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From left to right: Cesar Gouveia, Usama Sheikh, Pallabi Das, Prof. Jeff McCutcheon, Deniz Ipekci, Mert Hacifazlioglu, and Martina Jagielski
Graduate students from the Connecticut Center for Applied Separation Technologies (CCAST) presented their research at the 2025 AiChE Annual Meeting in Boston. Four current members of the research team, along their advisor, Jeff McCutcheon, joined the event to share their research and connect with other scientists.
The students said they also enjoyed the poster session where they were able to have meaningful conversations with other researchers. They were able to meet numerous researchers with related or overlapping research projects, and a few identified future collaborators.
Presentations given by the CCAST students:
Mert Can Hacifazlioglu: “Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration Membranes” Usama Sheikh: “Membrane Process Development and Process Intensification” Deniz Ipekci: “Electrospray-Tailored Polyamide Chemistry: Precision Engineering of Selective Cation Exchange Membranes” Cesar Gouveia: “Using Polyphenols to Fix and Quantify Defects in Polyamide Membranes”
Abbas Ahmed (left) receives the Samuel J. Huang Award for Outstanding Research from IMS Polymer Program Director Mu-Ping Nieh (right)
The Samuel J. Huang Student Research Award recognizes a graduate student for outstanding research in the field of polymer science and engineering.
Abbas Ahmed, from the Luyi Sun Research Lab, was recognized for his research on soft smart materials, including bioelectronics, hydrogels, and functional coatings. This work exemplifies both fundamental scientific excellence and real-world applications.
Abbas has been developing mechanically robust, highly stretchable, and electrically conductive soft materials for wearable electronics, soft robotics, and biomedical devices. Conventional hydrogels often suffer from issues such as poor mechanical strength, dehydration, and limited ionic transport. He has overcome these challenges by taking a bioinspired approach, mimicking the most resilient structures in nature such as tardigrades and connective tissues.
He has also made notable advancements in creating strong, biocompatible adhesive hydrogels for epidermal electronics and biomedical applications. Traditional adhesives often require harsh chemical treatments, limiting their compatibility with human skin and soft tissues. These hydrogels conform seamlessly to biological tissues, allowing for long-term, irritation-free attachment for biosensors, wound dressings, and drug delivery patches. By integrating self-healing properties and moisture-controlled adhesion, Abbas’s work is setting the stage for a new generation of bioelectronic materials that combine mechanical resilience, user comfort, and high-performance functionality.
Abbas contributed to 13 publications, during his master’s degree program, and eight publications within his research in UConn’s Polymer Program. Google Scholars states that he has already been credited to more than 1000 citations, an uncommon achievement for a graduate student.
The polymer program congratulates Abbas Ahmed for his outstanding efforts during his graduate program.
Sanyukta Patil (center) receives the Stephanie H. Shaw Scholarship from Polymer Program Director Mu-Ping Nieh (right) and former Polymer Program Director Kelly Burk (left)
The Stephanie H. Shaw Scholarship recognizes a female graduate student in the Polymer Program for their scholarly activities as well as community contributions. This year, Sanyukta Patil, from the Burke research lab, has received this honor.
In the lab, Sanyukta has been addressing the synthesis and structure-property relationships of silk fibroin biomaterials to impart new functional properties to the biopolymer. Silk fibroin is a challenging material to work with. The protein tends to self-assemble in solution, which makes both its synthetic modification and characterization difficult. Her perseverance and creativity helped her succeed through various obstacles during her PhD, including joining lab during the COVID pandemic with limited ability to access labs and learn from more senior students.
Her research has led to six publications, three as lead author, and an application for a full patent, “brush-like polymers grown from silk fibroin surface”. She has shared her research with four presentations at American Chemical Society (ACS) and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) conferences, received the Women in Chemical Engineering award by AIChE, and received first prize for a graduate student poster from the College of Engineering.
Her community contributions include, the Holster Scholar Honors Undergraduate Mentor Program, active membership with the John Loff Leadership Academy, and Young Scholars Senior Summit Mentorship.
