2025 Annual Report

The year 2025 saw unprecedented levels of funding cuts in nearly every federal agency. Budget cuts to the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy had significant impact on in-place CEBC research projects during the year. Remarkably, with assistance from less traditional funding sources and innovations by the KU Office of Research, CEBC investigators have been able to continue core projects and start new ones.

New federal funding. Six CEBC faculty members secured individual research funding from DOE (James Blakemore), ACS (Juan Bravo-Suárez), NIH (Kendrick Smith), and NSF (Rachael Farber, Manar Shoshani and Aaron Teator), representing more than $5 million promoting their sponsored research initiatives.

New industry funding. Four different companies sought out CEBC faculty members for targeted research projects. Chemistry Professor James Blakemore, Chemical Engineering Professor Aaron Scurto, and Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering Bala Subramaniam garnered a total of $321,374 in new industry-sponsored projects.

State of Kansas, KU, and collaborative funding.
•Chemistry Professor and department chairTim Jackson received $1 million through theNational Strategic Research Institute at theUniversity of Nebraska to support a multidisciplinary KU research team spanning the Departments of Chemistry, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Mechanical Engineering.•Chemical Engineering Assistant ProfessorElizabeth Corson partnered with Wichita StateUniversity on a carbon valorization project worthjust under $200,000. She also earned one ofKU’s new initiative awards, a KU New Faculty Research Development Award of $10,000.•Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Justin Hutchison won a $620,000 grant fromthe Kansas Water Resources Institute.

KU’s Center for Technology Commercialization (KUCTC) selected a project of Alan Allgeier’s research group for the inaugural Rock Chalk Ready program to mature early stage innovations and position them for commercialization success. Allgeier’s “Technologies to Enhance Corn Oil Extraction During Ethanol Production” is one of six promising KU innovations selected.

Supported by a FORGE grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce, Rock Chalk Ready reflects a collaborative One KU approach, inviting participation from innovators on KU’s Lawrence and Medical Center campuses. The program aims to de-risk technologies and business concepts by providing funding, guidance and connections to resources across KU’s innovation ecosystem.

The project has advanced to the NSF Regional iCorps program to support translation of academic  science to commercial reality.

Electravera, the brainchild of KU Chemical Engineering Professor Kevin Leonard, graduate student Shelby Atherton and recent graduate Dr. Brianna Farris, is among 16 start-up companies awarded funding from the new Kansas Department of Commerce ACCEL-KS program. Administered by KU Innovation Park and Wichita-based Groover Labs, the statewide initiative seeks to fast-track high-potential projects toward commercial success. More than 65 entrepreneurs applied in the first year of funding.

The two chemical engineers are researchers in Dr. Kevin Leonard’s laboratory group. Partnering during their participation in the highly successful CEBC NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program, Bri and Shelby began to seek a low cost, low energy solution to critical mineral recovery from end-of-life batteries. Their novel electrochemical process is designed to selectively recover critical minerals from diverse lithium-ion battery waste streams and convert them into high-purity feedstocks for electronic device manufacturing. 

With ACCEL-KS support, their goal is to enable a circular economy for critical materials, reducing waste and strengthening U.S. technological resilience.

Dr. Brian Laird, KU chemistry professor and CEBC researcher, has been elected to Fellowship in the American Physical Society. The APS Fellowship recognizes members who have made exceptional contributions in the field of physics. Each year, no more than one-half of 1% of the society’s membership (excluding student members) are elected to the status of Fellow. KU currently has three other active fellowship members on its faculty, all within the Department of Physics & Astronomy.

Laird, who also has been a courtesy professor in both physics & astronomy and chemical & petroleum engineering at KU, was chosen for his groundbreaking, interdisciplinary work developing algorithms for molecular modeling. The society stated, “For pioneering contributions to the use of atomistic simulation to study the equilibrium and nonequilibrium properties of interfaces and significant advances in the development of algorithms for molecular-dynamics simulation.”

