PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University Voiland Distinguished Professor Yong Wang was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) in May, just a couple months after being named a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).

Wang’s major advisor Bill Thomson nominated him for the honor.

“When working with Yong I mostly brought him the resources he needed, and then just tried to stay out of the way. He surpassed me quickly and now is probably one of the most notable catalyst researchers in the world,” Thomson said.

Wang received his master’s and doctoral degrees in Chemical Engineering from WSU’s Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering. His research focuses mainly on the development of novel catalytic materials and reaction engineering for the conversion of fossil and biomass feedstocks to fuels and chemicals.

Wang holds a joint appointment with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) as well, where he is a Laboratory Fellow and Associate Director of PNNL’s Institute for Integrated Catalysis. He was named the PNNL Inventor of the Year twice. His research on energy and renewable fuels is known around the world and has led him to publish 165 peer-reviewed articles, hold 86 issued U.S. patents, and earn several awards, including three prestigious R&D 100 awards. The Chinese Institute of Engineers named him the 2006 Asian American Engineer of the Year and he is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

The AIChE is a professional society with more than 45,000 members from more than 90 countries. According to the AIChE website, members are eligible to become fellows when they have significant chemical engineering practice (generally 25 years), and have made distinctive professional accomplishments and contributions. Wang will be presented with his honor at the upcoming AIChE meeting in November 2013 in San Francisco, California.

Find this news release at WSU News online at http://bit.ly/10Ni4hK

PULLMAN, Wash.— Chinese major John Stark is Washington State University’s newest Boren Scholar to receive federal funding to study a foreign language abroad, and chemical engineering student Monica Bomber has been named a Boren alternate.

With his Boren funding, Stark, a senior, will further his mastery of Mandarin to fulfill his passion for language and prepare him “to be valuable to the U.S. in areas of defense and diplomacy.” Bomber, a sophomore, would use Boren support to study Swahili in class and throughout an internship, intent on learning to design cost-effective water purification plants in East Africa. Both are members of the Honors College at WSU.

Boren Scholarships provide up to $20,000 to American undergraduate college students to study less-commonly-taught languages in about 90 world regions critical to U.S. interests but underrepresented in study abroad. These include Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Among the nearly 65 preferred languages are Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Swahili. For 2013–14, 161 of 947 undergraduates applying for Boren Scholarships received the award; in exchange for the funding, recipients agree to work in the federal government for at least one year.

Boren programs are sponsored by the National Security Education Program and named for David L. Boren, principal author of federal legislation that created the program in 1991. A former Democratic governor and state senator from Oklahoma, he was the longest serving chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Intelligence; currently he is president of the University of Oklahoma and co-chair of the nonpartisan U.S. President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.

Stark began his study of Mandarin/Chinese at WSU; Boren support will take him to the International Chinese Language Program at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan. A graduate of Newport High School in Newport, Wash., he plans to work in the intelligence community.

In her Boren application, Bomber expressed a desire to study Swahili (aka KiSwahili) at the Knowledge Exchange Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. A graduate of Hudson’s Bay High School in Vancouver, she will depart for the Tanzania program in late May, although she may not have a Boren Scholarship or funding in time. The eight-week summer program will be spent half in language and culture classes, and half at an internship with an organization involved in water resources. The experience aligns with her future academic plans in engineering and the Honors College back at WSU.

Creating and protecting sustainable water systems in developing countries is a goal of the U.S. Department of State, says Bomber, who plans to work one day in its Foreign Service sector as an economics officer.

For more information on the Boren and other prestigious scholarships, visit the WSU Distinguished Scholarships website at http://universitycollege.wsu.edu/units/distinguishedscholarshipadvising/.

CONTACT: Sarah Ann Hones, Distinguished Scholarships Director, University College at WSU, 509-335-8239, shones@su.edu

MEDIA: Beverly Makhani, Communications Director, University College at WSU, 509-335-6679, Makhani@wsu.edu

by Alyssa Patrick, College of Engineering &amp: Architecture intern

PULLMAN, Wash. – Chemical engineering students from Washington State University won first place at the regional ChemE Car competition this month in Bozeman, Mont., and will compete at nationals in San Francisco in November.

The idea for the contest was developed by a WSU student group in 2000. The competition is sponsored by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

The students, all juniors, are: Ian Van Houten, Bellingham, Wash.; Ryan Daut, Mount Vernon, Wash.; Max Worhatch, Puyallup, Wash.; Devin Ergler, Cle Elum, Wash.; and Nick Laymon, Willamina, Ore.

Chemical calibrations

Competition rules stipulate that the car must run and stop on its own using chemical reactions. The teams learn the distance the car must go and the weight of the load it will carry just an hour before the competition and then have to quickly determine the proper calibration for their car.

Frankencoug

This year’s WSU team began working together in January to resurrect the car they call “Frankencoug,” since it was made with some of the parts left behind by the last WSU team that competed two years ago.

Consisting of premade parts, such as a large Tupperware container and bright yellow plastic wheels, the team’s car was lighter than the other entries.

“We all found out the day of the competition that the cars had to run on carpet rather than linoleum, and the heavier cars were really affected by that,” Ergler said.

Hydrogen fuel cell

Inside the light framework sits a hydrogen fuel cell that powers the car. A balloon at one end stores the released hydrogen, and a beaker containing a magnesium strip sits on top of the car and acts as the stopping mechanism. When acid is poured into the beaker, the magnesium strip dissolves; once it is dissolved, the car stops.

