The National Science Foundation has selected six recent graduates of Oregon State University’s College of Engineering, and one student graduating in June, to be 2023 Fellows in the highly competitive NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
Graduating from Oregon State University in 2023 with honors bachelor’s degrees in chemical engineering and bioresource research, and a chemistry minor, Bridget Price is glad to see years of planning coming to fruition.
For Rylee Marks, an Honors College student who will earn her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering this year, the plan was always straightforward: finish college, enter industry.
“I thought, I’m going to spend four years getting my degree,” Marks said. “After four years, I’m going to industry, working in energy consulting.”
The National Science Foundation has selected Oregon State University as one of 16 research institutions to receive Phase 1 grants for the 2023 Convergence Accelerator program’s Track I: Sustainable Materials for Global Challenges, a $11.5 million investment targeting a global need for critical materials in infrastructure, health care, national security, and energy.
Jeff Nason, professor of environmental engineering and associate head for graduate programs in the School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering, has been awarded a two- year, $200,000 National Science Foundation grant to gauge differences in how physical and virtual laboratories prepare students for an engineering career.
Kelsey Stoerzinger, assistant professor of chemical engineering, has been granted an award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program. She will use the five-year, $750,000 prize to develop a deeper understanding of electrochemical processes used to convert nitrate into ammonia, and to design and test catalysts that target this reaction.
Machine learning is making inroads into chemical engineering, where it’s helping researchers develop new nanoporous materials for a variety of applications.
Riley Humbert likes to work with her hands, from knitting to rock climbing to building the parts she needs for homebrewing beer. Together with her dad, the fourth-year chemical engineering major built a mash tun, where grains steep and become the sugar water containing all the nutrients yeast need to ferment beer.
Juniors Tucker Holstun and Yesh Godse are among 396 college students selected from approximately 5,000 potential candidates across the United States to receive the award for the 2020-2021 academic year.
The scholarships are awarded based on academic merit to college sophomores and juniors who exhibit intellectual intensity and exceptional promise of becoming research leaders and who show potential for significant contributions to research in their chosen fields, according to the scholarship program’s mission statement.
Ambassador Adam Al-Mulla (’95 B.S., Chemical Engineering), now serving as Kuwait’s permanent delegate to UNESCO, credits Oregon State University with opening his eyes to the passion that has driven his career.
That passion would eventually lead him to work with people from various cultures and backgrounds to promote education, science, and cultural preservation and appreciation throughout the world.
