Growing up, Efraín Rodríguez-Ocasio did not foresee himself pursuing a Ph.D. in chemical engineering in a state he thought of as the “corn place.”
But after discovering the opportunity to work with Laura Jarboe, Cargill Professor of Chemical Engineering, Rodríguez-Ocasio has found Iowa State fertile ground to grow a career in bioplastics research.
The Department of Chemical Engineering’s American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) student chapter recently returned from the organization’s Annual Student Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Twenty ISU student members took part in the event.
Effective conversion of lignin to increase the production of bio-oil and reduce a solid by-product called “char” has been addressed in Iowa State University engineering research and published in Energy & Environmental Science.
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering faculty member Brent Shanks has been named an American Chemical Society (ACS) Industrial & Engineering Chemistry (I&EC) Fellow for the Class of 2023.
Twenty Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering undergraduates have made the trip to Phoenix for the AIChE Annual Student Conference. While the experience is definitely worth the trip, it is costly. Prior to departing, the chapter’s faculty advisor Dr. Stephanie Loveland estimated more than $10,000 had been spent on air and hotel reservations and conference registration fees alone. The chapter has established a FundISU page through the Iowa State University Foundation to allow contributions that will help defray some of these costs. Contributions can be made through December 9.
Born into a family of doctors in India, Dhananjay Dileep, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, grew up wanting to help fix the world. Today, Dileep is working toward this goal by making the chemical recycling of plastics more commercially viable.
Mark Lashier earned a B.S. in chemical engineering at Iowa State University in 1985 and a Ph.D. in 1989. In the years since he has earned respect and recognition as an engineer, business professional and industry leader. The President and Chief Executive Officer of Phillips Petroleum Co. joined the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE) Honors and Awards Banquet where he was inducted into the department’s alumni Hall of Fame.
The comment, “So, tell me about your research!” will be easier to field for CBE’s graduate students who took part in this year’s Perfect Pitch competition. The students once again faced a 90-second time limit (with the aid of one PowerPoint slide) in presenting an “elevator speech” of what their research is all about.
Chris Ellison (’00 chemical engineering) is a 2022 recipient of the Professional Citation in Engineering. The PACE award recognizes alumni for significant career accomplishments.
Mark Lashier (’85, PhD ’89 chemical engineering) is a 2022 Anson Marston Medal recipient. The Marston Medal is the college’s highest alumni honor.
A $430,000 grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) is helping Building a World of Difference Faculty Fellow and assistant professor Luke Roling develop new materials to build next-generation microelectronic devices.
Rizia Bardhan made a fist with one hand then covered it with her other hand, like a baseball player catching a ball in the web of a fielder’s glove.
The fist represents a special nanocarrier filled with medicine, said the Iowa State University associate professor of chemical and biological engineering. The other hand represents a cell working out whether to catch that nanoparticle then take it, drugs and all, across its protective membrane into its interior.
Graduate students Hengzhou Liu and Arna Ganguly helped develop a greener process for producing hydrogen from water or biomass – and are first authors on a high-impact publication on their discoveries.
Cyclone Engineers are collaborating with Cargill and Genomatica to scale-up fermentation processes in bioreactors in a new $2.5 million project. The award was announced this week at the White House Summit on the National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative.
Cyclone Engineers are joining forces in a $4 million project to make hydrogen fuel production more environmentally sustainable.
