During the years as a graduate student, money and tuition become part of the balancing act along with school, internships and jobs.
To help ease their financial strain, 11 students in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University were named recipients of various graduate fellowships.
The students include Ahmed Elkady, Anirudh Gairola, Denis Johnson, Dohyun Kim, Harry Escobar, Huaixuan Cao, Jarad Yost, Niranjan Sitapure, Silabrata Pahari, Suyash Oka and Yufend Ouan.
“Every day, our graduate students make groundbreaking discoveries that provide clean and renewable energy, affordable and sustainable products, access to abundant food and water, and state-of-the-art health care,” said Dr. Victor Ugaz, interim department head and chemical engineering professor. “These experiences uniquely equip our students to be at the forefront of efforts that improve the quality of life for everyone.”
Fellowships are crucial for the department because they showcase the students' accomplishments and inspire them to become leaders in their future academic and professional careers, he said.
“We are truly fortunate to have so many outstanding graduate students in our program,” Ugaz said.
Each of these students has a different connection with the fellowship they received, such as Gairola, who was awarded the Dr. MN Karim Graduate Fellowship.
“This fellowship is special for me since Dr. Karim championed my admission to the Ph.D. program back in 2019, and he was my first Ph.D. co-advisor,” Gairola said. “He already had a big impact in my life by supporting me. Receiving a fellowship under his name makes me feel even more honored and special.”
After completing his doctoral studies, Gairola plans on joining the bio-pharmaceutical industry as a formulation scientist working on drug product development.
“This fellowship has given me a financial and moral boost, further galvanizing me to strive for future goals,” Gairola said. “As a Ph.D. researcher, I am working on developing targeted drug delivery systems against infectious bacterial diseases such as tuberculosis.”
To receive the fellowships, the students had to submit a research summary of their work and how it ties into their future plans.
Yost, who was awarded the Brunner-Barnes Graduate Fellowship, wrote about his research on microfluidics and electrokinetics and how it is an up-and-coming field because of the COVID pandemic.
“I study microfluidics and electron kinetics, which entails manipulating small amounts of fluid with electricity,” Yost said. “I work on both improving sample preparation and improving diagnostics through nucleic acid amplification. COVID is diagnosed through PCR, and my research performs the same thing. There is a clear need for rapid and portable diagnostic tests and being able to take these small devices out to the field.”
This fellowship has lifted some of the financial burden and has allowed him the peace of mind to focus on his research, he said.
Elkady, who received the Lee (Bender) Coleman ’81 and Keith Fellowship, feels that it gives him the ability to make his research his main priority. His research focuses on identifying and assessing the risk factors involved in offshore green hydrogen production to support the growth of emission-free green energy as well as the safety and security of the process.
“Mr. and Mrs. Coleman's generous funds will help me overcome the expenses of living and studying, as well as holster my efforts to make a profound positive impact on the world,” he said. “I'm working on the safe and secure remote production of green energy and how to operate similar chemical industries in such a way as to ensure minimum risk to operating personnel, equipment or the environment."
Similarly, Escobar's research addresses safety and sustainability in different applications for the energy transition. He was honored with the Jim and Cathy Holste Graduate Fellowship. Since Escobar will be graduating this fall, the fellowship has allowed him to continue to achieve in his professional and personal pursuits.
"This fellowship honors fundamental and applied research in chemical engineering," Escobar said. "With my work I tie together fundamental computational chemistry with applied industrial safety and sustainability research. It is a great honor to be the 2022 recipient of this fellowship because it signifies how my contributions to the department and to The Texas A&M University System are in line with the values of the Holste family and their contributions to Texas A&M.”
Meet the 2022 chemical engineering graduate fellows
Huaixuan Cao: Cao is the recipient of the Phillips 66 Technical Fellowship. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from East China University of Science and Technology and joined the Texas A&M chemical engineering doctoral program in 2019. He is working with Dr. Micah Green, professor in the chemical engineering department. Cao’s research interests include Pickering emulsions, 2D nanomaterials and polymer composites. He has 17 peer-reviewed journal articles that include three first-author papers.
Ahmed H. Elkady: Elkady is the recipient of the Coleman Fellowship for 2022-23, a testament to his excellent work and success at Texas A&M. He is a second-year doctoral student in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering and completed his master’s degree in petroleum engineering at Texas A&M and his bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering at Suez University, Egypt. He is currently a graduate research assistant with the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center under the supervision of Dr. Faisal Khan. Elkady's research focuses on the safety and security of offshore wind-integrated green hydrogen production through water electrolysis. He placed second in the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) 2020 Gulf Coast Regional Student Paper Contest. He was also awarded the 2021 Lamiya Zahin Memorial Safety Scholarship and the 2022 Harry H. West Memorial Service Award.
