Georgia Tech School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Congrats to Professor Christopher W. Jones, who is winner of the American Chemical Society’s 2025 E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.

Jones will receive the award at the American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting in San Diego, in March 2025. The ACS National Awards encourage the advancement of chemistry in all its branches, support research endeavors, and promote the careers of chemists.
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Congrats to Professor Krista Walton, who was selected as the recipient of the 2024 Institute Award for Excellence in Industrial Gases Technology from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

Walton, Georgia Tech’s associate vice president for Research Operations and Infrastructure and the Robert "Bud" Moeller Faculty Fellow in Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE), focuses her research on the synthesis, characterization, and scale-up of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and other porous materials for adsorption-based gas separations.
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Congrats to the winners of ChBE's 2024 Waldemar T. Ziegler Awards: Megan McSweeney (PhD 2024) for Best Paper, and PhD student Andrea Fox for Best Thesis Proposal.

McSweeney's paper is titled “A modular cell-free protein biosensor platform using split T7 RNA polymerase," and Fox's proposal is “Engineering Tryptophan-Kynurenine Metabolism in T Cell Therapies for Effective Solid Tumor Treatment.”

McSweeney (left) and Fox (right) are pictured with Associate Professor Joseph Scott.

The Princeton Review and Niche.com each ranked Georgia Tech as the top-value public university in the country for 2025 💪💵🐝 -- https://c.gatech.edu/3ASks0L

Georgia Tech's economic impact was measured at $5.3 billion for 2023, according to a report from the University System of Georgia — the most of any university in the state. Tech was also the top contributor to employment among Georgia universities — supporting almost 34,000 jobs. | https://c.gatech.edu/3SOvCty

Researchers in ChBE’s Saad Bhamla’s lab have developed an inexpensive, easy-to-assemble, modular, autonomous tracking microscope.

Conventional microscopes are constrained by fixed lenses and the lack of ability to track moving cells and organisms over extended periods without manual intervention.

Costing only $400 in parts with DIY assembly instructions, Trackoscope is accessible to a wide range of users from high school laboratories to resource-constrained research environments. 🦠🔬

Read more: b.gatech.edu/4cxQug1

A sustainable human presence on Mars might one day be possible, thanks to the efforts of researchers like Georgia Tech alum Joshua Crawford.

Crawford, who earned his BS in chemical engineering from Tech in 2023, recently received a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Fellowship. Worth $84,000 over four years, the fellowship will aid Crawford’s research as a chemical engineering doctoral student at Columbia University.

During his undergraduate studies, Crawford interned at NASA’s Langley Research Center, where he worked on technology involving turning rocky moon material into metals for infrastructure development. https://bit.ly/3WNXKQ2

Joe Arcuri’s chemical engineering studies at Georgia Tech helped teach him how to grow being “comfortable with the uncomfortable.” And he’s carried that mentality as he’s pursued new challenges throughout his extensive career in corporate leadership.

Now CEO of American Greetings, Arcuri said, “I’ve had a fantastic series of opportunities that have kept my learning curve vertical. I’m a lifelong lover of learning.”

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, with a father who worked in aviation, Arcuri originally thought he’d pursue a career as a pilot. “I have logged two million miles in airplanes, just not in the cockpit,” he said of his corporate career that has taken him around the world. https://bit.ly/3YpMNp4

Congrats to the four ChBE alumni recognized on the Georgia Tech Alumni Association's latest "40 Under 40" List:
* Osama Kashlan, ChBE 2006, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Weill Cornell Medicine
* Korin Reid, PhD ChE 2015, CEO, Ellison Laboratories
* Arlyne Simon, ChBE 2008, AI Systems Architect, Intel Corporation
* Apoorv Sinha, ChBE 2010, Co-founder & CEO, Carbon Upcycling Technologies. https://bit.ly/4f6GpsK

Raised by a single mother who is an elementary school teacher in Orlando, Florida, chemical engineering major Amanda Johnston is grateful for the various scholarship support she has received during her years at Georgia Tech.

“Going out of state was a big financial burden for me, so it was very helpful to have support from the Georgia Tech community to help me alleviate some of my concerns,” said Johnston, a student government leader who was one of two honorees crowned Ramblin’ Royalty at the 2023 Homecoming game.

