Rigoberto Advincula received the Frank Tiller Award from the American Filtration and Separations Society (AFS) for his leadership in engineering and education.

CBE graduate student Christopher Cotter has been selected as a recipient of the 2026–2027 Yates Dissertation Fellowship.

Carson Meredith has been selected as the new department head of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Meredith joins the University of Tennessee from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Professor Cong Trinh has received a Chancellor’s Innovation Fund award for projects involving the biomanufacturing of natural butyl acetate.

Gila Stein and Samuel Adotey discovered how to increase conductivity in a promising type of electrolytes called polymeric ionic liquid (PIL) block copolymers.

PhD students in Art Ragauskas’ research group are at the forefront of innovation and gained access to world-class equipment while working collaboratively at ORNL. 

Rigoberto Advincula has received the 2026 Roy W. Tess Award, presented by the Division of Polymer Materials: Science and Engineering.

Belinda Akpa is involved in a multi-million-dollar collaborative initiative using predictive modeling and machine learning tools to design proteins that act against health threats. 

Junior Sierra Paolicchi has received an Advanced Undergraduate Research Activity award, supporting her ongoing research in strain and metabolic engineering.

PhD student Hannah Lenkowski helped launch the ChemE-Sports team at the University of Tennessee when she arrived on campus in 2023 to begin her studies.