Discover Magazine’s June 2012 issue includes an article called “Brave New Soaps,” which quotes Gerard Caneba (ChE) and highlights his research into the unique properties of vinyl acetate-based polymer surfactants–a key ingredient in chewing gum–that make them an effective oil-spill treatment. See Caneba
Several Chemical Engineering students have recently won awards for their research presentations and posters.
At the eighth annual Ecosystem Science Center and Biotechnology Research Center ESC/BRC Student Research Forum, held March 30, for the graduate students, four Grand Prize Awards and six Merit Awards were presented. They were selected from among 59 posters and abstracts submitted by graduate students conducting research related to ecology, the environment and biotechnology. Each center also awarded a Grand Prize to an undergraduate researcher in a separate division of 17 undergraduate submissions. Posters will be on display in the atrium of the Forestry building through Friday, April 13 See the complete article
From the Biotechnology Research Center:
$500 Grand Prize Winner: Maria Tafur (Chemical Engineering)
“Reduction of Virus Infectivity in the Presence of Osmolytes”
Advisor: Caryn Heldt
$100 Merit Award Winner: Tayloria Adams (Chemical Engineering)
“Characterizing the Dielectric Behavior of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells”
Advisor: Adrienne Minerick
$100 Merit Award Winner: Ran An (Chemical Engineering)
“Micron-scale Ion Concentration Gradients in Nonuniform AC Electric Fields”
Advisor: Adrienne Minerick
Professor Faith Morrison (ChE) has been named the Kenan Visiting Professor for Distinguished Teaching in the chemical and biological engineering department at Princeton University. Morrison has also been invited to be a faculty fellow.
Graduate students in the chemical engineering department went to the 2012 Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) annual meeting held Feb. 11-16 in Seattle, Wash., to showcase their latest research. This year graduate students, with Professor S. Komar Kawatra as their adviser, took first and third place in the minerals processing division.
The posters and presentations were judged by SME members working in the mining industry.
PhD candidate Brett Spigarelli took first place with a poster, “An Equilibrium Analysis of Carbon Dioxide Absorption in Alkali Solutions.”
PhD candidate Howard Haselhuhn took third place with a poster, “Water Chemistry Effects on Zeta Potential of Concentrated Hematite Ore.”
The Oprah blog and the Detroit Free Press published interviews with Christina Shinouskis ’82, a chemical engineering alumna known as “the cup lady,” who designs interior storage spaces in vehicles for General Motors. See Shinouskis.