“It was a great feeling to win because during the week leading up to the competition we were putting in 8-10 hour days to work out some problems,” Worhatch said.

BP donation

A $1,000 donation from BP and access to the Unit Ops lab at WSU helped the team develop the entry. Team advisor and professor Richard Zollars and professors Su Ha and David Thiessen supported the team by answering questions and offering suggestions.

As the students prepare for the national competition, they hope to improve the car’s precision. They also hope to get more underclassmen involved next year so WSU students are regularly entering the competition.

Funds needed for competition

“It is a good way to be involved with chemical engineering outside of the classroom, and it gives us a chance to apply what we’re learning to a real project,” said Daut.

The students are trying to raise money to attend the national competition. For more information on how you can give your support, please contact Don Shearer at 509-335-4733 or don.shearer@wsu.edu.

View the article at WSU Today ↗”

PULLMAN, Wash. – Thirty-four Washington State University students landed 30 awards following a day of competition at the March 29 Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA). Among those receiving the highest honors was Kang Pan, a senior in bioengineering from Pasco, WA. Pan’s advisor is Dr. Alla Kostyukova.

Nearly 150 students shared the results of their research, scholarship and creative activities via 10 oral and 117 poster presentations in eight categories. Participants in the second annual university-wide SURCA represented dozens of majors and specializations across six of WSU’s nine degree-granting colleges.

For the first time, online students joined the event. Read more about that here ↗

“All of the presentations were excellent this year, and the breadth of research the students are conducting is vast, so selecting the best of the best to receive awards was not an easy task,” said Shelley Pressley, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, a program in the University College at WSU and host of SURCA.

View the full article and a complete list of winners at WSU Today ↗

Yong Wang, Voiland Distinguished Professor in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, has been named a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).

According to the RSC website, those who are named fellows are recognized for making outstanding contributions in the advancement or application of chemical science or to the chemical science profession. The Royal Society of Chemistry is the largest chemical sciences organization in Europe, with more than 47,000 members.

With WSU since 2009, Wang, who holds a joint position at Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, is an internationally known researcher in energy and renewable fuels whose work has had a significant impact on improving energy efficiency in the chemical and fuels industries.

A WSU alumnus (MS, ‘92, PhD. ‘93, Chem E.), Wang’s work spans fundamental to applied research in catalysis and reaction engineering to improve the conversion of biomass and hydrocarbons to fuels and chemicals. Improving the efficiency of catalysts, which are used in many industries to chemically transform and create products and fuel, is important to increasing supplies, reducing costs and improving environmental impacts of petroleum-based and alternative fuels.

Wang is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Chemical Society (ACS). The Chinese Institute of Engineers named him the 2006 Asian American Engineer of the Year. He is the recipient of three prestigious R&D 100 awards (1997, 1999 and 2008), which annually recognize the 100 most significant and innovative new technologies that have been introduced in the marketplace. He is also a recipient of the Presidential Green Chemistry Award and twice was named Pacific Northwest National Laboratories Inventor of the Year.

He has more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, more than 100 invited presentations, more than 85 issued US patents, and six edited books and topic journals issued on novel materials and reaction engineering for fossil and biomass conversions.

➡ View article at WSU News

Chemical engineering graduate student Zizwe Chase has won a William R. Wiley Research Award at the William R. Wiley Graduate Research Exposition. Chase’s advisor is Dr. Yong Wang. His presentation was entitled, “Composition and Structure of Supported Palladium Catalysts during Hydrogenation of Phenol in Water.” His research is part of the overall focus of aqueous phase lignocellulosic based biomass conversion to fuel.

View the list of all Wiley Award winners and photos of the Exposition ↗

The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering has become eligible for participation in Achievement Rewards for College Sciences (ARCS) Foundation fellowship program, a nationally acclaimed fellowship program.
ARCS Foundation, founded in 1958, aims to address the growing need for US scientists and engineers by offering doctoral fellowships to students pursuing science, engineering and medical research. By becoming eligible for this program, the Voiland School becomes more competitive in being able to recruit top graduate students.

“WSU Chemical Engineering program was selected in recognition of the high quality Ph.D. education conducted by the faculty of the Voiland School, and their ability to attract and educate the best students from around the nation,” said James Petersen, the director of the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering.

During the past five years, the Voiland School has seen dramatic growth in its program with increases in its number of graduate students and in research support. Focused research areas in the school include chemical and biological catalysis for clean energy, protein engineering, and engineering education.

The school has also seen an 18-point increase in the US News and World Report’s Best Engineering Schools ranking. Additionally, WSU’s School of Chemical Engineering recently received a top 10 ranking from Shaw Lesser of Sustainable World Capital. The list included MIT, UC Berkeley and at number 10, WSU.

Nancy Magnuson, the interim vice president of research and dean of the graduate school, attributes the program’s growth to a recent change in leadership and the generous donation from alumni Gene and Linda Voiland.

“As a result, sponsored research funding and PhD student numbers are dramatically rising and the chemical engineering program is gaining in prominence,” wrote Magnuson in a cover letter for the proposal submitted to the foundation.

Other WSU graduate programs in the College of Veterinary Medicine and CAHNRS are also eligible for Seattle Chapter, ARCS fellowships.
“We are pleased to be counted among WSU’s most highly recognized graduate programs,” Petersen said.