September 15, 2026
Congratulations to Rachel Gaines, who won the Top Speaker Award for this year's Distinguished Young Scholars Seminar!
Gaines, a postdoctoral fellow at Oakridge National Laboratory, studies the electrocatalytic upgrading of complex wastes. She designs reactions that transform chemically messy feeds from landfill fodder to market-ready chemicals. Her presentation titled "Trash CAN Do That: Electrocatalytic Reaction Engineering for Upgrading of Complex Industrial Wastes" was the top presentation of this year's speaker series, as measured by attendee evaluations.
The Distinguished Young Scholars Seminar is organized by the UW chapter of the Association of Chemical Engineering Graduate Students. This year marked the 15th anniversary of the speaker series, which aims to highlight the work of graduate students and postdocs around the country. Thank you to all of the graduate students and postdocs who shared their work with us this summer!