AIChE awards Rowan students

January 23, 2008

The national American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) recently honored several Rowan engineering students who attended the 2007 AIChE Conference in Salt Lake City.

The winners are:

• First place in the undergraduate poster session (separations division) for "Palladium removal from reaction mixtures by fixed bed absorption" went to chemical engineering senior Caitlin A. Boyd, 22, of Freehold. This project also included former Rowan engineering students Sonia Berberena and Laura Kuczynski, both of whom graduated in 2007. Participants also included assistant professor Dr. Brian Lefebvre, associate professor Dr. Stephanie Farrell, professor and chair of Chemical Engineering Dr. Robert P. Hesketh, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, and scientist Dr. Michael J. Girgis.
• Second place in the undergraduate poster session (separations division) for "Experimental study of a new cementation process for a metal" went to chemical engineering senior Nicole M. Cosgrove, 21, of Toms River, and junior Christopher M. Watts, 20, of Wilmington, Del. Participants also included chemical engineering majors Eric Nette, of Duxbury, Mass., and Lindsay Poole, of Wenonah, as well as professors Farrell and Hesketh.
• Honorable mention in the national poster session (separations division of the membranes poster session) for "Dehydration separation of tetrahydrofuran-water mixtures by pervaporation with commercially available membranes" went to chemical engineering senior Timothy M. Moroz, 21, of Manchester Township. Participants also included chemical engineering senior Colleen McGinness, 21, of Jackson, as well as associate professor Dr. Mariano J. Savelski and professor C. Stewart Slater.
• Eleventh place in the Chem-E-Car Competition was "The Dahminator" team led by chemical engineering senior Mike Newgas, 21, of Estell Manor. The competition consisted of 40 teams.
• An outstanding student chapter award was presented to Rowan's AIChE student chapter. Chemical engineering senior Dean R. Dodaro, 23, of Medford, is the chapter president and Lefebvre is faculty advisor. Fifteen schools across the nation were given this award from more than 150 schools offering chemical engineering degrees.