The Charles D. Davidson School of Chemical Engineering was well represented at this year’s American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting.

In addition to a large presence of faculty, students and alumni, students of the School were honored with more than their fair share of awards at the Nov. 13-18 meeting in San Francisco.

Student award winners from the School included:

• Purdue AIChE Student Chapter - Outstanding Student Chapter Award for the 2015-16 academic year. This award is presented annually to student chapters that show an exceptional level of participation, enthusiasm, program quality, professionalism, and involvement in the university and community. The award includes a plaque for the School and certificates for the chapter president and advisor.
• Graduate Student Tej Choksi – Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Travel Award. This honor is presented to up to 20 students and includes $400 for travel expenses and a ticket to the CRE Division Dinner. To be eligible, the student must be a member of the AIChE and present a paper (oral or poster) at the Annual Meeting in a CRE Division session. Choksi gave two oral presentations at the meeting. They were, “A Descriptor Based Approach Towards Understanding the Effect of Functionals on Reducible Oxide Kinetics,” and “Scaling Relationships at Bifunctional Metal/Oxide Interfaces: A Case Study of Doped Au/MgO.” Choksi also received the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Poster Award. This award recognizes the best poster presented in each of the division's primary technical areas. Choksi’s poster was “Methanol Oxidation on Pristine and Doped MoO3: A DFT and Microkinetic Analysis.” That award includes $200. Choksi is advised by Jeffrey Greeley, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering.
• Senior Jacklyn Hall – Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division Poster Award, First Place Undergraduate Poster. The poster was titled, “Site and Structural Changes to Sn-Beta Zeolites in Aqueous Media and Their Consequences for Glucose Isomerization Catalysis.” Hall is an undergraduate student doing research with Rajamani Gounder, the Larry and Virginia Faith Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering.
• Graduate Student John Di Iorio – Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Travel Award. Di Iorio presented “Synthetic Control of Framework Alumnium Distribution in Zeolites and Consequences for Acid and Redox Catalysis.” He is advised by Gounder.
• Graduate Student Jamie Harris - Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Travel Award. Harris presented “Quantifying Lewis Acid Sites in Zeolites that Catalyze Glucose Isomerzation.” He is co-advised by Fabio Ribeiro, the R. Norris and Eleanor Shreve Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Gounder.
• Graduate Student Sydney Hollingshead - Women’s Initiatives Committee Travel Award. This award Supports travel for women chemical engineers to attend the AIChE Spring and Annual Meetings. Hollingshead is advised by Julie Liu, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering.
• Graduate Student Claire Kilmer – Women’s Initiatives Committee Travel Award. Kilmer is advised by Liu, an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering.
• Senior Gloria Novikova – Third Place Nanoscience and Engineering Forum Poster Award. The poster was titled “Adsorption Mechanisms of Palladium (II) Trichloro-Hydroxy Complex on the Tobacco Mosaic Virus Surface.” Novikova is an undergraduate researcher for Michael Harris, the Robert B. and Virginia V. Covalt Professor of Chemical Engineering.
• Graduate Student Seung Hyun Sung – Third Place, Area 8E (Electronics and Photonics) Graduate Student Awards. Sung’s presentation was titled “Electrochemical Gating of Charge Transport in Radical Polymers for Colorless, Transparent, and Ambipolar Organic Transistors.” He is advised by Bryan Boudouris, the Robert and Sally Weist Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering.
• George Weeden Jr., PhD 2016 – Separations Division Graduate Student Research Award. This award honors outstanding graduate students in various separations categories. Weeden’s paper was titled “Extraction and Simulated Moving Bed Methods for Efficient Recovery of High-Purity Polycarbonates and Flame Retardants from Polymer Wastes.” The award includes a plaque and $200. Weeden is advised by Linda Wang, the Maxine Spencer Nichols Professor of Chemical Engineering.