Missoury Lytle, Ph.D. student, was named as the graduate student recipient of the 2022 Awards of Excellence for the Advancement of Women presented by the Commission on Women.
The commission annually honors individuals who make outstanding contributions to improving the quality of life for women and inspire women’s leadership and success at Clemson University.
Lytle co-founded a Clemson chapter of Women in Chemical Engineering (WChE). WChE focuses on advocating for women in chemical engineering and supporting their success. She also co-chaired the organizing committee for the 2022 Women’s Celebration Month and led an effort to provide free menstrual products to women in Earle Hall.
Ewa Chukwu, ChBE Ph.D. student, was named as a recipient of a 2022 Kokes Award for the 27th North American Catalysis Society meeting in New York, NY. The meeting is scheduled to be held on May 22-27, 2022. The Richard J. Kokes Travel Award program of NACS aims to encourage undergraduate and graduate students to attend and participate in this biennial conference. The Kokes Award is sponsored by the North American Catalysis Society and received more than 225 excellent applications submitted.
Congratulations, Ewa! We look forward to hearing about your trip in May.
The Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering is excited to announce the retirement of Mrs. Diana Stamey.
Diana Stamey began working for Chemical Engineering in March 1987 as the typist for the faculty before personal computers were introduced. She had to “re-invent” herself when personal computers were introduced to Chemical Engineering.
Dr. Stephen Melsheimer was able to provide her with direction by reassigning her position to meet the demands and needs of the undergraduate students with the registration and the scheduling of courses. In 1996, her job duties expanded to include Graduate Student Services support.
In 2001, she moved to the Center for Advanced Engineering Fibers and Films, an NSF Engineering Research Center. Chemical Engineering was one of the multiple-research departments associated with the CAEFF. Therefore, she was able to maintain a great working relationship with Chemical Engineering.
In 2009, CAEFF moved from Rhodes to Earle Hall as it completed it’s 10-year program to become a graduated NSF-ERC program. Chemical Engineering was in need of expanding its office staff count to 3 as more jobs duties needed to be removed from faculty.
In 2015, Diana’s position changed to part-time Administrative Assistant with CAEFF and Graduate Student Services Coordinator of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
One of her major accomplishments with the department were to uncover the hidden gems in Earle’s documents that dated back to Dr. Charles Littlejohn to find what needed archiving.
“Earle Hall has a lot of history attached to it,” Diana said. “I love learning little pieces of information each time I scan the documents for history. I will miss the people most of all. Watching the students mature with each year as they approach graduation has the greatest rewards with a little heartbreak. You miss them when they leave. Occasionally you get a big surprise when they return. This brings sunshine back into Earle Hall with every visit.”
Diana looks forward to traveling after her husband, Jimmy Stamey, retires. They plan to camp and travel to places that they have talked about for years.
The Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering will cherish her contributions for years to come.
Left to Right: Joshua Osuofa, Ph.D. student, Scott Husson, professor, Jaime Idarraga-Mora, Ph.D. graduate
Scott Husson, distinguished professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, received a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, entitled: “Fast-Track: Improving therapeutic protein purification with new, high-productivity multimodal membranes”.
In this Fast-Track SBIR project, Dr. Husson will work with Purilogics, LLC to develop a new class of membrane chromatography columns that can rapidly and selectively purify therapeutic proteins produced by cell culture technologies. Therapeutic proteins are among the most effective treatments for severe and chronic conditions such as cancers and autoimmune disorders.
There is tremendous demand for new therapeutic molecules and personalized medicines. Biomanufacturers are moving towards multidrug facilities to meet this demand, and many are moving to small batch production runs to increase manufacturing flexibility and counteract market risks. The proposed research is expected to have a significant impact on the industry and contribute to improving human health by designing membrane products that support faster changeovers in these multidrug facilities.
The Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) is an organization focused on advancing human health and well-being. Each year, they host an annual meeting where students, faculty, and industry have the opportunity to connect and present their scientific work. This year, the meeting was hosted in Orlando, Florida from October 6th to the 9th. The Larsen Lab submitted abstracts that were selected for two podium presentations and six poster presentations. Through funding from Creative Inquiry and Dr. Larsen’s grants, a team of 14 students were able to attend. The projects that receiving a coveted podium presentation were led by Ph.D. Student Bipin Paruchuri and undergraduate student team Chlo Forenzo, Danielle LaVigne, and Vaishnavi Kanduri.
