News

• Spring 2022: Congratulations to the team of chemical engineering students (see the photo above, from left to right: Samantha Starkey, David Rinehart, Will Brown, Shelby Daniels, and Grace Tolhurst, photo credited to Dr. Roya Gitiafroz) who competed in the 1^st Annual TapRooT Student Competition and took home 1^st place at the Global TapRoot Summit (May, 2022) in Knoxville, TX!

The students were trained on using TapRoot’s software, and then applied it to identify the root cause of a hypothetical situation where chemical wastes were mishandled, determine the causal factors, and finally suggest corrective actions to minimize similar incidences from occurring. The team earned a grant total of 98% for technical details and presentation from five TapRoot experts. Our team was also selected as the winner by the general attendees, who interacted with the students throughout the day.

As the advisor of the team, I am very proud of our students for their motivation, dedication and sportsmanship throughout the project, and impressed by their abilities in acquiring new knowledge and applying what they have learned. The team’s skills gained by completing the unique project, management and teamwork course sequence in our programs also contribute to their outstanding performance.

• Spring 2021: Congratulations to Hannah P. and Kayla for being the recipients of the 2021 Trajectory Award from the College of Engineering and Polymer Science. The award is designated to “reward promising engineering students who have been identified by faculty and/or staff as having great potential as they embark on their engineering careers”.

• Spring 2021: Congratulations to Hannah and Elham for being the undergraduate winner and the graduate winner, respectively, for the research presentation during the April Industrial Advisory Board meeting.

• Fall 2020: Congratulations to Kayla for receiving the 2020 Ohio Space Grant Consortium Undergraduate STEM Research Scholarship.

• Fall 2020: Congratulations to Elham for publishing her first research paper ("Thermoresponsive Poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) Retained by 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) Network”, ACS Biomater. Sci. & Eng., 2020, DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.0c01376.) as the first author based on her research work completed in our research group.

• Summer 2020: Congratulations to Elham for being an author in a research paper ("Retention of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Thin Films on Polycarbonate via Polymer Interdiffusion”, J. Poly Sci., 58(19), 2728-2740, 2020, DOI: 10.1002/pol.20200261.").

• Spring 2020: Congratulations to Hannah P. for being a recipient of the 2020 Ohio Space Grant Consortium Undergraduate STEM Research Scholarship and the recipient of the 2020 Akron Council of Engineering and Scientific Societies (ACESS) scholarship.

• Spring 2020: Congratulations to Kayla Covington for being the recipient of the Focht Scholarship for being active in design competitions and leadership in both in-class projects and extra-curriculum activities.

• June, 2019: We welcome Kayla, Hannah E., Alec, Poo and Hannah P. to the group.

• May, 2019: Alec Jerger has been selected to receive the ACS Rubber Division undergraduate scholarship for the academic year of 2019-2020, Congratulations!

• May, 2019: Congratulations to Josh for being the recipient of 2019 Undergraduate Research Award by the AIChE the University of Akron chapter.

• April, 2019: Congratulations to Dan, Josh, and Luke for being the 2019 recipients of the Coleman J. Major Award in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department for their academic achievements.

• August, 2018: Team ICX has successfully completed the 7 weeks NSF I-Corps Team program hosted by the San Francisco/Bay Area cohort, and the team was recognized for our hard work, discipline ad intellectual honesty and was selected to receive the "Spirit of I-Corps" award.

• July—August, 2018: The team (ICX: Intelligent Cell Expansion) is participating in the San Francisco/Bay Area I-Corps cohort, Summer 2018.

• June, 2018: Alex Hoyt's paper (Synergistic effect of pH and oxalate concentration on corrosion of aluminum alloy 2024-T3) was accepted for publication in the journal "Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology". Congratulations Alex!

• June, 2018: The team (ICX) consists of Eric Brink (Entrepreneurial lead, EL), Dr. Bi-min Zhang Newby (Technical Lead, TL) and Dr. Duncan Brown (President of Pacific Tech Link, I-Corps Mentor, IM) has been awarded the NSF I-Corps Team award to participate in the San Francisco/Bay Area cohort, Summer 2018.

• May, 2018: Eric Brink and Autumn Furniss have been selected to receive the ACS Rubber Division undergraduate scholarship for the academic year of 2018-2019, Congratulations!

• April, 2018: Qing’s first paper (Layer-by-layer polyelectrolyte coating of alginate microgels for sustained release of sodium benzoate and zosteric acid) has been accepted to publish in the Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology. Congratulations Qing!

