Engineering students lauded for quality of research projects
Posted: November 09, 2011
Arizona State University doctoral students Huang-Chiao (Joe) Huang and Sriya Sanyal earned recognition for their research at a recent international annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in Minneapolis.
Huang-Chiao (Joe) Huang’s research to aid health care and national security efforts earned him a second-place award in a student competition sponsored by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Huang took second place and Sanyal took third place in a competition for which students designed posters to illustrate details of their research projects in the area of nanoscale science and engineering. Twenty-nine student researchers participated in the competition.
Huang and Sanyal are in the chemical engineering program in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, one of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
Huang is working on two branches of chemical engineering research.
He is helping develop methods using nanoparticles to administer medicinal drugs and engineered genes to help combat prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer.
He’s also involved in research funded by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency Reduction Agency to develop nanoparticle-based materials for use in sensing radiation and potentially dangerous materials such as sulfur-containing compounds that can be used as chemical warfare agents.
This year marked the third time Huang has won an award in the research poster competition at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers annual international gathering.
Sanyal is helping to experiment with the use of nanoparticles as “delivery vehicles” for medicines, dyes and inks. The work is useful in the development of sensing devices to provide targeted delivery of medicinal drugs, and in processes that require separation of chemicals.
Huang’s research mentor is assistant professor Kaushal Rege. Sanyal is collaborating with Rege on her research and working under the mentorship of associate professor Lenore Dai, chair of the chemical engineering program.
“The recognition earned by Joe and Sriya are well-deserved. Their work is exceptional and their success reflects on the quality of our chemical engineering graduate students,” Dai says.
Written by Natalie Pierce