Presentations
The first in-person podium presentation ever given by the Larsen Lab was presented by senior ChBE Chlo Forenzo, on Friday October 9th, which is a significant honor for an undergraduate researcher. Her team, comprised of Danielle LaVigne, junior genetics major, Sara Edgecomb, recent ChBE graduate, and Vaishnavi Kanduri, sophomore BioE, looks at the use of polymersomes as Cas9 delivery vehicles as gene knockdown tools to create therapeutic edits.
Minhyun Shin, junior BioE, and Emmeline Bagwell, senior biochemistry major, presented their work on the development of a zebrafish model of Parkinson’s disease and the characterization of new treatment modalities on Friday October 9th.
Undergraduate students, Kayleigh Trumbull and Conner Lumb during their poster presentation.
Two ChBE undergraduate students, Kayleigh Trumbull, sophomore, and Conner Lumb, junior, presented on their SC EPSCoR funded work to characterize most appropriate polymersomes for nerve regeneration applications on Friday October 9th.
A creative inquiry team, Taylor Hamas, senior BioE, Jess Jager, senior ChBE, and Joey Lavalla, senior BioE, co-advised by Dr. Angela Alexander-Bryant in Bioengineering and her PhD student Megan Pitz, presented their work on novel CT imaging agents to enhance glioblastoma detection in a poster on Friday October 9th.
Christopher Pierce, ChBE senior, gave a virtual poster on his work modulating polymersome shape to enhance cellular uptake, leading towards delivery of drugs through the blood-brain barrier.
Morgan Ethridge, junior biochemistry major, presented on behalf of her creative inquiry team on their SC INBRE funded work to determine the validity of enzyme activities as biomarkers of neurodegenerative disease GM1 gangliosidosis on Saturday October 10th.
Ph.D. Student Bipin Paruchuri during podium presentation.
Bipin Paruchuri, 5th year PhD student in ChBE, presented on his work to develop pH and enzyme responsive polymersomes to enhance enzyme replacement therapy in neurodegenerative disease GM1 gangliosidosis on Saturday October 10th. His results were a significant part of Dr. Larsen’s NSF CAREER proposal that was funded earlier this year.
Mark Pitman, fourth year PhD student in ChBE, presented on his work, funded through the CU SEED program, on the development of thermally-responsive, citrate-based hydrogels, as iron chelating biomaterials to improve microenvironment after nerve injury, promoting nerve regeneration on Saturday October 10th.
Not only was great science presented, but the team was able to take a day away from the conference and enjoy their hard work with a trip to Disney’s Animal Kingdom on Thursday October 8th.
On Friday, BMES shut down part of the Universal Islands of Adventure park for their big BMES bash where the team got to enjoy countless rides with no line!
Larsen Lab is grateful to have had the opportunity to present their work and to enjoy time bonding as a team.
Grace Anderson, a junior undergraduate researcher for Dr. Jessica Larsen, is working on an SC BioCRAFT funded project this summer. The overarching goal of Grace’s project is to improve the current standard of care for brain tumors.
Cancerous cells left adjacent to the removed tumor account for 96% of recurrent tumors, providing motivation for immediate local drug delivery to that area while helping the tissue to heal. Preventing tumor resurgence and healing the brain tissue post-surgery can be performed simultaneously using thermally responsive hydrogels.
Grace is working to create polymers that are liquid at room temperature and gel up at body temperature, encapsulating and delivering a drug slowly over time.
Dr. Eric Davis’s Research Lab –
This summer, undergraduate researchers Jaden Stutts and Alana LeSuer are working in Prof. Davis’s lab on highly interdisciplinary projects encompassing polymer science, energy storage and delivery, and membrane-based aqueous separations.
Jaden Stutts, undergraduate researcher
Jaden, a rising Junior who joined the lab in Spring 2020, is currently working towards completing her Departmental Honors Thesis on a project centered around the fabrication and characterization of poly(hydroxyethylmethacrylate) (pHEMA) and lignin soft composites (i.e., composite hydrogels), which have potential applications in biotechnologies such as wound dressing and drug delivery.
While prevalent in biomedical research, hydrogels comprised primarily of pHEMA are not mechanically robust and suffer from degradation issues, limiting their implementation in many applications. With the introduction of lignin, an abundant biopolymer that is a byproduct of the pulping and paper industry, we are able to tune both the mechanical and transport properties of the soft composites, creating materials with tailored functionality. Along with altering various synthesis parameters, Jaden will also investigate how the properties of the composite hydrogels change depending the source of the lignin – e.g., hardwood or softwood.