Computational modeling complements experimental work in physics, chemistry and engineering by providing a detailed understanding of how molecular-level interactions give rise to observable phenomena. The Laird research group has worked extensively with the CEBC, beginning with his participation in the ERC grant proposal leading to the center’s inception. From 2013-2017, Laird was lead investigator on the $4.4 million NSF Networks for Sustainable Molecular Design and Synthesis program with CEBC faculty members Drs. Bala Subramaniam, R.V. Chaudhari, Ward Thompson and Jon Tunge. “To be recognized by the physics community as a chemist is quite an honor,” Laird said. “I think it speaks to the interdisciplinary nature of my work.”

Laird's Nobel Prize connection
A team of three scientists, including a former research colleague of Laird’s, was chosen for this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Omar Yaghi, a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkley, and his colleagues were recognized for their work creating metal-organic frameworks that can be used to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide, store toxic gasses or catalyze chemical reactions. From 2009 to 2015, Laird was a co-principal investigator with Yaghi on an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the Department of Energy, an association that, Laird said, makes him “Nobel-adjacent along with many other people.” Said Laird, “My role was to take the materials he had and do computational predictions of the absorption of carbon dioxide and methane."

Dr. Bala Subramaniam was appointed as Editor-in- Chief of the 10th Edition Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook. Known as “The Chemical Engineer’s Bible,” the reference book has been a source of chemicalengineering knowledge for a wide variety of engineers and scientists for more than 80 years.

Dr. Timothy Jackson received one of five William T. Kemper Fellowships for Teaching Excellence. Each year, the $7,500 fellowships are awarded to outstanding KU faculty whose innovative approaches to teaching help students gain crucial skills, embrace academic and professional challenges, develop learning strategies, and improve long-term student success.

Timothy Jackson, Chair & Professor of Chemistry, was recognized for distinguished contributions to the field of bioinorganic chemistry, particularly through the combined use of kinetic, spectroscopic
and computational methods to develop electronic structure-activity correlations of bioinspired manganese complexes. As a CEBC faculty member, Tim has been a P.I. or co-P.I. on numerous collaborative projects, including the $4.4 million NSF Networks for Sustainable Molecular Design and Synthesis program.

Ward Thompson, Professor of Chemistry, was recognized for distinguished contributions in theoretical chemical dynamics and spectroscopy, including seminal studies on chemistry in nanoscale confinement and the calculation of activation energies. One of CEBC’s first faculty members, Ward has participated in an ERC Thrust Group, a 2012 industry seed project, the NSF Networks for Sustainable Molecular Design and Synthesis program, and a DOE-funded project developing computer-based methods that explore the mysteries of catalysts supported on amorphous silica.

Jon Tunge, Professor of Chemistry, was recognized for the advancement of critical synthetic strategies involving the environmentally benign formation and utilization of organometallics. Jon led one of the CEBC’s first ERC Thrust Groups and developed a method for “polymer-bound” catalysts to be retained inside the reactor. Jon also was a key member of the NSF Networks for Sustainable Molecular Design and Synthesis program.

Michael Branicky, Professor of Computer Science, was recognized for distinguished contributions to modeling, analysis and control of cyber-physical systems, and for applications to networked control systems and robotics. He is a former dean of the KU School of Engineering. He recently served as a faculty mentor for CEBC’s National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) program. One of Michael's research interests involves cyber-physical systems, which are applied to a wide range of areas such as agriculture, energy, health care, manufacturing and transportation.

KU's inaugural gathering of AAAS Fellows
In November, the University of Kansas celebrated its 33 faculty members elected
as Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Among them are CEBC faculty members Bala Subramaniam, Tim Jackson, Ward
Thompson, Jon Tunge and Michael Branicky, plus CEBC research project collaborators
Donna Ginther and Candan Tamerler.

Election as an AAAS Fellow is an honor in the scientific community, recognizing
individuals who uphold the standards of professional ethics and scientific integrity.
Before being nominated, AAAS membership must be maintained continuously for a
four-year period leading up to a nomination by a fellow of the AAAS Council.