Sanyukta has been an outstanding member of the UConn community, a key researcher in her lab, and an ideal selection for the Stephanie H. Shaw Scholarship.
With a continued curiosity in the materials he encountered during his childhood, Tianjian Yang wanted to satisfy his interest at a higher level. When studying Materials Science as an undergraduate at Jinan University, Tianjian discovered polymers. This led him to join the research lab of Prof. Ziyang Zhang where he became deeply involved with the research and completed his first scientific paper. Hungry for more knowledge, Tianjian joined the Materials Science and Engineering master’s degree program at the University of California, San Diego. This experience introduced him to synthetic chemistry used in biology. Upon discovery of Prof. Yao Lin’s research in polypeptides for biomedical applications, Tianjian joined the UConn Polymer Program.
Tianjian’s hard work and talent was recognized. He published three papers as lead author, has two more in process, and was co-listed on numerous more. He was a finalist for the national 2024 Eastman Chemical Student Award. He also received the UConn Polymer Program 2024 Samuel J. Huang Graduate Student Research Award.
Tianjian said he loved IMS because of the variety of research projects, the extensive access to instrumentation, the collaborative nature of the community, and the faculty’s willingness to help all students with questions. He said this was the perfect program for his interests and goals.
This summer he successfully defended his thesis: “Biomimetic Supramolecular Materials Assembled from Synthetic Polypeptides”. This month he started a position as a postdoctoral research scholar at Johns Hopkins University. Tianjian’s long-term goal is to become a professor.
Prof. Kelly Burke presents Yasmin Bambatti with first place award at 2024 Poster SessionProf. Kelly Burke presents Rumesha Pererage with third place prize at the 2024 poster session
The IMS Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP) 2024 Annual Meeting once again included a joint student poster session with IMS Polymer Program and Department of Materials Science and Engineering students sharing their research. 33 graduate students participated. The poster session provides an opportunity for students to interact with IAP members and industry partners, many of whom have hired our graduates in the past. The Program presented its annual Poster Awards at the 202 poster session.
Rumesha Pererage, from the Adamson Research Group, received third place prize for her poster, “Graphene polyamide membrane for in situ electrochemical CO2 reduction”.
Huijie Li, from the Zhang Research Group, received second place prize for their poster, “Microneedle-based potentiometric sensing system for continuous monitoring of nutrients in skin interstitial fluids”.
Yasmin Bimbatti, from the McCutcheon Research Group, received first place honors for her poster, “Thin Film Composite Ion Exchange Membranes by Electrospray”.
Yasmin Bimbatti (center) is presented the Stephanie H. Shaw Scholarship Award from Drs. Jeffrey McCutcheon (l) and Kelly Burke (r).
The IMS Polymer Program recognized the accomplishments of two Ph.D. students, bestowing the Samuel J. Huang Student Research Award on Tianjian Wang, and the Stephanie H. Shaw Scholarship on Yasmin Bimbatti.
The Stephanie H. Shaw Scholarship was established 1990 to recognize a female student showing academic achievement as well as contributions outside of research. While pursuing her bachelor’s degree, Yasmin worked for 7 years as a researcher at ELANTAS, a German company member of the Altana Group, where she acquired extensive experience in the formulation, syntheses, and characterization of organic polymers. She placed first at the North American Membrane Society (NAMS) 2023 Student Poster Competition; her research presentation for the inaugural C2E2 Graduate Student Research Summit in Sustainability won third place in February 2024. She joined Dr. Jeffrey McCutcheon's research group, Connecticut Center for Applied Separation Technologies (CCAST), in 2023 and focuses her research on fabricating and characterizing printed ultrathin film composite ion exchange membranes using electrospray.
Tianjian Yang receives the Samuel J. Huang Graduate Student Research Award from Dr. Yao Lin (l) and Dr. Kelly Burke (r)
The Samuel J. Huang Student Research Award recognizes a graduate student for outstanding research in the field of polymer science and engineering. Tianjian Yang is a member of Dr. Yao Lin's research group. He was recently named a finalist for the Eastman Chemical Student Award in Applied Polymer Science, which recognizes graduate researchers who demonstrates research excellence in both research and technical presentations. Yang's research has been published in such journals as the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and MDPI.
