Research News

Brian Korgel, a professor in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, will be the next director of the Energy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin, effective Sept. 1.

Professor Dave Allen of the Cockrell School’s McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering will receive a prestigious Eni Award, a top honor in the fields of energy and environmental research.

The most complete picture yet is coming into focus of how antibodies produced in people who effectively fight off SARS-CoV-2 work to neutralize the part of the virus responsible for causing infection. In the journal Science, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin describe the finding, which represents good news for designing the next generation of vaccines to protect against variants of the virus or future emerging coronaviruses.

People say that starting and growing a company is like giving birth and raising a child. For NwaBebé co-founders and Longhorns Texas ChE Associate Professor Lydia Contreras and Dara Chike-Obi (Law ’08, McCombs ’20) , entrepreneurship and motherhood are indeed inextricably tied. “The initial inspiration for NwaBebé was our journey into parenthood,” Chike-Obi says.

Professor Jim Chelikowsky has been awarded The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society’s (TMS) John Bardeen Award. The award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions and are leaders in the field of electronic materials.

Poor air quality where you live can increase risk for lung-related diseases like asthma and COPD, but Texas ChE research indicates it can even increase risk for obesity.

Texas ChE Research Associate Jason Lavinder made key contributions to the country’s first peer-reviewed study on a promising COVID-19 treatment.

Project Astra, led by Dave Allen, is launching novel technology to revolutionize how methane leaks are found across oil and gas sites to minimize releases into the atmosphere.

Lea Hildebrant Ruiz is working on NSF funded research to study chemical reactions between disinfectants and masks when used together to fight COVID-19.

Benny Freeman is helping pioneer a new filtration technique to reduce the time it takes to extract lithium from the earth, which could vastly bolster the viability of electric vehicles.