In addition to the 11 current and former CEBC faculty and collaborators who are
AAAS fellows, former CEBC Science Advisory Board members Mahdi Abu-Omar,
Rodney Fox, Ive Hermans, Umit Ozkan and Vincent Pecoraro also are fellows.

Dr. Juan Bravo-Suárez has been elected as Great Plains Catalysis Society Chair 2026. Dr. Bravo Suárez has served as secretary for GPCS and has been active in managing the group’s webinar series. He has also helped with the annual GPCS Symposium each fall.

Dr. James Blakemore is the 2025-2028 Keith D. Wilner Chair in Chemistry, receiving financial support for research from the fund. James is the second to receive this rotating Chair, made possible by the generous support of KU Chemistry alumnus Dr. Keith Wilner.

Dr. Elizabeth Corson has been elected to serve as American Institute of Chemical Engineers Awards Chair for Area 1E, Electrochemical Fundamentals. The committee’s primary role is to select each year’s recipients for AIChE’s Institute Awards.

Dr. Marco Caricato received the Robert and Eugenia Terss Research Award from the KU Department of Chemistry in May, given for overall excellence in publications.

The KU Department of Chemistry recognizes one faculty member each month based on the peer-reviewed papers published by chemistry faculty from the three previous months, reviewed by the Chemistry Department Chair and Associate Chairs. In 2025, seven CEBC faculty members’ published works were selected for this recognition.

James Blakemore, Associate Professor, January
Timothy Jackson, Chair & Professor, March
Aaron Teator, Assistant Professor, June
Ward Thompson, Professor, August
Marco Caricato, Professor, October
Manar Shoshani, Assistant Professor, November
Rachael Farber, Assistant Professor, December

DOE $1,300,000, 2023-2027
Solar power is cost-competitive and avoids carbon emissions associated with conventional energy sources. By 2050, the demand for solar power is estimated to be as much as 100 Terawatts. Recently, however, solar panels have come under significant criticism because over 80% of old panels are currently sent to landfills. The cost of recycling the panels is now about $20 to $30 each, while the cost for disposal is about $1 to $2. At the same time, valuable materials including silver, silicon and glass that could be recovered from recycled panels are wasted in landfills.

Critics argue that this massive waste creates environmental risks, as panels can contain toxins like lead and cadmium. Cadmium (Cd) and tellurium (Te) are critical materials to produce high efficiency CdTe photovoltaic (PV) panels. To ensure supply chain safety and economic production, cost effective and environmentally benign technologies to recover and recycle critical minerals are needed.

In conventional technologies, the solar panels are crushed and concentrated acid/oxidant mixture is used to recover the Cd and Te present in dilute concentrations (0.2 wt.% of total panel mass). Collaborating with the Idaho National Laboratory and First Solar Inc., P.I. Dr. Bala Subramaniam and Associate Researcher Dr. Hongda Zhu have developed a technology that uses benign solvents and acoustic vibrations to swell polymeric resins and rapidly delaminate solar panels to selectively recover the exposed PV semiconductors as a suspension in water (>99 wt.% recovery of Cd and Te).

By concentrating the Cd and Te in much smaller volumes of water, the CEBC process avoids the use of large volumes of mineral acids and oxidants, promoting the sustainable recycling of solar panel components. Insights into polymer resin/solvent compatibility and the delamination mechanism are guiding optimal process development and scale-up.

VIFF $10,000,000, 2024-2029 

Researchers at KU’s CEBC are working with academic, industry and national lab partners to develop processes to sort municipal waste, isolate usable plant-based materials, and design storable and transportable feedstocks for manufacturing products. The Center for Mineral and Metal Oxide Removal from Biomass (CMORE), headquartered at the University of Wisconsin, is one of five projects funded by a partnership of Schmidt Sciences and the Foundation for Food & Agricultural Research. The two organizations have established the Virtual Institute on Feedstocks of the Future (VIFF) to enhance scientific collaboration in transforming biomass into key products in a more sustainable, circular bio-economy.

