2022 Graduate and Alumni Awards Ceremony

10/14/2022 Claire Benjamin

The annual Graduate and Alumni Awards Ceremony celebrates our Alumni Award recipients, graduate student fellows, and Graduate Research Symposium judges, participants, and winners. 

Written by Claire Benjamin

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Alumni Awardees were recognized at the 2022 Graduate and Alumni Awards Ceremony on Oct. 14, 2022. From left: Charles Damianides, Kamalesh Sirkar, Kathryn "Kit" Gordon, Meagan Lewis, Ashlee Ford Versypt, Jerrod Henderson, and department head Paul Kenis. 
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Alumni Awardees were recognized at the 2022 Graduate and Alumni Awards Ceremony on Oct. 14, 2022. From left: Charles Damianides, Kamalesh Sirkar, Kathryn "Kit" Gordon, Meagan Lewis, Ashlee Ford Versypt, Jerrod Henderson, and department head Paul Kenis. 

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering held its annual Graduate and Alumni Awards Ceremony on Oct. 14, 2022, to recognize the department's Alumni Awards recipients, graduate student fellows, and the Graduate Research Symposium winners. Since the inception of the Alumni Awards program in 2019, the department has recognized 36 Alumni Award winners. 

The event began with a warm welcome from department head Paul Kenis, the Elio Eliakim Tarika Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering, and Venetria K. Patton, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, who recognized the department's legacy of impactful research and teaching. 

"This is an especially special ceremony for me as I prepare to step down from the role of department head, a title that I have held for over a decade now," Kenis said. "One of the most rewarding aspects of serving as the head during this time has been getting to know our accomplished and distinguished alumni, who inspired us to launch the Alumni Awards program in 2019."

Eight Alumni Award winners were recognized at this year's event:

2022 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award

  • Charles Damianides (MS ’85, PhD ’87), Executive Director, Center for Sustainable Fuels and Chemicals, U.S. Department of Energy
  • Bob Dudley (BS ’78), former Group Chief Executive Officer, bp
  • Chung Sul Youn “Sue” Kim (BS ’55), an innovator at Standard Oil of Ohio, Georgia Pacific, and Aerojet Corporation; and professor, California State University, Sacramento
  • Kamalesh K. Sirkar (MS ’66, PhD ’69), Distinguished Professor and Foundation Professor in Membrane Separations, New Jersey Institute of Technology

2022 Young Alumni Achievement Award

  • Ashlee N. Ford Versypt (MS ’09, PhD ’12), Associate Professor, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
  • Meagan E. Lewis (BS ’08), Regional General Manager, Honeywell Building Solutions

2021 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award

  • Kathryn E. Gordon (BS ’83), Grassroots Ecology, Board Member

2019 Young Alumni Achievement Award

  • Jerrod A. Henderson (MS ’07, PhD ’10)Assistant Professor, William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,
    University of Houston

Next, the Director of Graduate Studies and professor Mary Kraft recognized the fellowships awarded to the department's graduate students. 

"Each year, our graduate students are recognized for their achievements with a variety of fellowships from the department, campus, as well as national foundations and corporate partners," Kraft said. "These fellowships honor their scientific pursuits and academic accomplishments. We are very proud of our fellowship recipients and what these awards represent." 

The ceremony concluded with two representatives from the Graduate Student Advisory Council, Sonji Lamichhane and Suchi Vijayaraghavan, who recognized the Graduate Research Symposium judges, participants, and winners. 

From left: GSAC first-year representative Huston Locht, department head Paul Kenis, GSAC internal vice president and co-organizer Suchi Vijayaraghavan, GSAC international chair and co-organizer Sonji Lamichhane, alumnus and judge Ashlee Ford Versypt, alumnus and judge Dale Kyser,  GSAC external vice president Rajarshi Samajdar, GSAC first-year representative Tony Pham, and president Destiny Collazo. 
From left: GSAC first-year representative Huston Locht, department head Paul Kenis, GSAC internal vice president and co-organizer Suchi Vijayaraghavan, GSAC international chair and co-organizer Sonji Lamichhane, alumnus and judge Ashlee Ford Versypt, alumnus and judge Dale Kyser,  GSAC external vice president Rajarshi Samajdar, GSAC first-year representative Tony Pham, and president Destiny Collazo. 

Graduate Research Symposium Judges

  • Christopher Burcham (BS ’91), Executive Director of Engineering, Eli Lilly and Company
  • Ashlee Ford Versypt (MS ’09, PhD ’12), Associate Professor, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
  • Dale Kyser (PhD ’87), retired, Former Vice President of Research and Nutrition Sciences, MondelÄ“z International
  • R. Mohan Sankaran, Donald Biggar Willett Professor, Nuclear, Plasma & Radiological Engineering, University of Illinois 
Winners of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering's Graduate Research Symposium were recognized at the awards ceremony. From left: Graduate students Yash Laxman Kamble, Jarom Sederholm, Richa Ghosh, Melanie A. Brunet Torres, Susannah Miller and Ryan Miller.
Winners of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering's Graduate Research Symposium were recognized at the awards ceremony. From left: Graduate students Yash Laxman Kamble, Jarom Sederholm, Richa Ghosh, Melanie A. Brunet Torres, Susannah Miller and Ryan Miller.

Graduate Research Symposium Poster Presentation Winners

  • First place (tie): Richa Ghosh (Flaherty Group) "Mechanistic insight into flow electrochemical alkene epoxidation kinetics over gold" and Jarom Sederholm (Braun Groups) "Single step electrochemical recovery and regeneration of cathode materials" 
  • Runner-up (tie): Melanie A. Brunet Torres (Kraft Group) "Depth correction of 3D NanoSIMS images show intracellular lipid and cholesterol distributions while capturing the effects of differential sputter rate" and Yash Laxman Kamble (Guironnet Group) "Precision of architecture controlled bottlebrush polymer synthesis: A Monte Carlo analysis"

Graduate Research Symposium Oral Presentation Winners

  • First place: Susannah Miller (Guironnet Group) "Novel encapsulated Pt catalyst"
  • Second place: Meng Zhang (Zhao Group) "Z-mRNA as an effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2" 
  • Third place: Ryan Miller (Kong Group) "Extending the bioavailability of hydrophilic antioxidants for metal ion detoxification via crystallization with polysaccharide dopamine

Ceremony Recording  Event Photos


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This story was published October 14, 2022.