Category: Featured

Albert DaCosta (BS ‘98) returned to his old stomping grounds recently to discuss life after the University of Florida and offer advice for future graduates.

Sunil Roy’s journey started in India, wove though Gainesville and – for now – landed him in Silicon Valley. He came back to UF in January and spoke to students about those years, and more specifically, his experiences at the University of Florida.  

Dear members and friends of the UF chemical engineering community,   It’s Spring graduation time and we are thrilled about the successes of our students and faculty this semester. Once again, many of our students graduated with honors in Spring 2025. This is just the beginning of their new journey, and we wish them all […]

What do chemical engineering, the aurora borealis, semiconductors and badminton all have in common? That would be Hsiao-Hsuan (Renee) Wan, a third-year chemical engineering Ph.D. student.  Wan came to her academic choice organically because her Taiwanese family has a strong background in chemical engineering. Her mother holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and her father […]

Ryan Montes’ upbringing in a “humble Latin family” in Florida may seem so different from his experiences at the University of Florida and his career path. But, in reality, their tightly held family values, such as hard work, resilience, and focus on pursuing a better life, are why he has thrived in his field.  These […]

When you think about scientific research, you probably envision a sterile room that houses gleaming beakers, rows of pipettes and centrifuges. But what if you could house a lab on a chip? Call it the science of small, but a trio of University of Florida chemical engineers have developed a lab-on-a-chip process that could make a big […]

Ambar Coral Velázquez-Albino, a Ph.D. candidate defending her dissertation this summer, attended the NextProf Nexus program this past summer after meeting a professor from the University of Michigan at AIChE 2023 in Orlando. Sasha Cai Lesher-Pérez, Ph.D., encouraged her to apply during a poster presentation, where they met and had an opportunity to speak.  Velázquez-Albino, […]

It’s 1967. Lyndon B. Johnson is president of the United States, Steve Spurrier just won the Heisman trophy, Library West recently opened its doors, and following the retirement of J. Wayne Reitz, Stephen C. O’Connell has become president of the university. In the College of Engineering, Shirley Kelly has just taken a position among the […]

Janani Sampath, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the University of Florida Department of Chemical Engineering has been selected as one of 35 recipients of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Awards. This competitive research award provides seed money for junior faculty members that often results in additional funding from […]

Richard Dickinson, Ph.D., a professor in the University of Florida Department of Chemical Engineering, has received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the assembly and organization of cells in epithelial tissue. This project, in collaboration with Tanmay Lele at Texas A&M University, aims to unravel the biomechanical principles underlying the formation […]

At the Graduate Association of Chemical Engineers (GRACE) annual Symposium, John Blazeck, Ph.D. (ChE B.S. ’07), delivered a captivating keynote speech on his research and shared two big-picture ideas for combating cancer. He is exploring two innovative approaches to help the body fight cancer: using enzymes to fix cancer cells’ metabolism to boost the body’s immune system and […]

Going beyond pregnancy and COVID-19, the world could someday soon come to rely on at-home tests for many diseases thanks in part to AI-fueled improvements. University of Florida scientists have used artificial intelligence tools to simplify a test that works for both hepatitis C and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The simplified test happens […]

Written by Flynn Baliton and Violet Warren The University of Florida American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) student chapter recently hosted the first fully in-person AIChE Southern Student Regional Conference (ASRC) since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Chemical engineering students throughout the southern region came together to participate in various networking opportunities, industry events, skills-building workshops, […]

Carl Denard, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the University of Florida Department of Chemical Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award. His research focuses on cellular and protein engineering to develop novel strategies to diagnose, target and fight disease. With this award, Dr. Denard aims to discover and redesign protein molecules that can reprogram […]