Working with collaborators, the VIFF research team at CEBC — Bala Subramaniam, Thomas Binder, Sandip Singh, Nakisha Mark and Paul Nyankey — is developing technologies to transform agricultural/forestry residues and municipal solid waste into sustainable materials and products. An important aspect that has received scant attention is the effect of mineral content in biomass on organosolv/acetosolv fractionation—a process to deconstruct plant materials into their cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin components. Biomass feedstocks contain significant amounts of inorganic minerals, such as potassium, calcium, and silica, which manifest as ash and adversely affect their downstream conversion via processes such as grinding, pyrolysis and gasification. Biomass demineralization has the potential to not only enhance downstream thermal and catalytic processes but also promote sustainable agriculture by returning the removed mineral nutrients to the soil.

Using beetle-killed pine wood (BKP) as feedstock, CEBC researchers have shown chemical demineralization of the BKP feedstock largely preserves the composition and yields of the acetosolv fractions while significantly improving bio-oil yields during reductive catalytic fractionation. The VIFF team is systematically investigating how BKP demineralization, characterized by different ash contents and elements, affect the yields, structure and composition of the cellulose and lignin fractions during acetosolv and reductive catalytic fractionations. Insights from such studies are of fundamental and practical significance.

To make larger quantities of the various fractions for product testing purposes, a 20-L pilot-scale biomass fractionation reactor (shown in photo), donated by ADM, has been successfully commissioned at the CEBC. The new reactor can process 2–3 kg biomass per batch and is equipped with a 50 L rotary evaporator for solvent recovery and recycling. The team expects that the availability of this larger scale unit will spur further collaborations aimed at process and product development, thereby expediting the commercialization of biorefineries based on agricultural and forestry residues.

While researchers conduct experiments at the laboratory scale, they also carry out software simulations of manufacturing plants to estimate costs and environmental impacts of a commercial-scale process.

In one example based on laboratory data from the Acetosolv project, graduate student Fernando Zea of Chemical Engineering Associate Professor Kyle Camarda’s resarch group modeled a manufacturing plant and completed an economic projection. The estimated annual revenue of an Acetosolv plant processing 150,000 tons per year would be $129 million per year, against a total annualized cost of $42 million per year, showing a significant profit potential.

Using a Life Cycle Assessment model to estimate environmental performance, the Acetosolv process shows 46% lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to a standard Kraft process used in the pulp and paper industry. As additional data become available, further refinements to the models can guide scale-up towards commercialization by clarifying assumptions and reducing uncertainty.

NRT $3,000,000, 2019-2025
Though the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) has concluded, its legacy of interdisciplinary leadership and professional growth continues. The grant cultivated a cross-disciplinary environment where engineers, chemists, and computer scientists developed fluency in each other’s fields.

Beyond the classroom, trainees engaged in international collaborations, built skills aligned with emerging industry needs, and contributed insights to both governmental agencies and private stakeholders. The program also strengthened the university’s mentorship culture, with faculty and staff applying lessons learned at both institutional and multi-institutional levels.

The NRT’s influence extends well beyond its six-year funding period. An elective course in machine learning for scientists and engineers — critical for preparing graduates for today’s cross-functional chemical industry — continues to be offered, alongside a new graduate certificate that formally recognizes student achievement in the field. Analytical tools developed through the program remain active in university laboratories, enhancing research capabilities on campus.

NRT alumni have taken their cross-disciplinary expertise into the private sector, with ventures such as Electravera and Avium Energy applying machine learning skills to deliver meaningful business impact.

In the search for better-performing materials, chemists must tweak the properties of the polymers they make. Traditional approaches involve changing the building block chemicals and using additives during the material synthesis that, for example, may make a film more durable in harsh conditions or perhaps more easily degradable in the environment. This approach, known as controlled radical polymerization (CRP), has resulted in a wide range of commercial materials. But not all chemical functionalities are easily accessible using this method.

