CBE Students Rack Up Awards

Towards the end of every semester, student awards in a wide range of categories are typically announced. Spring 2017 is no exception, as several CBE students have reaped important recognitions and awards…

Undergraduates

Alexander Kearney, a Benjamin Franklin Scholar double-majoring in chemical engineering and international studies, received a Fulbright grant award. His project is Sustainable Agriculture and International Cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region.

Ashle Page, a double major in chemical engineering and color chemistry, was been selected to receive a Newman Civic Fellowship. The Fellowship recognizes and supports community-committed students who have demonstrated an investment in finding solutions for challenges facing communities throughout the country.

Chris Cooper is NC State’s second Churchill Scholarship recipient and is one of 15 recipients nationally this year. Approximately 100 U.S. institutions are invited to nominate up to two applicants for the Churchill Scholarship. Chris was also selected to receive an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

Three CBE undergraduates returned home from the AIChE Student Chapter regional conference with a SWEEP in the research poster competition.  Congratulations go to the winners!

1st place – Malay Shah, advised by Dr. Chase Beisel
2nd place – Nikki McArthur, advised by Dr. Bala Rao
3rd place – Ethan Hicks, advised by by Dr. Orlin Velev

A senior design team from the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program consisting of three chemical engineering students and a computer engineering student won third place in the New Venture category (ventures that have a product concept design or prototype) at the NC State LuLu eGames. The CBE students are Bhavana Kaki, Elyse Pizzell, and Ashle Page; the computer engineering student is Ben Nguyen. The team’s official mentor was Alex Williams from Plexus. Professor Richard Spontak mentored for the materials component of the project.

The team’s award-winning design “BYT No Pressure” is an enhanced dental guard that combines a slim-fit structure with a maximum pressure absorbing design. The winning teams emerged as from over 190 entries and were chosen by a panel of judges based on combined scores from a business plan and in-person pitch.

Three CBE undergraduates were selected as Top Presenters at the 2017 Annual Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium:

• Apoorva Thatavarty (advised by Bala Rao), Development Of A “Mix And Read” Assay For Target Detection Using Split-Luciferase Reconstitution
• Chris Cooper (advised by Michael Dickey), Stretchable Capacitive Sensors Of Torsion, Strain, And Touch Using Double Helix Liquid Metal Fibers
• Riley Reid (advised by Adriana San Miguel), Investigating Optogenetic Response In C. Elegans

The AIChE student chapter was awarded a 2015-2016 AIChE Outstanding Student Chapter Award. This is the chapter’s 21st Outstanding Student Chapter Award, marking their 19th award in the past 20 years.

Graduate Students

Amber Hubbard and Anurodh Tripathi won first-place awards at The Annual Triangle Student Research Competition. The Competition was hosted by the Triangle student chapters of the Materials Research Society (MRS) and the Electrochemical Society.

Amber also received the first place award in the Engineering category for her poster at the 12th Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium. In addition to Amber, the poster authors were Russell W. Mailen, Michael Dickey, and Jan Genzer.

Dishit Parekh was selected to receive the Early Doctoral Research Achievement Award. This is the inaugural year of the Award, which is provided by the College of Engineering. Dishit also received the second place award in the Science as Art competition at the Spring MRS Meeting in Phoenix, AZ.

Kaitlyn Bacon and Camden Cutright were selected to receive NSF Graduate Research Fellowships.

Congratulations to all the students for your outstanding accomplishments!