Pragati Rout has won the first award in the newly-created Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. Fellowship. The fellowship recognizes the early academic and research accomplishments of a chemistry student’s graduate studies. It awards $5,000 of support in the third summer of the student’s academic journey toward their doctorate degree, allowing the recipient to focus on their doctoral dissertation.
Pragati, a student in Dr. Gregory Sotzing’s group, received her M.S. degree from Berhampur University, Odisha, India. Her research focuses on synthesis and characterization of API’s, monomers and oligomers and exploring their fluorescence properties, hydrogels, and optical brighteners. She is currently conducting cannabinoid research.
Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, and the largest private one.
Ph.D. student, Tianjian Yang, is a finalist for the Eastman Chemical Student Award in Applied Polymer Science.
Tianjian Yang, a Ph.D. student in the IMS Polymer Program, has been selected as a finalist for the Eastman Chemical Student Award in Applied Polymer Science. The award recognizes graduate researchers who demonstrate research excellence in both research and technical presentations.
Tianjian earned his M.S. degree from the University of California, San Diego, and a B.S. from Jinan University in China. A student in Dr. Yao Lin’s group, his research interests include supramolecular polymerization and material properties of polypeptides. He is first author of several published research papers.
In August 2024, as part of the Eastman Chemical Award Symposium at the Fall 2024 ACS Meeting in Denver, Colorado, each finalists will give a presentation. Tianjian will present, “From Polypeptides to Biomimetic Materials: Harnessing Auto-Accelerated ROP-NCA for Tailored Mechanical Properties”.
Dr. Zaili Hou completed his Ph.D. in Polymer Science in March 2023
After completing a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Lanzhou University in Gansu province, China, Zaili Hou became a Polymer Ph.D. student in the UConn IMS Polymer Program. With a desire to focus his research on hybrid functional materials, Zaili joined Dr. Luyi Sun’s research group in 2018.
Hybrid functional materials, which consist of two or more distinct components with unique physical and chemical properties, exhibit synergistic properties, making them highly versatile and suitable for applications in various fields, including energy, healthcare, optics, and electronics. Zaili’s research led him to his dissertation topic, “Hybrid Functional Materials with Multiscale Architecture Design.” He successfully defended his dissertation in March 2023 and earned his doctoral degree as a result.
Reflecting on his time at UConn Zaili noted that he received excellent training and felt a strong sense of community during his time in the UConn IMS Polymer Program, which left him with a very positive overall experience. He says he appreciated access to the numerous core labs in IMS and the training available from the technical staff. He felt that direct access to the instrumentation in those labs gave him a better understanding of the science and contributed to his successful research. He also emphasized that the multi-disciplinary foundation of IMS helped create a community with multiple perspectives on the research. In addition to disciplinary diversity, Zaili also enjoyed the cultural diversity found in IMS. This helped him learn about various religions, philosophies, and cultural practices around the world.
With a desire to contribute to a better planet, Zaili began his career with World Centric, a company dedicated to sustainable products. World Centric is creating compostable and sustainable products to help reduce plastic waste that currently pollutes our planet.
“I’m very excited about making contributions to this important cause and making practical applications of polymer science to real world issues,” Zaili said.
UConn’s Future Climate Venture Studio has created a fellowship program designed to provide tangible experiences for students interested in learning in start-ups, marketing, commercialization, venture development, and research around climate change. Materials Science PhD. student, Amy Pollock, is one of three UConn graduate students to receive the fellowship. Fellows were selected for their excellent writing skills, science, technical, or business background, interest in the entrepreneurial process, interest in addressing climate change, and their ability to work independently and handle confidential material. The program partners each student with 2 start-up companies that need advice and/or assistance within a specific discipline. This enables the companies to have access to scientist working in their field while the students gain insight regarding the many challenges of creating and maintaining a startup company. The program is one more example of UConn’s support of entrepreneurship for both students as well as faculty.