Kasun Wekasinghe and his coworkers in Aaron Teator's lab group have been exploring a complementary strategy known as postpolymerization modification (PPM), which involves reactively altering the properties of the polymer after it’s been synthesized through targeted reactions. Specifically, they treated unactivated poly(dialkylacrylamide)s with trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride (Tf2O). This resulted in the generation of keteniminium ions that, with another step called nucleophilic quenching, enabled selective conversion of pendant amide groups on the original polymer to aryl ketones. As reported by the researchers (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2025, 147 (25), 21302-21307), their resulting material can be broken down by UV light, whereas the original polymer is non-degradable at similar conditions.

This new approach avoids the need for designer monomers or activated polymer precursors, allowing the team to prepare a series of previously unattainable functional copolymers from easily accessible, inert polyacrylamides.

Selective oxidation of small organic molecules is a key process in industrial catalysis with significant economic and environmental benefits. One important application is converting propylene to propylene oxide (PO), a major manufacturing process used to produce glycols and other wide ranging specialty chemicals. The main challenge is achieving high product selectivity to avoid undesired products such as CO and CO2. Therefore, rational design of catalytic active sites based on a fundamental understanding is essential.

CEBC researchers Drs. Bala Subramaniam and Sahil Kumar have demonstrated that silica-supported molybdenum (Mo) catalysts show remarkable performance for this reaction at mild reaction conditions. These insights provide a scalable design principle for next-generation oxidation catalysts for sustainable chemical manufacturing.

Systematically controlling Mo loading on ordered mesoporous KIT-6 silica, they hypothesized that isolated tetrahedrally-coordinated molybdenum sites deliver complete PO selectivity toward propylene oxide at a 137-times higher rate compared to other reported Mo-based catalysts.

Graduate student Lindsey Penland of Dr. Rachael Farber’s research group used scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to reveal the structure of the Mo catalyst surface with atomic-scale resolution, highlighting the difference in Mo adsorption between low- and high loading Mo catalysts. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) data highlights the subtle variations in Mo states on catalysts of different loading, emphasizing that Mo site isolation, not the total Mo quantity, helps drive PO formation.

The CEBC organized workshops for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, exploring workforce development and industry/academe collaboration. Student training in AI/data science, process safety management, and integration of chemistry and process engineering knowledge were emphasized as important to industry in assessing candidates for employment.

“Rising to the challenges and needs of the chemical industry”
The second day of CEBC’s Fall 2025 IAB meeting featured this special focus on the chemical industry. To kick off the workshop, a panel discussion on the title topic was led by current Industry Advisory Board (IAB) members Dr. Paul Bloom (Gevo, Inc.), Dr. Jose Leboreiro Hernandez (ADM) and Dr. Jerry Springs (Johnson Matthey). Former IAB member Dr. Cathy Tway of BP, CEBC Education and Outreach Director Dr. Ana Chicas -Mosier, and guest speakers Dr. Tony Boccanfuso of University-Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP) and Dr. Jasmin Patel of Science Coach gave presentations geared toward identifying and closing gaps for workforce development in the chemical sciences. KU adminstrators Adam Courtney, CEO of KU Innovation Park, Dr. Cliff Michaels, KU Center for Technology Commercialization Executive Director, and Jane New, KU Director for Industry Partnerships, joined for a university/industry collaborative session. The day-long workshop concluded with an overview of CEBC capabilities highlighting the research labs of 16 CEBC-affiliated faculty members.

Pharma/University Visioning Workshop
On November 12, CEBC hosted a similar workshop addressing specific challenges of the pharmaceutical industry. Representatives of AbbVie, American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cambrex, Eli Lilly and Sanofi gathered online for a two-hour virtual workshop. The agenda included a presentation and panel discussion on workforce development needs in pharma, information briefs by CEBC researchers on key areas of research expertise relevant to pharma, and panel discussion on “Pharma Industry/University Engagement.” CEBC’s then-Deputy Director Alan Allgeier, Education & Outreach Director Ana Chicas-Mosier, and Chemistry Professor Jon Tunge made presentations and led the panel discussions.

