Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University

Happy Holidays from #TAMUchen! Wishing you a joyful and relaxing break! ❄️✨ #TAMUengineering #Holidays #Break #TAMU

Big congratulations to chemical engineering doctoral student Zhara Ghiasi for winning Texas A&M’s 12th annual Three Minute Thesis competition! Her compelling presentation, “Stabilizing mRNA Vaccines for a Global Health Solution,” earned her first place in both the doctoral division and the overall competition. Learn more: tx.ag/thesiscompetition

Starting the day with a celebration! Join us in congratulating Huanrong Ouyang, this year’s recipient of the prestigious Brunner Barnes Graduate Fellowship! 🎉👏 “My research aims to harness the microbial potential in pharmaceuticals by developing a synthetic biology platform to produce natural products, enhance the understanding of small molecule metabolism in the gut, and characterize the biodegradation products of plastics, further uncovering the responsible bacterial enzymes. Receiving the Brunner-Barnes Graduate Fellowship is a recognition of my accomplishments and dedication to my PhD studies. It is a great honor for me to be the 2024 recipient of this fellowship, and I feel motivated to make a profound contribution to the field of science.” - Ouyang

Our Faculty and Staff had a wonderful time celebrating our recent graduates last week! Thank you to all who attended 🎓🎉 #TAMUChen

Big congrats to Jasan Mangalindan, this year’s Chemical Engineering Graduate Fellowship recipient! 🏆With a focus on CO2 hydrogenation research, three peer-reviewed articles, and a passion for innovation, Jasan is making waves in sustainable energy. This fellowship fuels his dedication to groundbreaking research. #TAMUengineering #Award #Graduate

Wrapping up the week with a big shoutout to Fatima Mahnaz, the recipient of the prestigious Dow Chemical Graduate Fellowship! 🏆🎓Congratulations, Fatima, on this incredible achievement and your continued excellence in graduate studies! “My Ph.D. research focuses on addressing the global challenge of CO2 emissions by developing innovative catalytic systems for CO2 conversion into valuable fuels and chemicals. By leveraging bifunctional metal-oxide/zeolite catalysts, I transform CO2 into olefins and gasoline-range hydrocarbons. My findings have revealed that by modulating the spatial arrangement of the catalytic sites, hydrocarbon yields can be significantly enhanced. Supported by the NSF, this work paves the way for emissions to become a resource for clean fuel production. Receiving the Dow Chemical Grad Fellowship validates my efforts and fuels my ambition to secure an academic role, advancing sustainable processes for a greener, more energy-efficient future.” - Fatima Mahnaz

Congratulations to the Class of 2024 from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University! Your journey of innovation, discovery, and resilience has prepared you to shape the future, one chemical at a time! #TAMUChen

Give a hand to graduate students Fatima Mahnaz and Ashfaq Iftakher, who have been selected to attend the Global Young Scientist Summit (GYSS) in Singapore. In January this duo will join hundreds of other young scientists and postdocs from across the globe to engage with esteemed researchers and have the chance to showcase their individual research! Read more here: tx.ag/GYSS25

Today, we’re celebrating Regan Kuttler, the proud recipient of the Dr. James and Cathy Holste Graduate Fellowship! 🏆🎓Congratulations, Regan, on this well-deserved recognition of your hard work and dedication. “I am honored to accept the Dr. James and Cathy Holste Graduate Fellowship! My work is centered around the phase separation and aggregation of proteins. Specifically I am studying the biophysical behavior of TAF15, in an effort to understand how it aggregates to form amyloid fibrils related to Frontotemporal lobar degeneration. When not actively working on my research I spend time with my wife Luci and our nine-month-old son, Gideon. This fellowship will help us greatly with the expenses associated with parenthood and let me focus on my work.” - Kuttler

Dr. Joseph Sang-II Kwon is changing the reliability of hypotheses in his recently published research in Nature Chemical Engineering Kwon’s work focuses on blending traditional physics-based scientific models with experimental data to accurately predict hypotheses. Read more here: tx.ag/FutureofHypotheses