Category: Newsletter

Dear alumni and friends of the UF Department of Chemical Engineering,   Against the dusty backdrop of building renovations, our department continues to strive for excellence. This newsletter offers a wide window into this semester’s achievements, research and impact by our faculty, students and alumni.  Here, you will read about game-changing work led by Professor Piyush […]

A University of Florida professor is developing a fast, powerful tool for blocking harmful human enzymes, a process that could result in better medicines and more precise treatments for diseases. 

University of Florida’s Elizabeth Aikman, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate studying biomaterials from Bombyx mori silk, attended summer school in California in July to advance her studies. Bombyx mori are also known as domestic silk moths and are economically important to the billion-dollar sericulture (silk) industry. 

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.

With a background deeply rooted in engineering, Taofeek Tejuosho is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in chemical engineering working to accelerate the design and development of polymer materials for diverse technological applications.

The goal: Healthier organs ready for transplant. The UF-developed process stands to revolutionize organ transplants and post-surgical treatment.

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 […]

Dear Friends, As we reflect on the past few months, we are excited to share several highlights from our department in this latest edition of our newsletter.  In October, a group of our students traveled to San Diego to attend the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) conference, where they brought home several prestigious awards, […]

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, […]

Until recently, Hansel Montalvo was a fourth-year Ph.D. student exploring reaction mechanisms and material catalysts to produce alkenes and aromatics. However, it’s networking that helped him get selected into two prestigious programs this summer and helped him determine his next career step.  Montalvo met Beata Kilos, Ph.D., a Dow Fellow, when she delivered a graduate […]

ChemE Ph.D. student attends NextProf Nexus Conference and prevails at UF despite multiple challenges.  Victor Rivera-Llabres, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemical Engineering, was nominated to be part of an elite group of scientific and academic leaders. On the surface, that’s impressive, but if you dig a little deeper, his rocky path […]