Bhavitavya Sonia Nijampatnam, a graduate student in the UAB Department of Chemistry, has been named the recipient of a National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research pre-doctoral fellowship.

Nijampatnam won a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award for Individual Predoctoral Fellows (F31)  from the NICDR, one of the National Institutes for Health, for her dissertation Polyphenolic inhibitors of S. Mutans glucosyltransferases to fight dental caries. 

The award provides support to doctoral students working on a dissertation projects in an area of research supported by the NICDR.

Sonia's doctoral advisor is Dr. Sadanandan E. Velu and she is co-mentored by Dr. Hui Wu from the Departments of Pediatric Dentistry and Microbiology. 

"These are highly competitive and highly prestigious awards," said chemistry professor and graduate program director Dr. Aaron Lucius. "We are very proud of Sonia’s success in acquiring this award."