Davidson School of Chemical Engineering Professor Vilas Pol has been selected to receive the 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Program Committee's Professional Achievement Award for Innovations in Green Process Engineering for Sustainable Energy and Environment, based on his distinguished contributions as an educator and for his outstanding professional achievement in advancing innovations in green process engineering.

Davidson School of Chemical Engineering research scientist Dr. Zhenhua Zeng has been selected to receive the 2019-2020 Electrochemical Society Toyota Fellowship in recognition of his research in green energy technology. Dr. Zeng was one of only five recipients nationwide to receive this year’s fellowship awards.

Davidson School of Chemical Engineering Professor Zoltan Nagy has been selected to receive the 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Pharmaceutical Discovery Development and Manufacturing (PD2M) Forum Award for Outstanding Contribution to QbD for Drug Substance in recognition of his field-leading advances in crystallization systems and drug product process intensification.

Purdue University professors are questioning what else fertile farmland can be used for with a new multidisciplinary project researching how to improve future sustainability by simultaneously utilizing crop fields for solar electricity production. Dr. Rakesh Agrawal, the Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, is partnering with Dr. Mitch Tuinstra, the Wickersham Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Research and professor of plant breeding and genetics in the Department of Agronomy, and faculty from Purdue and Florida A&M University on the research.

Davidson School of Chemical Engineering Professor You-Yeon Won was recently awarded $37,149 from the Purdue Trask Innovation Fund for development of a radiation-controlled drug-release formulation that is shown to improve the treatment of locally advanced head and neck tumors more effectively for some patients. More than 60,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with these cancers annually. The formulation allows toxicity and side effects associated with chemo-radiation to be minimized by encapsulating the drug with radiation-degradable capsules and injecting this formation into the patient's tumor before normal radiation. Dr. Won's research is being conducted in collaboration with the Indiana University School of Medicine.