Emily S. Day, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, University of Delaware
Associate Director, Institute for Engineering Driven Health, University of Delaware
Joint Associate Professor, Materials Science & Engineering, University of Delaware
Senior Research Scientist, Helen F. Graham Cancer Center and Research Institute
Education
Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University, 2011-2013
PI: Chad A. Mirkin
Ph.D. in Bioengineering, Rice University, 2011
PI: Jennifer L. West
B.S. in Physics, Minor in Mathematics, University of Oklahoma, 2006
PI: Lloyd A. Bumm
Biography:
Dr. Emily Day was born in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and obtained her B.S. in Physics with a Minor in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma in 2006, graduating summa cum laude. Dr. Day received the Carl Albert Award, which is granted to the top senior in the College of Arts and Sciences based on academics, moral force of character, and promise of future service to the state and nation. In 2006, Dr. Day moved to Rice University, where she joined the laboratory of Dr. Jennifer West. There, she developed nanoparticle-mediated photothermal therapy as a treatment for glioblastoma, the most aggressive and lethal form of primary brain tumor. During her time at Rice University, Dr. Day received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a Rice President’s Graduate Fellowship, and was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Med-Into-Grad Fellow. Upon completing her Ph.D. in 2011, Dr. Day was awarded an International Institute for Nanotechnology postdoctoral fellowship and joined the laboratory of Dr. Chad Mirkin at Northwestern University, where her research focused on developing RNA-gold nanoparticles conjugates known as spherical nucleic acids to treat glioblastoma through gene regulation. Dr. Day also received a National Institutes of Health F32 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellowship during her time at Northwestern University. Dr. Day joined the faculty in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware in 2013, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020. Her research builds upon the theme of engineering nanoscale materials for high precision therapy of disease developed during her graduate and postdoctoral work.
Dr. Day has received several notable grants and awards for her independent research, including the 2018 Rita Schaffer Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society, an NSF CAREER Award, Young Innovator/Emerging Investigator awards from four journals (Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Journal, Nano Research Journal, Journal of Materials Chemistry B, and Biomaterials Science), the 2018 Gerard J. Mangone Young Scholar Award from the University of Delaware Francis Alison Society, NIH R35 and R01 grants, and a W.M. Keck Foundation Science and Engineering Grant. Additionally, she was an invited participant in the 2019 National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. In 2022, Dr. Day was named a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and she also received the Mid-Career Faculty Excellence in Scholarship Award from the University of Delaware.