On Friday, April 13, 2018, the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering honored its outstanding students at the Undergraduate Awards Ceremony. At the annual event, faculty presented the 2017-2018 scholarships and Omega Chi Epsilon, the national honor society for chemical engineering, announced winners of the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium.
This year marked the 10th year for the undergraduate research symposium. Thanks to our alumni judges who volunteered their time. Joe Drago (BS ’72) is a retired nuclear engineer from the Department of Energy who is now a consultant to the energy industry and nonprofit organizations. He also has his master’s in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering from Illinois. Dan Hanus (BS ’86) is a section head at Procter & Gamble and has an MBA from Xavier University.
This year, judges awarded three students the top award: Qihua Chen, Marko Ivancevic, and Eli Karvelis. Chen, a member of Dr. Diwakar Shukla’s research group, presented with, “Molecular Dynamics Simulations Reveal the Conformational Heterogeneity of a Strigolactone Receptor in Parasitic Plants.” Marko Ivancevic, who worked with the Paranthaman Research Group at Oak Ridge National Lab, presented, “Novel Carbon Electrodes Derived from Waste Tires for Capacitive Deionization of Brackish Water.” Eli Karvelis, a member of Dr. Brendan Harley’s research group, presented, “Modeling Glioblastoma Invasion with Microfluidic Chips.”
Honorable mentions were awarded to Alayna Johnson and Anastasiya Lukiyanenko.
Congratulations to all the research symposium participants.
Qihua Chen (Shukla Group), Molecular Dynamics Simulations Reveal the Conformational Heterogeneity of a Strigolactone Receptor in Parasitic Plants
Marko Ivancevic (Paranthaman Group, Oak Ridge National Lab), Novel Carbon Electrodes Derived from Waste Tires for Capacitive Deionization of Brackish Water
Alayna Johnson (Flaherty Group), Effects of Catalyst Hydrophobicity on Rates and Selectives of Alkene Epoxidation
Eli Karvelis (Harley Group), Modeling Glioblastoma Invasion with Microfluidic Chips
Anastasiya Lukiyanenko (Diao Group), Characterizing Cooperative Transitions in Organic Semiconductors
Jun Og (Murphy, Kenis Groups), Gold Nanorod-Hydrogel Composite
June Qian (Sing Group), Single-Chain Dynamics of Ring Polymers in Dilute Solution Under Mixed Flows
Channing Richter (Schroeder Group), Precise Control Over Position and Orientation of Anisotropic Colloidal Particles Using Stokes Trap
Bugra Sahin (Guironnet Group), Di-block Bottlebrush Polymer Synthesis
Yuquan Tong (Burke Group), An Iterative Approach to the Synthesis of Contiguous Polyols
Scholarships awarded
Also on Friday, Department Head Dr. Paul Kenis and members of the ChBE scholarship committee handed out scholarships for the 2018-2018 year.
This is the first year the department gave out the Kirk Nass and Michael Gillespie Scholarship. Kirk Nass, an Illinois ChemE graduate from the Class of 1983, recently established a scholarship with his husband Michael Gillespie. After graduating from Illinois, Kirk Nass went on to earn a PhD from the University of Washington and is now a technical team leader at Chevron in California.
This is also the first year the department present a student with the Rebekah Schiff-Berger Scholarship. Rebekah was a James Scholar and involved in a variety of organizations, including AIChE, the Society of Women Engineers, and the department’s Undergraduate Advisory Board. The scholarship was established by her parents, Linda Schiff and Neil Berger, as well as family and friends. In the wake of Rebekah’s passing in 2015, friends and classmates organized several events to raise money for the scholarship. Rebekah was dearly loved by family and friends and touched many lives during her time here on campus. The department hopes through this scholarship she will continue to do so.
Below is the complete list of 2017-2018 scholarship winners. More information on scholarships funded by generous alumni and friends can be found here.
John Martin Ankenbauer Memorial Scholarship
Ty’Nya Larry
Franklin A. Boyle Scholarship
Elijah Karvelis
CITGO Scholarship
Pacharapol Charoensuk
Elizabeth Tang
Kevin Wade
Donald E. Eisele Scholarship
Jesus Sanchez
ExxonMobil Scholarship
Pak Wing Chen
Weikun Zhu
Robert S. Frye Scholarship
Robert Schneider
Clarence G. Gerhold Memorial Scholarship
Michelle Brown
Anthony Salazar
Sanjna Shah
Dr. Joseph and Donna Glas Scholarship in Memory of Professor James Westwater
Christian Monte
Alishba Rehman
James K. Grant Scholarship
Vivek Vermani
Chester W. Hannum Scholarship
Alishba Rehman
Isaac Strain
Edmund D. and Sara J. Heerdt Scholarship
Marko Ivancevic
Jing Zhao
Earp Jennings Chemical Engineering Scholarship
Mateusz Dusza
Donald B. Keyes Award in Chemical Engineering
Kevin Wade
John W. Latchum, Jr. Scholarship
Caleb Zmuda
Dr. Ray A. Mentzer Scholarship
Jessica Rabczak
Kirk Nass and Michael Gillespie Scholarship
Royce Chen
Edward I. Onstott Scholarship
Faisal Aldukhi
Raymond M. Pasteris Scholarship
Ethan Dukovic
Pathways to Success Scholarship
Claudia Cappa
Estelle Mace
Randy Marquez
Ambar Rivera
Christopher Torres
Phillips 66 Scholarship
Mingyan Liu
Gina Partipilo
Victoria Wisniewski
Worth Huff Rodebush Scholarship
Dongkwan Lee
Rebekah Schiff-Berger Memorial Scholarship
Sanjna Shah
Thomas R. and Yolanda S. Stein Scholarship
Channing Richter
Jesus Sanchez
Glenn E. and Barbara R. Ullyot Scholarship
June Qian
Ugonna Oduocha
R.J. Van Mynen Chemical Engineering Scholarship
Ami Patel
Bruno H. Wojcik Scholarship
Huayang Liu