• April, 2018: Congratulations to Manea, Michelle, Eric Britton, Kristi, Mitchell, Alex H., Ahmed, Alex P. for being the 2018 recipients of the Coleman J. Major Award in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department for their academic achievements. Michelle is one of the ten graduating engineering seniors to receive the 2018 Trajectory Award from the College of Engineering, which is designated to “reward promising engineering students who have been identified by faculty and/or staff as having great potential as they embark on their engineering careers”. Michelle is also the recipient of the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Faculty Award for having the highest GPA in the graduating class of 2018. Congratulations Michelle!

• April, 2018: Eric Brink won the Stephanie Lopina Memorial Endowed Scholarship for his undergraduate research accomplishments. Congratulations Eric!

• April, 2018: Ahmed presented their poster based on their research of squid ring teeth proteins (“Hydrogels from gelatin and squid ring teeth proteins”, co-authored with Autumn and Zach) during the Industry Advisory Board meeting, and won the best poster presentation in the undergraduate category. Congratulations Ahmed!

• March, 2018: Manea presented their poster (“Surface immobilization of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) on polycarbonate by inter-diffusion and basic thermodynamic interactions,” co-authored with Eric Brink and Abdullah Alghunaim) during the 255th ACS meeting (March 18—22) in New Orleans, LA. Good job Manea.

• December, 2017: Qing has successfully passed her dissertation defense. Her dissertation title is “Strategies for sustained release of small hydrophilic drugs from hydrogel based matrices”. Congratulations Qing!

• November, 2017: Kristi and Mitchell were inducted into Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honors Society. Congratulations Kristi and Mitchell!

• August/September 2017: We welcome a few new members to the group: Michelle Ayers, Eric Britton, and Alex Pica. We also welcome back Kristi, Mitchell and Ahmed after they went away for their summer interns.

• June, 2017: We welcome Autumn to the group. Autumn will continue the squid teeth ring proteins work carried out by Zach and Ahmed.

• June, 2017: Manea, Zach, Ahmed, Josh and Qing presented their posters during the 45th Mid-Atlantic Regional ACS meeting (June 3—June 6) in Hershey PA. Good job everyone.

• May, 2017: We welcome Alex Hoyt to the group. Alex will work on the role of pH and oxalate concentration on aluminum alloy 2024 corrosion.

• April, 2017: Abdullah and Eric’s manuscript on thermo-responsive polymer films retained on surfaces coated with adhesion promoting agents has been accepted for publication. It will appear in an In Focus issue (of Biointerphases) in June 2017 in honor of Dr. Buddy Ratner’s 70th Birthday.

• April, 2017: Maelani was inducted into Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honors Society, on April 13th. Maelani is also one of the two graduating chemical and corrosion engineering seniors to receive the 2017 Trajectory Award from the College of Engineering, which is designated to “reward promising engineering students who have been identified by faculty and/or staff as having great potential as they embark on their engineering careers”. Congratulations Maelani!

• March, 2017: Dr. Zhang Newby was selected as one of the 14 faculty members to receive the 2017 Faculty Research Summer Fellowship from the University of Akron.

• November, 2016: Josh was inducted into Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honors Society, on November 18th. Congratulations Josh!

• August, 2016: Abdullah has earned his well deserved MS degree in Chemical Engineering in August, 2016. His Master Thesis is titled “Immobilization of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) on hydroxylated surfaces using cross-linked organosilane networks”.

• July, 2016: Abdullah has led the team to the completion of the NSF I-Corps site program and was awarded a fund to continue their efforts on the commercialization of the technology (based on his master’s thesis) in the coming months.

• April, 2016: Heather and Eric presented their poster based on their research (“Extended Release of Small Hydrophilic drugs from hydrogel matrices”) during the Industry Advisory Board meeting, and won the 1st Place. Congratulations Heather and Eric!

• April, 2016: Ryan is one of the ten engineering students from the College of Engineering to receive the 2016 Trajectory Award, which is designated to “reward promising engineering students who have been identified by faculty and/or staff as having great potential as they embark on their engineering careers”. Congratulations Ryan!

• March, 2016: Abdullah presented his research work on entrapping poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) using organosiloxane networks at the 251st ACS National Meeting in San Diego, CA.

Abdullah was one of the three winners for the best poster award by the Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) Division. He competed with 180 other posters, many from top schools. Congratulations on a job well done.