Thirty-one Texas ChE Ph.D. candidates successfully defended their theses in 2023. Learn more about our Graduate Program here.
Their work looks at innovations in Nitrogen-rich Nanoporous Carbons for CO2 capture, utilizing ionic liquids (ILs) as extraction solvents to separate aromatic from aliphatic hydrocarbons, and developing decision-making tools to model and design the chemical manufacturing and refining industry using optimization, network models. Here is the work and notable highlights from 5 recent Ph.D.'s:
Marshall Allen
Successfully defended his dissertation on October 5, 2023.
Defense: Light-Based Mechanical Patterning in Soft Matter Materials
Summary: Current methods for mechanical patterning in polymer materials are insufficient to mimic the biological systems, which combine hard and soft materials to produce structures with emergent properties. This work sought to develop novel methods for spatially patterning mechanical properties into polymer systems.
Supervisors: Benny Freeman and Zak Page
Notable Publications:
Allen M. J., Lien H.-M., Prine N., Burns, C., Adrian R., Gu X., Mangolini F., Cox L., Freeman B.D., Page Z. A., “Multimorphic Materials: Spatially Tailoring Mechanical Properties via Selective Initiation of Interpenetrating Polymer Networks,” Advanced Materials 2022, 2210208
Rylski A. K., Cater H. L., Mason K. S., Allen M. J., Arrowood A. J., Freeman B. D., Sanoja G.E., and Page Z. A., “Polymeric multimaterials by photochemical patterning of crystallinity,” Science 2022, 378, 6616, 211-215
Honors:
GAIN Industrial Sponsor Poster Winner (2023)
CS POLY Oral Presentation Winner (2023)
NSF Graduate Research Fellow (2020)
Thrust 2000 Fellow (2018)
Kimi Bourland
Successfully defended her dissertation on August 21, 2023.
Defense: Inverse Gas Chromatography for Crucial Separations Using Ionic Liquids
Summary: Validated and used the inverse gas chromatography method to investigate various ionic liquids and solutes (gas and liquids) for various separations including olefin/paraffin and aliphatic/aromatic separations as well as carbon capture.
Supervisors: Joan Brennecke
Notable Accomplishments:
Published 1 first author paper.
Presented at 3 conferences.
Mentored various undergraduate and graduate students.
Sierra Brooks
Successfully defended her dissertation on November 16, 2023.
Defense: Development of Engineered Living Material Platforms for Diverse Applications in Human and Planetary Health
Summary: Metabolic engineering and synthetic biology developments hold great promise for fueling a robust bioeconomy, in which biomanufacturing processes featuring microbial chassis are used to produce an array of industrial and pharmaceutical compounds at scale to meet growing demands. Despite this potential, research breakthroughs are often limited in commercial translation potential due to the range of unique challenges limiting outside-the-lab deployment of biology. This work presents four case studies highlighting notable progress towards field-deployable Engineered Living Materials for modular, distributed biomanufacturing as well as dynamic microbiome delivery.
Supervisors: Hal Alper
Notable Publications:
Brooks, S. M. et al. “Enhancing long-term storage and stability of engineered living materials through desiccant storage and trehalose treatment,” Biotechnology and Bioengineering 120, 572–582 (2023).
Brooks, S. M. & Alper, H. S. “Applications, challenges, and needs for employing synthetic biology beyond the lab,” Nature Communications 12, 1390 (2021).
Samuel Johnson
Successfully defended his dissertation on May 30, 2023.
Defense: Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition of Dielectric Thin Films for Advanced Semiconductor Applications
Summary: The plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) of dielectric films was explored. As electronics miniaturize further, more precise deposition and enhanced material properties are required, and PEALD was explored to answer that requirement.
Supervisors: John Ekerdt
Notable Highlight: Dr. Ekerdt’s 60th and final Ph.D. student to graduate!
Freddy Rivers
Successfully defended his dissertation on October 4, 2023.
Defense: Synthesis and Characterization of Modular, Functionalizable Polymer Membranes for Specific Solute Capture
Summary: My research focused on synthesizing and characterizing functionalized, selective polymer membranes for specific solute capture from contaminated waters. A modular synthetic system was designed to test different functional, attachable ligands that targeted particular solutes of interest (boron and lithium).
Supervisors: Nate Lynd and Benny Freeman
Our summer/fall 2023 PhD graduates:
- Marshall Allen – Benny Freeman & Zak Page
- Kimberly Bourland – Joan Brennecke
- Sierra Brooks - Hal Alper
- Zachary Brotherton - Nate Lynd
- Brielle Hohne - Manish Kumar
- Sejoon Park – Joan Brennecke & Benny Freeman
- Frederick Rivers – Benny Freeman & Nate Lynd
- Everett Zofchak – Freeman & Ganesan