While maintaining an active research portfolio in the laboratory, Nakisha now guides CEBC’s Education and Outreach programs. Her diverse experiences in academia, agriculture and health bring seamless continuity to the long-established education and outreach portfolio at CEBC. Nakisha’s efforts are supported by the KU Office of Research’s newly appointed Director of Researcher and Trainee Development, Dr. Ana Chicas-Mosier, formerly of CEBC. Dr. Mark is excited to bring her creative and innovative mindset from the laboratory, adding new ideas to capture the enthusiasm of CEBC and the wider KU community.

CEBC postdocs Nakisha Mark (far right), Sahil Kumar (back) and Priyanka Pal (not pictured) demonstrated differences in pH and scent of locally and internationally sourced spices at the annual KU Carnival of Chemistry. Their experiments captured the interest of both the kids and adults, who learned how compounds in spices contribute to the spice’s pH, and how the compounds’ volatility enables the aroma of spices to be smelled. As a bonus, prizes were given to increase excitement and encourage STEM learning among the kids.

Dr. Ana Chicas-Mosier led a group of volunteers who hosted several sessions at the Housing Authority, engaging k-12 kids in diverse experiments. The participants learned concepts from across the sciences, including biological sciences, physical chemistry and green chemistry. Experiments ranged from DNA extraction from strawberries to learning about solar energy by building a miniature solar car.

• American Chemical Socieity (ACS) 2025 Annual Spring Meeting, San Diego, CA

• North American Catalysis Society NAM29, Atlanta, GA

• ACS Fall Meeting, Washington, DC
• University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

• 248th Electrochemical Society Meeting, Chicago, IL
• Collaborative Research Luncheon: Energy, KU Office of Research, Lawrence, KS
• NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH

• ACS Midwest Regional Meeting, Columbia, MO
• University of Regensburg, Germany
• Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany
• ACS 2025 Spring Meeting, San Diego, CA

• International Conference on Biological Inorganic Chemistry, Long Beach, CA

• Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
• Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
• Great Plains Catalysis Society (GPCS) Symposium, Ames, IA
• American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting, Boston, MA
• Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil, Porto Alegre

• Kansas State University Seminar, Manhattan, KS
• Canadian Society of Chemistry Conference, Ottawa, Ontario
• ACS Midwest Regional Meeting, Columbia, MO
• Periodic Tables Talk, online

• Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, Bartlesville, OK
• American Chemical Society/Moore Foundation Visioning, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC

• Great Plains Catalysis Society (GPCS) Symposium, Ames, IA
• Columbia University: Norton Symposium, New York, NY

• Bioinorganic Chemistry Gordon Research Seminar, Ventura, CA
Students: Zahra Aghaei, Markell Lomax

• 29th Organic Reaction Catalysis Society (ORCS) Conference, Myrtle Beach, SC
Faculty: Dr. Alan Allgeier
Student: Samir Castilla

• American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring Meeting, San Diego, CA
Postdoctoral Researcher: Dr. Kinithi Wickramaratne
Student: Deshkanwar Brar

• ACS Spring 2025 Kansas Physical Chemistry Symposium Midwest Theoretical Chemistry Conference, Detroit, MI
Students: Shreyaa Brahmachari, Emmanuel Forson, Taylor Parsons

• North American Catalysis Society NAM29, Atlanta, GA
Faculty: Drs. Alan Allgeier, Juan Bravo-Suárez & Bala Subramaniam
Associate Researcher: Dr. Hongda Zhu
Postdoctoral Researchers: Drs.Nakisha Mark & Hongda Zhu
Students: Hashim Alzahrani, Samir Castilla, Bhagyesha Patil, Odiri Siakpebru & Alejandra Torres-Velasco
• 29th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference, Pittsburgh, PA
Faculty: Drs. Aaron Scurto & Bala Subramaniam
Postdoctoral Researcher: Dr. Preeti Jain 
Student: Samir Castilla

• ACS Green Chemistry Institute, Green & Sustainable Chemistry Summer School, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
Postdoctoral Researcher: Dr. Preeti Jain
• International Conference on Biological Inorganic Chemistry, Long Beach, CA
Students: Zahra Aghaei, Markell Lomax, Anagha Puthiyadath
• Raise Summit, Paris, France
Faculty Dr. Kevin Leonard
Students: Shelby Atherton, Brianna Farris & Josena Frame

