Category: Newsletter

American Association for the Advancement of Science honors 19 UF faculty as Lifetime Fellows The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals, has elected 19 faculty from the University of Florida to its newest class, breaking previous records for the […]

The Department of Chemical Engineering Welcomes Two New Faculty Members Starting January 2023. Joshua Moon, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Ph.D. 2019, The University of Texas at Austin Dr. Moon’s research focuses on designing advanced polymer materials for clean energy, clean water, and environmental sustainability. He combines modular polymer synthesis with experimental tools that probe both molecular-scale […]

After graduating from the University of Florida in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, and then earning his master’s in engineering and an MBA, Jayant Shroff worked for 10 years in R&D jobs at Fortune 500 companies including Bell Labs, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering. His professional career in the […]

Ph.D. students Elizabeth L. Aikman and Marisa O. Pacheco and alumnus Nico Mendez (UF B.S. ChE ’20) were awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. These fellowships recognize and support outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions.  […]

The Department of Chemical Engineering celebrates Black History Month and highlights some of our Black alumni, students, faculty, and staff. Christopher L. Alexander, Ph.D. (ChE Ph.D. ‘17) Assistant Professor Susan A. Bracken Faculty Fellow Civil & Environmental Engineering University of South Florida Q: Please tell us about your research. A: Corrosion causes severe damage to our […]

Kevin Lin, (BSCHE ‘15), Senior R&D Engineer at PepsiCo, presented to students in the Department of Chemical Engineering how he applies artificial intelligence (AI) in his job at PepsiCo Research and Development. While working in the Foods R&D Applied AI team, Lin leads projects to apply machine vision and machine learning to streamline manufacturing processes […]

Yeongseon Jang, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award. With this award, Dr. Jang aims to develop a synthetic protocell constructed of protein building blocks through tuning their self-assembly behavior. “Synthetic versions of protocells that mimic primitive cells assembled from biomacromolecules can serve as simple, […]

Charles Hages, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award. His research focuses on developing next-generation semiconductors for energy research. With this award, Dr. Hages aims to develop solution-based, thin-film semiconductor materials that would lead to an improved method of generating clean and renewable solar […]

Hibbitts Named Holder of the Moreno Rising Star Professorship In recognition of his outstanding scholarship, the University of Florida Department of Chemical Engineering, Carlos M. Rinaldi-Ramos, Ph.D., Chair and Dean’s Leadership Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and Cammy R. Abernathy, Ph.D., Dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, have named Assistant Professor David […]

In recognition of his outstanding scholarship, the University of Florida Department of Chemical Engineering, Carlos M. Rinaldi-Ramos, Ph.D., Chair and Dean’s Leadership Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and Cammy R. Abernathy, Ph.D., Dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, have named Assistant Professor David Hibbitts, Ph.D., as holder of the Moreno Rising Star Professorship […]

Carlos M. Rinaldi-Ramos, Ph.D., Chair and Dean’s Leadership Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and Cammy R. Abernathy, Ph.D., Dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, have named Assistant Professor Piyush K. Jain, Ph.D., as holder of the Shah Rising Star Professorship, for his contributions to developing a multi-scale biomolecular engineering platform using […]

Jason F. Weaver, Ph.D., the ExxonMobil Gator Alumni Faculty Endowed Professor at the University of Florida Department of Chemical Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to study selective methane oxidation using elaborately structured IrO2-based mixed metal oxides. In this project, Dr. Weaver will collaborate with UF ChE researchers Helena Hagelin-Weaver, Ph.D., an […]

Researchers at the University of Florida are using colloidally stable nanoparticles and magnetic cryopreservation agents (mCPAs) to extend the preservation time of donor organs. Currently, the preservation time window ranges from 4-36 hours depending on the organ. This time window severely restricts the time for adequate donor-to-recipient matching and the distance over which transplant organs […]

Sumant S. Patankar, Ph.D., has joined the faculty of the University of Florida Department of Chemical Engineering as an Instructional Assistant Professor starting January 2021. Dr. Patankar’s research focused on studying the properties of supercritical fluids under nanopore confinement – a system relevant to geological systems such as shale gas. His teaching interests include semi-conductor […]

The chairman of Tropical Smoothie Café believes in balance – work, family, service, social life – and the power of free frappé to lift spirits. by David Finnerty This spring as the coronavirus tormented nations and stretched hospitals to their snapping points, Scott Pressly made smoothies. Dozens became hundreds. Each, to the health workers he […]