Harry Escobar: Escobar obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with a focus in environmental science from Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia. He joined the doctoral program in the chemical engineering department at Texas A&M in 2017, and his research focused on new technologies' safety and sustainability. His career has centered around advancing safety knowledge based on science and multidisciplinary research. During his time at Texas A&M, Escobar served as the publicity chair and vice president for the Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Association and senator of the Graduate and Professional Student Government. In 2021, he was selected as a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellow at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. His professional interests include science and technology policy, human rights, social justice, diversity, inclusion, equity and contributions to a safer, sustainable industry with science-based decisions. Escobar’s interests include volunteering for political campaigns and registering voters, enjoying the arts (especially cinema) and figure skating.
Anirudh Gairola: Gairola is the recipient of the Dr. Nazmul Karim Endowed Chemical Engineering Graduate Fellowship. He earned his bachelor’s degree in bio-chemical engineering from Harcourt Butler Technical University, India. In 2016, he joined the chemical engineering department at Texas A&M as a master’s student, and in 2019, he started his doctoral studies under Karim. He now works alongside Dr. Hung-Jen Wu in drug delivery research. Gairola is the recipient of the Best Presenter award in the 9th Annual Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Association Research Symposium and the Qualifying Exam Excellence Award in 2020. He has published two papers and will have published three more by the time he graduates.
Denis Johnson: Johnson received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown in 2020 and joined the chemical engineering doctoral program at Texas A&M in the fall of 2020. During his undergraduate studies, his research focused on modeling and tools for education. He has received travel grants to conferences at Electrochemical Society and MXene and the Phillips 66 Technical Fellowship in the fall of 2022. His research now focuses on electrocatalysis with a focus on ammonia production utilizing the nitrogen reduction reaction on 2D nitride MXenes and understanding the mechanism through in-situ/operando spectroelectrochemical techniques.
Dohyum Kim: Kim is the recipient of the Phillips 66 Technical Fellowship. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yonsei University, South Korea, and joined the chemical engineering doctoral program at Texas A&M in 2018. He is working with Dr. Joe Elabd, professor in the chemical engineering department. Kim’s research interests include proton exchange membrane fuel cells and solid polymer electrolytes for lithium batteries. He has seven peer-reviewed journal articles that include four first-author papers. He is the recipient of the Best Poster Presentation award at the 2022 Texas A&M Conference on Energy.
Suyash Oka: Oka was awarded the Phillips 66 Technical Fellowship. He received his bachelor’s degree in dyestuff and organic chemistry technology from the Institute of Chemical Technology, India and joined the chemical engineering doctoral program at Texas A&M in 2019. He is working with Dr. Jodie Lutkenhaus, professor in the chemical engineering department. Oka’s research focuses on developing mechanically strong, fast-charging structural batteries for low-temperature applications using organic redox active polymers. So far, he has written four peer-reviewed journal articles — as a first author for one in the American Chemical Society’s ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces journal — and has presented his research at multiple conferences. He worked as a battery cell engineering process development intern at Tesla during the summer of 2022 and looks forward to learning about and making a difference in sustainable energy.
Silabrata Pahari: Pahari is the recipient of the Paul & Ellen Deisler Fellowship. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, India, and joined the chemical engineering doctoral program at Texas A&M in 2019. Pahari’s research interests include stochastic simulations, advanced process control and data-driven optimization techniques. He has authored and co-authored nine peer-reviewed articles and has published papers in the Journal of Colloidal and Interfacial Science, the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Soft Matter, ACS Catalysis and the Chemical Engineering Journal, alongside other reputed journals.
Yufeng Quan: Quan is the recipient of the Brunner-Barnes Fellowship. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Tianjin University, China, and joined the Texas A&M chemical engineering doctoral program in 2019. He is working with Dr. Qingsheng Wang, associate professor in the chemical engineering department. Quan’s research focuses on the efficient and sustainable manufacturing of polymer composites and their applications in flame retardancy. He has authored 14 peer-reviewed journal articles and one book chapter, has one pending patent and has delivered several technical presentations. Previously, he received the 2022 SPE Henry Kahn memorial scholarship.
Niranjan Sitapure: Sitapure is a fifth-year chemical engineering doctoral student in Dr. Joseph Kwon’s research group. He joined the doctoral program after pursuing his undergraduate degree at the Institute of Chemical Technology, India. His research at Texas A&M focuses on multiscale modeling and control of quantum dot (QD) manufacturing, which is a timely topic considering the high-value application of QDs in solar cells and next-generation display technology. Sitapure is also an Innovation Fellow for Greentown Labs — a large-scale ClimateTech incubator — and is the ex-fund manager for the Aggie Green Fund. He will soon join Bain & Company’s Houston office as a management consultant.
Jarad Yost: Yost is the recipient of the Brunner-Barnes Fellowship. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemical and biological engineering from Colorado State University, joined the chemical engineering master’s program at Texas A&M in 2018 and then continued into the doctoral program. He is working with Dr. Zachary Gagnon, associate professor in the chemical engineering department. Yost’s research interests include improving sample preparation and nucleic acid amplification by using microfluidics and electrokinetics. He has been the lead author of one publication (with two more on the way) and has co-authored two other publications. His work “Faradaic-free electrokinetic nucleic acid amplification (E-NAAMP) using localized on-chip high frequency Joule heating” was published in the journal Biomicrofluidics. Additionally, he was co-entrepreneurial lead during the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps program.