Winter 2018 CHEE Class Notes: Grad Student Spotlight

Rachel Braun
Chemical Engineering PhD Candidate
rabraun@email.arizona.edu

Alex MacDonald
Chemical Engineering PhD Candidate
abmacdonald@email.arizona.edu

Connor Stahl
Chemical Engineering PhD Candidate
Cstahl1@email.arizona.edu

We work with professor Armin Sorooshian. This summer, we spent three weeks in Manila, Philippines, on a NASA-funded research campaign investigating the nature of particulate pollution and its effects on public health and monsoon activity in Southeast Asia. One of the most exciting parts of our research is the detail with which we are studying how the particles that make up pollution vary with the size of the particles.

Our time in Manila was amazing. We were treated with humbling, heart-warming hospitality from the scientists at Manila Observatory. It's an experience we will never forget.

Check out our field notes, published in the September edition of UA’s Lo Que Pasa.

Margarita Acedo
Chemical Engineering PhD Candidate
acedom@email.arizona.edu

I received funding from the Office for Diversity and Inclusive Excellence for a research project I am conducting with Erin Dokter, associate professor of practice, “Exploring Inclusive Environments in Graduate Programs at the College of Engineering.”

Our goals are to:

• Provide a baseline report about diversity and inclusivity within College of Engineering graduate programs.
• Increase awareness of diversity and inclusivity; how it benefits students, faculty, and staff; and what can be done to improve the environments for underrepresented populations.
• Facilitate the creation of new educational strategies within participating departments that promote the inclusive excellence culture.
• Build community partnerships with experts in assessing school climates inside (among departments at the College of Engineering) and outside the University of Arizona (Alliance for the Study of School Climates at California State University – Los Angeles).

We hope to start our study and recruit graduate students as well as faculty members from different departments at the college of engineering in the spring.

If anyone would like to learn more about this research project, please contact me.

Zachary Binger
Chemical Engineering PhD Candidate
zbinger@email.arizona.edu

My team was a grand challenge winner at the seventh annual Student Energy Conference held at Biosphere 2 in early November.

I was fortunate to work with some great students from UA, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and Mexico to brainstorm a solution for improving the interaction between water and power generation. Our group proposed a solution that, during off-peak usage times, would store excess energy production from renewable sources as hydrogen for delayed use in fuel cells during peak demand hours. Additionally, we looked at using the unused hydrogen in a hypothetical hybrid combustion chamber as a supplemental fuel source for ranking the cycles that are used in traditional power plants.

I also participated in, and was selected as a winner of, the conference’s fast-pitch competition – a two-minute presentation about the importance of our research.

Itzel Marquez
PhD in Chemical Engineering
marquezhernandez@email.arizona.edu

I have always considered myself an environmentalist. Since I was young, I have wanted to contribute to science, the environment and my community.

I worked in the pharmaceutical and oil industries a few years ago, and quickly realized that I could contribute to the solution of environmental problems through research and teaching.

I just defended my PhD in chemical engineering under the advising of University Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Eduardo Sáez and Professor Emeritus of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Robert Arnold. My research was focused on the degradation of new types of contaminants found in wastewater. These contaminants can be harmful to human health and the environment, and can survive conventional wastewater treatment.

The main objective was to develop mathematical models to predict the oxidation reactions of these compounds to be used as a tool in the design of wastewater treatment. My PhD research was motivated by the idea of reusing wastewater for consumption. Since many regions in the U.S. and around the world are facing water scarcity, I believe wastewater can be used as an alternative potable water source if treated appropriately.

With this motivation in mind, I have decided to continue on to a post-doctoral fellowship under the advising of assistant professor Andrea Achilli and Sáez at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and at the WEST Center. My research will now focus on membrane processes for the purification of wastewater for potable reuse.

I’m very excited about this new challenge and hope to contribute to the solution of one of the biggest problems of this century: water pollution.

I’m also very committed to increasing the representation of women, people of color and the LGBTQ+ community in STEM fields, and hope to get involved in activities that will increase diversity in engineering.