• ACS Fall National Meeting, Washington, DC
Students: Shelby Atherton, Brianna Farris, Prathusha Kothinti
& Jared Schaeffer
• Great Plains Catalysis Society (GPCS) Symposium, Ames, IA
Faculty: Dr. Alan Allgeier
Postdoctoral Researcher: Dr. Apoorva Ranjekar;
Students: Hirushan Hetti Arachchige, Samir Castilla, Nadith Dissanayake,
Tom Gonzales, Prathusha Kothinti, Alejandra Torres-Velasco
• KU REU Symposium, Lawrence, KS
Undergraduate Students: Morgen Keller & Tej Maheshwari

• ACS Midwest Regional Meeting, Columbia, MO
Students: Hirushan Hetti Arachchige & Deshkanwar Brar

• American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting Boston, MA
Faculty: Drs. Alan Allgeier, Aaron Scurto & Bala Subramaniam
Graduate Students: Diego Melfi, Paul Nyankey, Alejandra Torres-Velasco &
Fernando Zea; Undergraduate Students: Morgen Keller, Tej Maheshwari

American Chemical Society

Leadership in the Promotion of Research Safety
Shelby Atherton (PhD student) Advisor: Kevin Leonard
Nakisha Mark (postdoc) Advisor: Bala Subramaniam
Leadership in the Promotion of Inclusion & Belonging
Darik Rosser (PhD student) Advisor: Kevin Leonard
Alejandra Velasco Torres (PhD student) Advisor: Juan Bravo-Suárez
Leadership in Mentoring
Samir Castilla (PhD student) Advisor: Alan Allgeier
 

American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)

Undergraduate Student Poster Competition, Boston, MA
Tej Maheshwari,Advisor: Elizabeth Corson
2nd Place in Cataylsis and Reactor Engineering
 

Great Plains Catalysis Society (GPCS)

Annual Symposium, Ames, IA
Hirushan Hetti Arachchige (PhD student),Advisor: Rachael Farber
Best Oral Presentation
Prathusha Kothinti (PhD student),Advisor: Alan Allgeier
Best Poster Presentation & Outstanding Oral Presentation
Samir Castilla (PhD student),Advisor: Alan Allgeier
Best Oral Presentation & Outstanding Poster Presentation

Chemical & Petroleum Engineering

• Dacosta Osei,Advisor: Ana Morais, Outstanding MS Research Award
• Nigel Twiyeboah, Advisor: Alan Allgeier, Outstanding MS Research Award
• Alejandra Torres Velasco (graduate),Advisor: Juan Bravo-Suárez, 2024-2025 KU Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, KU Graduate School
 

Chemistry

Chemistry Top Overall Awards in Organic Chemistry
• Davis Curry, Advisor: James Blakemore, Ernest & Marvel Griswold Award
• Kasun Wekasinghe, Advisor: Aaron Teator, Frank B. Dains Award

Chemistry Awards & Scholarships
• Zahra Aghaei, Advisor: Tim Jackson, Burton & Cheryle MacKenzie Scholarship; Wilson Graduate Summer Scholarship
• Hirushan Hetti Arachchige, Advisor: Rachael Farber, Cross Summer Scholar
• Elizabeth Bartlett, Advisor: Ward Thompson, Charles & Beatrice Kulier Scholarship
• Shreyaa Brahmachari, Advisor: Marco Caricato, Cornelius McCollum Research Scholarship
• Fynn Cooper, Advisor: James Blakemore, Burton & Cheryle MacKenzie Scholarship
• Alex Ervin, Advisor: James Blakemore, Drs. Walter & Roy Cross Memorial Award
• Emmanuel Forson, Advisor: Marco Caricato, Charles & Beatrice Kulier Scholarship
• Fernando Gonzales, Advisor: Manor Shoshani, Ralph E. & Esther Weik Badgley Scholarship; George Corbin Bailey Memorial Scholarship
• Natalie Lind,Advisor: James Blakemore, Elmer McCollum Research Scholarship
• Lindsey Penland, Advisor: Rachael Farber, Drs. Walter & Roy Cross Memorial Award
• Anagha Puthiyadath,Advisor: Tim Jackson, Bijan & Mary Taylor Amini Scholarship

