The 2024 James K. Ferrell Awardees

Recent Ph.D. graduates Drs. Ryan Bing and Noor Mohammad have been selected as the winner and honorable mention recipient, respectively, of the 2024 James K. Ferrell Outstanding Ph.D. Graduate Award. Although all of the award nominees were exceptional and deserving of recognition, these two graduates stood out above the rest.

The James K. Ferrell Outstanding Ph.D. Graduate Award recognizes an outstanding graduate of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Ph.D. program who distinguished themselves in scholarship through publications, research-based honors and presentations, as well as in service through teaching and teaching assistant performance, graduate student recruiting, Graduate Student Association service and the mentorship of peers and undergraduate researchers. The award is named in memory of Dr. James K. Ferrell who was the first Ph.D. graduate from NC State’s chemical engineering program and then served as a faculty member and department head from 1966-1980. Funds for the award are made possible through the James K. Ferrell Graduate Student Memorial Fund.

Ryan Bing

Dr. Bing’s research was supervised by Dr. Robert Kelly and focused on the metabolic engineering and optimization of solventogenic plant biomass fermentation by the extreme thermophile, Anaerocellum bescii, for production of ethanol and acetone. His research also advanced the mechanistic understanding of how lignocellulose composition relates to plant biomass digestibility by fermentative thermophilic bacteria. Together, this work brings consolidated bioprocessing of plant biomass to commodity chemicals a step closer to industrial feasibility. Dr. Bing’s work has resulted in nine first author and sixteen other publications, many in leading journals in the field, including Science, Science Advances, Metabolic Engineering, and Bioresource Technology.  His work additionally resulted in a book chapter, two provisional patents, and several more articles are under review.

Dr. Bing is currently working at Capra Biosciences, in Sterling, VA, as their senior metabolic engineer, where he engineers non-model microorganisms to produce high-value commodity and specialty chemicals from renewable feedstocks. The opportunities and skills that NC State provided Ryan have greatly enabled his ability to excel, including an internship, extensive technical skills, a plethora of high quality equipment access, exceptional collaborators, and a large network of Dr. Kelly’s students. Ryan is excited to continue to work on the valorization of low-value feedstocks through industrial bioprocessing and metabolic engineering.

Noor Mohammad

Dr. Noor Mohammad’s research was supervised by Dr. Qingshan Wei. His dissertation, titled “Discovery of Novel Reporters and Detection Mechanism for CRISPR-Based Point-of-Care Diagnostics,” focused on developing cost-effective, non-optical, and highly sensitive CRISPR-Cas12a-based sensing platforms for detecting ssDNA targets. His work introduced a set of novel non-optical reporters, including double-stranded (ds) λ DNA, 3′ toe-activated hybrid DNA reporters, and circular plasmid DNA reporters. Challenging the widely held belief that CRISPR-Cas12a exclusively trans-cleaves single-stranded DNA, Dr. Mohammad demonstrated that Cas12a can also trans-cleave dsDNA, reshaping fundamental understanding in the field. His research has resulted in ten publications, many in the leading journals in his field, including Nucleic Acids Research, Angewandte Chemie, Communications Chemistry, and CRISPR Journal, a testament to his cutting-edge scientific advancements and contributions to the field. In recognition of his research excellence, Dr. Mohammad was named the COE Scholar of the Year in Research in 2024. Reflecting on his experience, he stated, “The supportive and inspiring environment at CBE, NC State—especially in the Wei Lab—has been instrumental in shaping my personality and fueling my growth as an independent researcher. It provided me with the freedom to explore, the mentorship to excel, and the community to thrive.”

Following his graduation from NC State, Dr. Mohammad joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) as an Assistant Professor. He is currently leading his own independent research lab on CRISPR diagnostics and developing a new graduate course on point-of-care (POC) diagnostics at his institution, showcasing his dedication and long-term commitment to both research and education.

Congratulations to both Drs. Ryan Bing and Noor Mohammad for your exemplary success as CBE graduate students. We also look forward to hearing Dr. Bing speak at the Spring 2025 CBE Graduation Ceremony in May.