Alana Lesuer, undergraduate researcher, and Xueting Wang, Ph.D. student
Alana, a rising Senior in the program, is working with one of the graduate students in Prof. Davis’s lab on a project involving ionomer (i.e., polymers containing a fixed charge along the backbone) nanocomposites for use in vanadium redox flow batteries. Redox flow batteries, which can be thought of as large car batteries, have emerged as a promising electrical grid-scale energy storage technology due to their scalability.
However, the current state-of-the-art ionomer used to separate the liquid electrolytes in the battery suffers from issues related to electrolyte crossover, reducing the efficiency and lifetime of the battery. To address this issue, Alana will work to fabricate and characterize ionomers containing functionalized nanoparticles that have shown promise at addressing issues related to electrolyte crossover without compromising the attractive properties of these ionomer membranes.
Specifically, Alana will be synthesizing sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) membranes containing silica nanoparticles with a wide range of surface functionalities. By varying the concentration and surface functionalization of the nanoparticles, the ion transport properties of the membranes can be significantly altered, ultimately leading to membranes with better performance properties than the current benchmark ionomers.
Both Jaden’s and Alana’s work are funded by a summer research grant through the Clemson University Creative Inquiry Program, as well as through an external grant from the Materials Assembly and Design Excellence in South Carolina (MADE in SC) Program titled, “Closing the Gap of Underrepresented Minorities and Women in Polymer-Related Research”.
Case Sandor and John Yeagar are working on the project entitled “Catalysis for Carbon-Neutral space Exploration”, to produce propulsion fuel molecules through cathode reactions and life-supply O2 through anode reactions in separated streams.
Four student researchers engaged in catalytic materials and reaction engineering research at Dr. Ming Yang’s group have been recently recognized by the university and external funding agencies for their ongoing research work that aims to tackle climate change and to harvest clean energies.
Luis Morales and John Yeager, junior undergraduate students, were recently accepted into Clemson’s 2021 Summer Creative Inquiry program and given the accompanying Undergraduate Research Award (CI & UR Award). Luis and John, through both thermocatalytic and electrocatalytic approaches, will investigate how chemical engineers can significantly cut CO2 greenhouse gas emissions by turning the CO2 into value-added products through cost-effective environmentally benign catalytic reactions.
Case Sandor, senior undergraduate student, is a recipient of the Undergraduate Student Award from South Carolina NASA Space Grant Consortium. The agency funded Case for 400 hours of research to develop catalytic materials and electrochemical reactors that can convert CO2 in space and cabin into renewable fuels so as to empower deep space exploration. Case will also participate in outreach/public engagement activities during his award period to advocate research and science to public.
Ewa Chukwu and Luis Morales are undertaking a thermocatalytic approach in the project entitled “Catalysis for Clean Manufacturing”. Their research seeks to optimize the selective reduction of CO2 to value-added carbon-based chemicals as building blocks for various industrial processes.
Ewa Chukwu, a first-year international PhD student, has been selected to participate in the Student Program at the 2021 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit sponsored by the US Department of Energy. The 2021 Student Program will include the top graduate-level students, an engaging panel discussion regarding a career in energy, a Meet & Greet to speak with energy industries, and many opportunities to learn about cutting-edge energy initiatives.
Congratulations Case, Ewa, John, and Luis! Full speed ahead!
The department graduate symposium occurred on April 13, 2021 after not having a symposium in 2020 due to the pandemic. Planning a research symposium was a major hurdle for Nick Gregorich, Molli Garifo, and Mark Pitman. The CEGSO board devised an idea to utilize Google Sites for displaying the posters virtually. These personalized Google Sites allowed students to upload a poster, abstract, and photo of themselves displayable on the internet. In an effort to mirror an in-person poster symposium virtually, the students sat in individual zoom rooms for a virtual question and answer period while faculty and students could jump from room to room and view the students with their posters.
Zoom links were set up for each person so that judges were able to enter a zoom call and discuss the students’ posters with them. A Google Form was also set up for the judges to input their scoring. For the oral presentations, there was one zoom link that every participant was able to join and give their presentation. Even with some unforeseen technical difficulties, the symposium was an overall success and the event was able to get back on track very quickly with an engaged audience.
