Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering students, Hasan Nikkhah and Dev Barochia, in collaboration with Francesco Rouhana from UConn Civil and Environmental Engineering, have been selected as finalists in the Clean Energy & Sustainability Innovation Program. Their project, "Social and technical remedies for sustainable UConn using renewable energy sources", has set them apart as true champions of change! This prestigious program, organized by the UConn School of Engineering CLEANEARTH Laboratory, and sponsored by Eversource Energy and the Eversource Energy Center at UConn, recognizes their exciting idea for advancing clean energy and sustainability. Their project highlights the importance of leveraging renewable energy sources and implementing social and technical solutions for sustainable practices at our institution. The full list of program finalists can be found here.

The University of Connecticut has established The Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering, a new cross-campus institute focused on innovative approaches in medicine, science, engineering, and technology. We are thrilled that this new institute is named in honor of Cato T. Laurnecin, our distinguished professor in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and a leading figure in the field of regnerative engineering. Congratulations to Professor Laurnecin on this exciting new venture! To read more about the institute and Dr. Laurencin's research in regenerative engineering, click here.

Professor Matthew Stuber, PhD and Dr. Matthew Wilhelm's most recent publication presents new and improved methods for generating convex and concave relaxations of composite bilinear forms. They establish the theoretical framework to generate tighter McCormick-based relaxations in reduced space when intermediate bilinear terms have known convex or concave relaxations. These developments translate into significant speedups when solving deterministic global optimization problems involving these ubiquitous mathematical terms. To read the full publication, click here.

A new center composed of interdisciplinary researchers, including CBE faculty members Yu Lei and Matthew Stuber, has been established to address the industry's need for reliable soil sensors. The center will focus on developing innovative solutions for measuring soil properties using hydrogels, and it is sponsored by the National Science Foundation's Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) Program. This research will support the development of precision agriculture, an approach that focuses on applying fertilizers or pesticides only in the areas needed, decreasing the accumulation of dangerous chemicals, promoting plant health, and helping farmers save money. To read more about the center, click here.

Honoring the work of our Emeritus Professor, Dr. Montgomery Shaw, the SPE Applied Rheology Division recently hosted the full-day Shaw Symposium for Polymer Processing, Rheology, and Characterization. The event brought together renowned colleagues who presented their work in rheology and polymer processing at a special symposium, celebrating Dr. Shaw's many contributions to the field. As a pioneer in rheology, Dr. Shaw is an influential researcher whose work helped shape the field of polymer processing. Read more here in the latest issue of Plastics Engineering magazine.

The CBE Department would like to congratulate Dr. Leslie Shor on her promotion to Professor! For a full list of UConn's 2023 promotion and tenure awards, please click here.