Category: Newsletter

From Gator to groundbreaker: Engineering alumnus shares lessons in grit, growth and giving back
September 29, 2025Albert DaCosta (BS ‘98) returned to his old stomping grounds recently to discuss life after the University of Florida and offer advice for future graduates.
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Alumni Spotlight: Sunil Roy reflects on his ‘profound’ time at UF
July 11, 2025Sunil 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.
Read more »Chair’s Message Spring 2025
May 4, 2025Dear 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 […]
Read more »Student Spotlight: Hsiao-Hsuan “Renee” Wan
May 4, 2025What 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 […]
Read more »Alumni Spotlight – Ryan J. Montes, Ph.D.
May 4, 2025Ryan 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 […]
Read more »Chair’s Message Fall 2024
December 13, 2024Dear 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, […]
Read more »How Mentorship and Community Shaped One Ph.D. Candidate’s Future
December 11, 2024Ambar 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, […]
Read more »From Graduate Student to Faculty: How Networking Helped Hansel Montalvo Find His Path to Academia
December 11, 2024Until 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 […]
Read more »Student Spotlight: Victor Rivera-Lladres
May 20, 2024ChemE 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 […]
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