Our department would like to extend our thanks to Ph.D. students for their leadership as well as the Graduate Student Coordinator, Diana Stamey. We would also like to thank our faculty members who dedicated their time to serve as judges for the event.
1st Place Best Poster Presentation, Caleb Arp2nd Place Poster Presentation, Graham Tindall & Nicholas Gregorich
1st Place Best Oral Presentation, Molly Wintenberg2nd Place Oral Presentation, Jiarun Zhou3rd Place Oral Presentation, James Foster
On April 26, Dr. Jessica Larsen was presented with the 2021 Outstanding Woman Faculty Award by Clemson University’s Commission on Women. She is adding this award to a growing list as Dr. Larsen recently received the 2021 National Science Foundation CAREER award and last year’s Bradley Mentoring Award.
Dr. Larsen leads a research program that centers on biomimetic and polymeric materials for drug delivery applications in neurodegenerative disease and other brain disorders. She is a passionate role model both at the university and in the broader community as an Assistant Coach for the Seneca High School Cross Country team.
As a faculty member of our department, Dr. Larsen aims to be an advocate for undergraduate woman as she continuously demonstrates a passion towards the advancement of female scientists. Since beginning as an Assistant Professor in 2017, Dr. Larsen has mentor a total of 44 undergraduate researchers with a high majority (32) of those students being female scientists throughout multiple departments at the university. Dr. Larsen aims to provide her students with research independence so that they are able to gain confidence to present at national and international conferences and publish journal articles.
Dr. Larsen recently asked her students what they want their laboratory to be known for; Among the answers was not only producing high quality scientific products, but also being respectful, considerate members of society who value diversity and inclusion. This is evidence of the inclusive community that Dr. Larsen is trying to build in our department.
Homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis are fields that have been historically separated. Poly(styrenesulfonic acid) (PSSA) combines the advantages of both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. PSSA is soluble in polar solvents; therefore, all acidic groups are readily accessible. In addition, the catalyst cannot be deactivated through coking because there is no surface for the carbonaceous species to be deposited. At the same time, PSSA, due to its high molecular weight, can be easily recovered by ultrafiltration for further utilization. PSSA has shown promising activity in reactions that require Brønsted acid sites, such as the hydrolysis of PET, dehydration of xylose to furfural, or biodiesel production from vegetable oils. We have recently added a second functionality to this polymer catalyst by the incorporation of AlCl3, and this led to a soluble and reusable catalyst with both Brønsted and Lewis acid sites (PSSA-AlCl3). This superacid catalyst was able to catalyze all the reactions involved in the one-pot synthesis of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from glucose and directly from starch. HMF is a valuable platform chemical, and there is an enormous market for some of its derivatives, such as furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and adipic acid. This talk will also address the synthesis of inverse metal oxide-metal catalysts for the hydrogenation of CO2 and the addition of a sorbent component for the development of dual-function materials (CO2 capture & conversion). This one-pot approach could eliminate current energy-intensive and corrosive CO2 capture and storage processes while producing important commodity chemicals and fuels.
Dr. Ana C. Alba-Rubio is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Toledo. She received her B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Malaga, Spain, in 2007. She then moved to the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry (CSIC) in Madrid, Spain, to pursue her doctoral studies under the supervision of Dr. Manuel López Granados. As a doctoral student, she enjoyed two research stays in Brazil and the Netherlands. After receiving her Ph.D., Dr. Alba-Rubio joined the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to conduct postdoctoral research with Prof. James Dumesic and Prof. Manos Mavrikakis. She focused on the controlled synthesis of metal, bimetallic, and bifunctional catalysts for reactions of interest in biomass conversion and the direct synthesis of H2O2. In 2015, she joined the University of Toledo as a faculty, and her current research interests involve the rational design and synthesis of heterogeneous catalysts to provide fuels and materials sustainably and the development of nanomaterials for sensing applications. Dr. Alba-Rubio holds a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation studying the development of dual-function materials for CO2 capture and conversion, the 2019 UToledo College of Engineering Excellence in Supervision of Undergraduate Research Award, and the 2018 UToledo Outstanding Scholarly and Creative Activity Award. She was also named to the 2020 Class of Influential Researchers by the Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research journal and recognized as one of the 2021 Nanoscale Emerging Investigators. She currently serves as a director of the AIChE Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division (CRE).
Missoury Lytle, Ph.D. student, was named as the graduate student recipient of the 2022 Awards of Excellence for the Advancement of Women presented by the Commission on Women.