During 2023-24, Johnston was a recipient of the Ashlee Townsend Cribb Scholarship. Recently, Johnston and fellow chemical engineering major Lucinda Nugent were able to meet Cribb (ChBE 1987) to express their appreciation for the scholarship she endowed.

Giving Back: ChBE Alum Ashlee Townsend Cribb Supporting Students Through Endowed Scholarships | School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Brad Dixon Wednesday, 17 July 2024 Image Ashlee Townsend Cribb (ChBE 1987) with scholarship recipients Amanda Johnston (left) and Lucinda Nugent (right) Raised by a single mother who is an elementary school teacher in Orlando, Florida, chemical engineering major Amanda Johnston is grateful for the v...

Undergraduate Prince Ahinasi said he has found his time at Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) to be a transformative experience, broadening his horizons and approach to life.

Ahinasi began his college career at Georgia State University, studying chemistry and core courses, before deciding that transferring into chemical engineering at Georgia Tech in January 2021 would best meet his career goals.

“I chose chemical engineering because I love math, and I love chemistry, and I thought chemical engineering would be a very good combination of both of them,” he said. “It’s very challenging, and I love a challenge, so that’s why I’m here.”
https://bit.ly/3W1f4iV

𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 🌍

will make 6️⃣ straight Olympics with a Tech participant 🏀

Wishing you a safe and joyful Independence Day! 🐝🎇

Georgia Tech is once again listed as the top value for college students in America according to The Princeton Review. For the second year in a row, Tech earned the No. 1 ranking for Best Value Colleges amongst public universities. The formula used by The Princeton Review considers return on investment, academics, financial aid, quality of life, overall costs, and other factors. -- https://c.gatech.edu/3W7hPAo

Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) is ranked 5th for the third year in a row in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of graduate programs nationwide as well as No. 2 among public universities.

Georgia Tech’s engineering graduate program has climbed one spot to No. 4 (tied with California Institute of Technology) in the 2024-25 edition of the U.S. News & World Report national rankings. For 13 years now, all 11 of the College’s programs are ranked in the top 10. https://lnkd.in/eNt7GACk

Kitties!

Georgia Tech's 400-acre campus isn't just a home to students. Dozens of felines prowl the grounds, and last spring a student organization returned to help care for them. Campus Cats is a student-led group that feeds, traps, neuters, vaccinates, releases, and tracks the cats at Tech 😻 -- https://c.gatech.edu/4aUafxq

Mexican food was on the menu for the monthly social hour of AChEGS (the Association of Chemical Engineering Graduate Students). Served under a clear blue sky on the Bio-Tech Quad at Georgia Tech.

School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) faculty member Martha Grover has been named the College’s Thomas A. Fanning Chair in Equity Centered Engineering. Grover was selected for her efforts to educate engineers who approach their work with an intent to close societal gaps of wealth, power, and privilege by ensuring equitable access to opportunity.

The endowed position was established via the Southern Company Foundation by Southern Company, which has been regularly recognized for its efforts to promote an organizational culture that ensures representation of all groups. Fanning recently retired as chairman, president, and CEO.

Martha Grover Named Thomas A. Fanning Chair in Equity Centered Engineering The longtime ChBE professor was selected for her teaching, research, and advocacy that strives to ensure equal access to opportunity.

Do you know someone who recently graduated from Tech? Tell them about this helpful resource!

The New Alumni Guide, exclusively available on Georgia Tech Connect, has real advice on networking, getting the most out of a first job, and gaining financial literacy. Help out a recent grad in your life by sending them the link to register for full access to the guide: https://bit.ly/NewAlumniGuide

An electrochemical process developed at Georgia Tech ChBE could offer new protection against bacterial infections without contributing to growing antibiotic resistance.

The approach capitalizes on the natural antibacterial properties of copper and creates incredibly small needle-like structures on the surface of stainless steel to kill harmful bacteria like E. coli and Staphylococcus. It’s convenient and inexpensive, and it could reduce the need for chemicals and antibiotics in hospitals, kitchens, and other settings where surface contamination can lead to serious illness.

It also could save lives: A global study of drug-resistant infections found they directly killed 1.27 million people in 2019 and contributed to nearly 5 million other deaths — making these infections one of the leading causes of death for every age group.

