Purdue Chemical Engineering Professor Jeffrey Miller is collaborating with researchers at Rice University to discover new science and technologies to purify water. Miller is working with the research group of Dr. Mike Wong of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas. The group is part of an NSF Engineering Research Center developing new science and technologies to purify water, preparing novel nano-structured metal particles for catalyst reactions. The current research uses catalysts to convert nitrates that occur in low levels in many water supplies into harmless compounds. Current findings are published in the journal, ACS Catalysis. Using the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, the researchers can identify the novel structures of nano-particles responsible for their chemistry.

Two Davidson School of Chemical Engineering faculty were recently honored for their excellence in teaching graduate and undergraduate students. Dr. Rajamani Gounder and Dr. Jeffrey Siirola were recognized prior to the graduate seminar on December 5, with both faculty receiving certificates from Professor David Corti, Executive Officer of Chemical Engineering, on behalf of the School.

Two Chemical Engineering faculty members were recently honored for their years of service at Purdue University. Dr. James Caruthers, the Gerald and Sarah Skidmore Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Dr. Julie Liu, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, were acknowledged on November 30 during the Faculty Service Luncheon, hosted by the Office of the Provost. Caruthers was recognized for 40 years at the University, and Liu was recognized for 10 years at Purdue.

Purdue Chemical Engineering undergraduate student Anna Wagner has been named National Chairman of the American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE) Executive Student Committee (ESC). Wagner, a senior, took over as Chair of the ESC in November and will serve in the position through May 2018.

As Chief Executive Officer of Tremeau Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Purdue Chemical Engineering alumnus Bradford Sippy (BSChE '94) is aiming to provide a non-opioid option to treat severe joint pain caused by the bleeding disorder hemophilia. Sippy cofounded Tremeau Pharmaceuticals, which has recently been granted an orphan drug designation for TRM-201 (rofecoxib) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. TRM-201 is a COX-2 selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, for the treatment of degenerative joint disease in patients with hemophilia, also known as hemophilic arthropathy (HA).