Alum Ezinne Achinivu is a Fulbright Scholar

Alum Dr. Ezinne Achinivu (Ph.D ’14), was recently selected to be a Fulbright Scholar. The prestigious, Fulbright Program seeks to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries via the exchange of people, knowledge and skills. Achinivu was selected to work in Reims, France, as the region has a need for Ph.D.-level engineers in the field of biotechnology and bioprocessing.

As related by Ezinne,”My thesis was focused on developing a sustainable technique for processing waste biomass (corn stover) into high value bioproducts (biofuels and biomaterials).” “Following my thesis, I completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alabama where I continued to develop depth with my research expertise in biomass processing. In this position, I was exposed to procedures for process scale up/development and commercialization of the bioproducts and biomaterials.”

“In France,” she continued, “I will be applying my expertise in biomass processing to a different feedstock and application. My team and I are looking to develop processes for extracting high value compounds from biomass, such as mustard bran and canola seeds, for use in cosmetics. I will contribute my skills in bioprocess development to effectively extract the biomaterials of interest and develop formulations for a potential product to be commercialized. The impact in both France and the U.S. should be significant, given the need for effective commercialization of bioproducts and the utilization of renewable resources.”

Ezinne is a Scholar at PreScouter, a company that provides research-based technical support to their client companies. She is a B.S. graduate of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Maryland (CBE-UMD); Professor Wesley Henderson was her thesis advisor.

As an aside, alum Dr. Nate Miranda (Ph.D. ’94) is one of PreScouter’s satisfied customers who are quoted on the PreScouter home page.

*Certain content in this article was excerpted from a similar article posted on the CBE-MD web site.