• Aadhya Bhatia (undergraduate), Advisor: Manar Shoshani
Millenium Scholarship, KU University Scholars Program
• Helinna Bontrager (undergraduate), Advisor: Manar Shoshani
Millenium Scholarship, KU University Scholars Program
• Samir Castilla (PhD student), Advisor: Alan Allgeier
Travel Award, Organic Reaction Catalysis Society
• Nora Jennings (undergradute), Advisor: Bala Subramaniam
KU Millennium Fellows Campus Hub Director
• Morgen Keller (undergradute), Advisor: Elizabeth Corson
KU Center for Undergradute Research & Fellowships
• Isabelle Schiedel (undergradute), Advisor: Manar Shoshani
KU Edwin Emery Slosson Scholarship in Science, Phi Kappa Phi
Honor Society invitation & membership

Ph.D. in Chemistry

Deshkanwar Brar, Advisor, Jon Tunge
Now a postdoctoral researcher at University of Georgia
Rafael Diaz Hernandez,  Advisor, Jon Tunge
Now an assistant laboratory professor at Middlebury College
Taylor Parsons, Advisor, Marco Caricato
Kasun Wekasinghe, Advisor, Aaron Teator
Now a postdoctoral researcherat the University of Kansas

Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering

Brianna Farris, Advisor, Kevin Leonard
Now co-founder of Electravera
Bhagyesha Patil, Advisor, Juan Bravo-Suárez
Now an adjunct researcher at CEBC/KU
Darik Rosser, Advisor, Kevin Leonard
Now a postdoctoral researcher for CEBC and Avium, LLC
Odiri Siakpebru, Advisor, Ana Morais
Alejandra Torres Velasco, Advisor, Juan Bravo-Suárez
Now a teaching assistant professor at University of Pittsburgh (PA)

Master's Degrees, Chemical Engineering

Mohammad Abazid, Advisor, Elizabeth Corson
Now at Becton, Dickinson (BD), Karlsruhe, Germany
John Styers, Advisor, Alan Allgeier
Now pursuing PhD in Chemical Engineering at KU
Nigel Twi-Yeboah, Advisor Alan Allgeier
Now employed by Nextera Energy Resources

Master's Degree, Chemistry

Markell Lomax, Advisor, Tim Jackson
Now employed by Thermo Fisher Scientific, St. Louis, MO

Dr. Sandip Singh, CEBC associate researcher, is among The Stanford University/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists List for 2025. The publication includes Dr. Singh as an elite scientist with significant global impact. Published annually, the report uses data from Scopus to identify 100,000-200,000 top scientists worldwide, based on citation metrics across 22 scientific fields and 174 subfields.

Sam Brunclik, Ph.D. 2024 Chemistry (adv. Jackson)
Assistant Professor at College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, St. Joseph, MN
Dupeng Liu, PhD Chemical Engineering 2017 (adv. Subramaniam) & Postdoc 2018-2021
Founder & CEO TrusOne, Berkeley, CA; earned MBA from University of California Berkeley 2025
Apoorva Ranjekar, Postdoc 2023-2025
Postdoctoral Researcher with the Wonderful Institute for Sustainable Engineering (WISE) at KU
Wei Ren, PhD Chemical Engineering 2010 (adv. Scurto)
Future Operations Manager, ExxonMobil, Spring, TX
Shazia Satter, Postdoc 2021-2022
Air Resources Engineer, California Air Resources Board, Sacramento, CA
Ravi Teja Addanki, Postdoc 2024-2025
Research & Development Scientist at Clemson University
Anoop Uchagawkar, PhD Chemical Engineering 2022 (adv. Subramaniam) & Postdoc 2022-2025
Process Development Engineer, ExxonMobil, Spring, TX
Nan Wang, PhD Chemical Engineering 2021 (adv. Weatherley)
Senior Scientist at AbbVie