UW Chemical Engineering students headed to nationals after AIChE wins

UW Chemical Engineering students took several first- and second-place awards at the annual American Institute of Chemical Engineers Student Conference, winning them spots in the national competition in November. 

“Participating in the AIChE conference has been a great opportunity to showcase our work, receive technical feedback, and build connections with chemical engineers across the Pacific Northwest,” Alyssa Hicks, an AIChE team member, said. “Competing at nationals will be an exciting opportunity for our teams to apply what we’ve learned and represent the University of Washington on a larger stage.” 

The newly formed ChemE Car Team placed first in the ChemE Car Poster Competition and second in the ChemE Car Performance Competition. The ChemE Car Competition tasks students with developing a car powered by a chemical engineering source. 

The Jeopardy Team placed first in the ChemE Jeopardy Competition for the second year in a row. Jeopardy, like the television quiz show, tests teams of students on their chemical engineering knowledge. The Jeopardy Team includes Lita Howard, Lizzie Clemens, Skye Luebbe Davidson and Alyssa Hicks. 

Both UW’s ChemE Car Team and the Jeopardy Team will compete at nationals in the fall, based on their regional wins. 

UW’s Sofia Dahlgren placed first for her Technical Oral Presentations, titled: “Polymeric Nanoformulations for Microglial Delivery of a Small-Molecule Inflammatory Pathway Inhibitor.” UW’s Alyssa Hicks placed second for her Technical Oral Presentation, titled, “Enhancing the Solvent Stability of Polymer Membranes through Vapor Phase Infiltration.” 

Additionally, Lauren Ellis, Helen Feldhaus, Naudia Watkins, Angelina Pamatian, Lizzie Clemens and Skye Luebbe Davidson presented their research posters, and Helen Feldhaus presented a K-12 Outreach presentation. 

The ChemE Car Team members are: Darren Adrian, Ishan Agrawal, Sara Alibrahim, Kyler Bowen, Matilda Deseve, Lauren Ellis, Mikhael Fentahun, Darryl Fu, Andrea Guiley, Kieran Heiberg, Drew Herron, Jack Houlahan, David Kim, Johanna Lian, Rhyse Nguyen, Adam Nixon, Daniel Song, Moa Valentin and Caden Wong.