This Modified Stainless Steel Could Kill Bacteria Without Antibiotics or Chemicals Researchers etch nano-sized textures and add copper ions to create a naturally antibacterial material for hospitals and other shared settings.

Bioengineering PhD student Alisyn Bourque, who is passionate about bridging the arts and sciences, employed her extensive background in dance in a final class project to study the fluid dynamics of dancers turning.

“Professional dancers train for many years to perfect certain turns and be able to turn consecutively many times in a row,” said Bourque, who began dancing at age four. “There is not much information in the literature on the fluid dynamics of dancers, so I proposed to study the fluid dynamics of dancers turning. This is in the context of professional ballet dancers on stage in air as well as modeled in water.”

This project was conducted for the ChBE 6200 Advanced Transport Phenomena taught by Saad Bhamla, associate professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. https://bit.ly/3UVpmBO

Assistant Professor Micah Ziegler is featured on Resource Radio's podcast "Innovations in Electric Vehicle Batteries," discussing the science, history, policy, and economics behind these batteries. https://bit.ly/4ajLIla

To avoid catastrophic climate impacts, excessive carbon emissions must be addressed. At this point, cutting emissions isn’t enough. Direct air capture, a technology that pulls carbon dioxide out of ambient air, has great potential to help solve the problem.

But there’s a big challenge. For direct air capture technology, every type of environment and location requires a uniquely specific design. A direct air capture configuration in Texas, for example, would necessarily be different from one in Iceland. These systems must be designed with exact parameters for humidity, temperature, and air flows for each place.

Now, Georgia Tech and Meta have collaborated to produce a massive database, potentially making it easier and faster to design and implement direct air capture technologies. The open-source database enabled the team to train an AI model that is orders of magnitude faster than existing chemistry simulations. The project, named OpenDAC, could accelerate climate solutions the planet desperately needs. https://b.gatech.edu/4dsTEDg

Saksham Malik (BS ChBE 2024) was admitted to five top PhD programs in chemical engineering, but he decided on Stanford after winning the Stanford Graduate Fellowship, its highest honor for an incoming doctoral student.

"That made the decision much simpler," he said. “After I earn my PhD, I’m open to both academia and industry, but I’m leaning toward the latter to make more real-world impact.”

Malik set out to make a big impact on campus after finally arriving on campus in 2021 (he'd spent his freshman year at home in Delhi, India, attending classes online in the middle of the night due to the start of the pandemic).

He took on a host of leadership activities, including president of the student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), that led him to win the Davidson Family Tau Beta Pi Senior Engineering Award, the highest honor presented to one graduating senior each year from Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering.

“As everyone tried to get back to normalcy, I got involved with a lot of different activities to make the Georgia Tech community a better place,” Malik said.
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“Freshman me would be very surprised to see where I have ended up,” said Maeve Janecka (BS ChBE 2024), describing her journey from upstate New York to Georgia Tech and her decision to pursue research supporting women's health.

“Research in women’s health has lagged, which leaves so many without adequate care," Janecka said. "That’s why I hope to help develop better diagnostics and treatments in my graduate studies.”

After graduation, she will pursue a doctor of philosophy in women’s and reproductive health at the University of Oxford, where she will join the Endometriosis CaRe Centre in fall 2024. She said her diagnosis with endometriosis as a teenager helped her find her calling in researching women's health.

As an undergrad, Janecka was a member of Professor Julie Champion's lab, where she researched the drug delivery properties of a novel orthopedic implant material.

In December, she became of 51 recipients of the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, which is awarded annually to American students pursuing post-secondary education in the U.K. “It still doesn’t quite feel real,” she said of winning the scholarship. https://bit.ly/4dub3vt

Suhyun (Su) Kim, who was co-president of ChBE's Student Advisory Board (SAB), is excited to start as a process engineer for TSMC Arizona in Phoenix after graduation from Georgia Tech. "I am ready to kickstart this new adventure with TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor company, and can't wait to step forward as a successful chemical engineer."

A native of Seoul, South Korea, Kim worked in Professor Ryan Lively's lab as an undergraduate researcher, learning about sustainable materials to separate organic solvents with Carbon molecular sieve membranes.

In addition to SAB, Kim served as master of ceremonies (VP of operations) for Alpha Chi Sigma (professional chemistry co-ed fraternity) and recruitment chair for the Society of Women Engineers. "I love being involved in the chemical engineering community."