News

Fall 2025 Newsletter

State-of-the art ChemE Unit Ops Lab open for business

The bad news: The Chemical Engineering building is closed for a years-long renovation. The good news: The department’s Unit Ops Laboratory has been relocated to the Nuclear Science building, and there are 13 new pieces of equipment in the teaching lab.  This new equipment is thanks to a $500,000 contribution from the Herbert Wertheim College […]

From global energy to chemical engineering: Meet Ph.D. student Cynthia Eluagu 

Born in Imo State, Nigeria, the fifth of six children, Cynthia Eluagu worked hard to stand out in her family. She did so by earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering with honors in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering. 

UF researcher catalyzing change in methane conversion

University of Florida chemical engineering researcher Helena Hagelin Weaver, Ph.D., is uncovering how the structure of catalyst materials can dramatically improve the efficiency of methane conversion. Her team’s findings, recently published in ACS Catalysis, reveal how manipulating nanoscale support structures can boost methane oxidation at lower temperatures — a key step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enabling more sustainable chemical production.

A giant LEAP toward faster, smarter genetic testing for cancer

UF researchers have developed a breakthrough CRISPR upgrade — called CRISPR-LEAP — that can target nearly any DNA sequence, potentially transforming cancer detection, infectious disease testing and personalized medicine.

From semiconductors to table tennis. Meet Shubham Ravan 

Shubham Ravan, a first-year master’s student in chemical engineering, specializes in semiconductor fabrication and scaling processes from lab to commercial applications. He recently received the department’s MS Research, Leadership and Service Excellence Award and serves as the graduate cohort representative. Outside the lab, he stays active with badminton and table tennis and enjoys reading science fiction and biographies.