News, Events & CEMS Seminars

DEPARTMENT EVENTS
SPRING 2022 CEMS SEMINAR SCHEDULE
JANUARY & FEBRUARY
Thursday, January 20: Dr. Kumar Varoon Agrawal, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. ZOOM seminar.
During the months of January and February, CEMS will hold numerous faculty candidate seminars. To protect the confidentiality of the search process, the details of those seminars will not be posted on the CEMS website.
MARCH
Tuesday, March 1: Dr. Rufina Alamo, Florida A&M University-Florida State University
Thursday, March 3: faculty candidate seminar
March 7-11: UMN Spring Break, no seminars
March 14-18: APS meeting in Chicago, no seminars
March 20-24: ACS meeting in San Diego, no seminars
Tuesday, March 29: Dr. Chinedum Osuji, University of Pennsylvania
APRIL
Tuesday, April 5: Dr. Christian Pester, Pennsylvania State University
Tuesday, April 19: Dr. Hang Lu, Georgia Institute of Technology
Thursday, April 21: Dr. Srinivas Rangarajan, Lehigh University
Tuesday, April 26: Dr. Ofer Manor, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
CEMS NEWSLETTER
Past Issues
DEPARTMENT NEWS

Leighton Group research uncovers new spintronic effect in aluminum
Posted May 19, 2022
May. 19 2022 -A recent publication from the Leighton Group in CEMS, appearing this week in Physical Review Letters, reports an unanticipated spintronic effect in the “simple” metal aluminum. In metals, it is well known that the spin lifetime and electron scattering time are related by a constant, known as the Elliott-Yafet constant.

CEMS students win inaugural IDEAS Awards
Posted May 10, 2022
May. 11 2022 - Numerous students were selected as recipients of the first annual CEMS Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Action and Service (IDEAS) Awards. The awards recognize various contributions to the constant betterment of the shared CEMS community. Graduate students John Dewey, Grace Kresge, and Maya Ramamurthy were selected as award winners, along with undergraduate student Michelle Quan.

Energy researchers invent chameleon metal that acts like many others
Posted May 10, 2022
May 5 2022 - A team of energy researchers led by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have invented a groundbreaking device that electronically converts one metal into behaving like another to use as a catalyst for speeding chemical reactions. The fabricated device, called a “catalytic condenser,” is the first to demonstrate that alternative materials that are electronically modified to provide new properties can yield faster, more efficient chemical processing.

CEMS undergraduate Michelle Quan wins SEED Award
Posted May 5, 2022
May 5 2022 - Michelle Quan (ChE & MSE '23) is among the recipients of the Spring 2022 Undergraduate Scholarly Excellence in Equity and Diversity (SEED) Awards, which honor underrepresented undergraduate, graduate, and professional students for their outstanding work in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion while at the University of Minnesota and in the community.

CEMS students win President's Student Leadership and Service Awards
Posted April 28, 2022
Apr. 28 2022 - Six CEMS students are among the recipients of the 2022 President's Student Leadership and Service Awards (PSLSA). Congratulations to Leah Baker (ChE '22), Grace Kresge (third-year ChE graduate student), Michelle Quan (ChE & MSE '23), Bhargavi Rathore (ChE '23), Sneha Sinha (ChE '22), and Katherine Taylor (ChE '22). These awards honor outstanding students for their invaluable leadership and service to the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and the community.

CEMS graduate students awarded Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships
Posted April 26, 2022
Apr. 26 2022 - Numerous CEMS graduate students were awarded Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships (DDF) for academic year 2022-2023 in a University-wide competition sponsored by the University of Minnesota Graduate School. CEMS recipients include: Supriya Ghosh (ChE, Mkhoyan group), Rishabh Gupta (ChE, Zhang group), Anusha Kamath Manjeshwar (ChE, Jalan group), Ilias Mitrai (ChE, Daoutidis group), William Postiglione (MSE, Leighton group). Demetra Adrahtas (MSE, Frisbie and Dorfman groups) was selected as a second alternate.

Sarah Tanck, CEMS and Chem undergraduate, awarded 2022 Goldwater Scholarship
Posted April 19, 2022
Apr. 19 2022 - Sarah Tanck, a junior majoring in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, along with Madelyn Blake, a sophomore majoring in Neuroscience and Genetics/Cell Biology in the College of Biological Sciences, have been recognized as Goldwater Scholars by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. They will receive scholarships worth up to $7500 for the next academic year.
Eric Rachita receives NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award
Posted April 14, 2022
Apr. 14 2022 - Eric Rachita, a first-year chemical engineering graduate student co-advised by Professors Chris Ellison and Marc Hillmyer (Chemistry), received an award through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based Master's and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.

CEMS researchers develop defect-free zeolite nanosheets for highly selective molecular membranes
Posted April 12, 2022
Apr. 12 2022 - Researchers from CEMS Professor Andre Mkhoyan's group at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and Professor Michael Tsapatsis' group at Johns Hopkins University have developed a new technique to synthesize and fabricate defect-free MFI zeolite membranes. The work was led by Dr. Donghun Kim (former CEMS post-doctoral researcher) and Supriya Ghosh (fifth-year ChE graduate student).

CEMS students, post-doc win CSE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leadership Showcase awards
Posted April 5, 2022
Apr. 5 2022 - CEMS undergraduate students Michelle Quan (ChE, MSE '23) and Tatem Rios (ChE '22) and CEMS post-doctoral scholar Dr. Anisha Veeren were recently honored among the recipients of the inaugural College of Science and Engineering (CSE) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leadership Showcase awards.