Pictured from left to right are: Baylee Kurzynski, Michael Giurini, Alexander Osterbaan (back row), Alyssa VanZanten, Marcus Brinks (back row) and Armandine Uwimana

For the third consecutive year, a Hope College student won an award at the Annual Meeting and National Student Conference of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). A total of six Hope College students who participated in research this past summer had their work selected for presentation during the conference.

The six presentations represented one-third of the 18 undergraduate-research presentations from colleges and universities in Michigan.  In the past 10 years, a total of 62 Hope students have participated in the undergraduate-research session of the national conference, a number exceeded by only seven other colleges or universities nationally.

Junior Alyssa VanZanten of Rockford won third place in the “Materials Engineering and Sciences 8” category.  At least one student who participated in Hope’s summer-research program has received an award in the national competition in nine of the last 11 years.

The National Student Conference ran Friday-Monday, Oct. 26-29, and the Annual Meeting ran Sunday-Friday, Oct. 28-Nov. 2, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The undergraduate-poster session took place on Monday, Oct. 29, and featured work grouped within a variety of categories within the field of chemical engineering.

The preliminary program for the student-poster session listed 390 posters.  The primary presenters represented institutions in 42 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and eight other countries.  Of the 132 colleges, universities and laboratories listed as affiliation of the primary presenter, only 12 institutions had more posters listed in the event than Hope College.

All of the participating Hope students are engineering majors or intend to declare an engineering major in either the chemical-engineering concentration, the biochemical-engineering concentration, or the environmental-engineering concentration.  Some also have a second major in chemistry.  Mentors for the projects included Hope faculty in engineering and chemistry.

In addition to VanZanten, the students attending the conference to present their posters were junior Marcus Brinks of Holland; senior Michael Giurini of Naperville, Illinois; sophomore Baylee Kurzynski of Hoffman Estates, Illinois; junior Alexander Osterbaan of Ada; and sophomore Armandine Uwimana of East Lansing.

VanZanten won her award for the presentation “Characterizing the Physical and Chemical Properties of Copper-Paddlewheel Surface-Anchored Metal-Organic Frameworks,” which she co-authored with Osterbaan; sophomore Macy J. Maraugha of Lambertville; senior Ashley E. Trojniak of Sterling Heights; and former chemistry faculty member Dr. Beth Anderson.  

Brinks’ presentation, "Thiol-Yne Reactions for Incorporating Longer Wavelength Azo Dyes into Polymeric Photomechanical Materials," was co-authored with Dr. Matthew L. Smith, associate professor of engineering, and Dr. Jason G. Gillmore, professor of chemistry.  It appeared in the “Catalysis and Reaction Engineering 2” category.  

Giurini’s presentation, “Development of New Electrode Surfaces for Glucose Biosensors,” was co-authored with Dr. Kenneth L. Brown, professor of chemistry.  It appeared in the “Food, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology 9” category.  

Kurzynski’s presentation, “Property Changes of Vaporization from the SRK Equation of State Using Similarity Variables,” was co-authored with Dr. Michael Misovich, associate professor of engineering.  It appeared in the “Computing, Simulation and Process Control 1” category.  

Osterbaan’s presentation, “Investigating Post-Synthetic Modification of Copper-Paddlewheel Surface-Anchored Metal-Organic Frameworks,” was also co-authored with VanZanten, Maraugha, Trojniak and Anderson.  It appeared in the “Materials Engineering and Sciences 4” category.  

Uwimana’s presentation, “A Generalized Antoine Equation Consistent with the Predictions of the Soave-Redlich-Kwong Equation of State Using Similarity Variables,” was also co-authored with Misovich.  It appeared in the “General Engineering and Engineering Education” category.  

AIChE is the world's leading organization for chemical engineering professionals, with more than 60,000 members from more than 110 countries.  

Information on the AIChE annual meeting is available and information on the AIChE annual student conference.