about PSE when she is engaged in collaborative projects with other universities.
Dr. Vig has been involved in plasma research since 2017, when the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) first awarded Alabama a five-year, $20 million grant called Connecting the Plasma Universe to Plasma Technology in Alabama, or CPU2AL. Plasma is a versatile, highly energized form of gas that has numerous scientific and commercial applications.
“This is a new field for me and I am interested in plasma medicine, as this is a new innovative area and does not have much research in it,” Dr. Vig says.
Following CPU2AL, the NSF awarded Alabama a second five-year, $20 million grant for FTPP, both managed by The University of Alabama in Huntsville. The grants fund a coalition of nine Alabama universities and a research corporation. Besides UAH, partners include the University of Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Auburn University, Tuskegee University, the University of South Alabama, Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University, Oakwood University and CFD Research Corp.
FTPP is integrating experimental and theoretical plasma research, and is commercializing plasma technologies to propel Alabama into a PSE leadership role regionally and nationally. Dr. Vig has been working to help create a diverse and skilled workforce for the effort.
“We are working on plasma medicine aspects and developing antimicrobials,” she says. “We’re currently working towards developing antimicrobial vascular grafts and skin tissue grafts, and we are researching respiratory syncytial virus inhibition using plasma and other agents, as well as other projects.”
The research involves a team that includes undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, furthering her training and workforce development goals.
teamwork
She’s appreciative of FTPP’s financial support for her research, and Dr. Vig says the statewide collaborative team has been a great benefit.
“More than the financial support, I like the team,” she says. “I get new ideas to work on and develop collaborative projects.”
The future for PSE in Alabama is bright, Dr, Vig says.
“It has a good future in developing antimicrobials, in agricultural applications and in poultry processing, besides all the physics and engineering aspects.”