Undergraduate Research Poster Competition Winners
Paxton Thedford, Bijal Patel and Alexander Schmitz
The department is pleased to announce winners of the fall 2014 Undergraduate Research Poster Competition:
First Place
Bijal Patel (Johnston Group)
Turning the Electrocatalytic Activity of Perovskite Oxides through Support Interactions
$100 prize
Bijal’s research focuses on improving the performance of perovskite oxides for electrocatalysis. Perovskite-Carbon composites offer a cheap, earth-abundant alternative to current industry-standard catalysts such as platinum and iridium. Highly stable and active catalysts are used for fuel cells and bulk electrolysis.
Second Place
Paxton Thedford (Willson Group)
Photo-patternable Dielectric Materials
$75 prize
Third Place
Alexander Schmitz (Alper Group)
Viral 2A Peptides as a Metabolic Engineering Tool in Yeast
$50 prize
Alexander’s research focuses on developing novel tools for use in metabolic engineering. Yeasts are used for environmentally friendly production in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Manipulation of the genetic mechanisms within yeasts is directed towards maximizing value chemical production in the cell for use in various applications.
Thanks to graduate student judges: Caleb Alexander (Johnston Group), Matt Beaudry (Rochelle Group), Scotty Bobbitt (Chelikowsky Group), Meghali Chopra (Bonnecaze Group), Daniel Groom (Sanchez Group), Renee Hale (Bonnecaze Group), Katie Haning (Contreras Group), and Jackson Stolle (Korgel Group). Also, thanks to the AIChE student chapter for providing this semester’s prizes.
Students are encouraged to participate in this competition, which takes place every semester in the McKetta Study Hall, to showcase their research and sharpen their presentation skills.
Tags: chemical engineering, chemical production, electrocatalysis, Grant Willson, Hal Alper, Keith Johnston, McKetta, metabolic engineering, novel tools, perovskite oxides, perovskite-carbon, photo-patternable dielectric materials, poster competition, research, Undergraduate Studies, UT Austin, viral 2a peptides, yeast research