Zachary McAllister Wins Two Awards at the 2025 AIChE Annual Meeting

CEMS congratulates graduate student Zachary McAllister on receiving two prestigious awards at the 2025 AIChE Annual Meeting. McAllister is advised by Professor Joseph Zasadzinski.

McAllister earned the PD2M Student Award, presented by the Pharmaceutical Discovery, Development and Manufacturing division, for his research on the physical mechanisms that make replacement lung surfactant effective in premature infants. His presentation, Characterization of Phase Coexistence and Limiting Behavior of a Clinical Replacement Lung Surfactant,  highlighted the identification of a previously unobserved phase coexistence, new networking phase behavior, and 3D imaging of squeeze-out and collapse structures at extremely low surface tensions. Findings which have direct implications for healthy lung function. The award includes an $800 prize.

He also earned first place in the Interfacial Phenomena Poster Contest for presenting a new theory to derive line tension in liquid-condensed/liquid-expanded phase monolayers, films that appear in the lungs, eyes, and cell membranes, and demonstrating the significance of performing this measurement for the first time. This honor includes a $250 prize.

Congratulations to Zachary McAllister on these outstanding achievements!