Julie Yang Won Poster Prize at AIChE 2025
The excellence of the undergraduate student research in the CBE again hit a high note! At the 2025 AIChE annual meeting held in Boston, three CBE undergraduate students, Logan Escano-Smith, Melissa Morales, and Julie Yang, were selected to present their research at the Undergraduate Poster Competition, and Julie Yang won one of the first-place poster prizes in the Division of Materials Engineering and Sciences. Julie gave a presentation titled “1,1-Diphenylethylene-Based Thermoplastics with Acid-Assisted Upcyclablity in Low Temperature Environment.” This research aims to increase the upcyclability of polystyrene, one of the major thermoplastic resins widely used for various packaging and structural materials.
“Polystyrene is a widely used, but one of the most thrown-away thermoplastics, because its recycling is not cost-efficient,” Atharwa Thigale, Ph.D. graduate student in the department who worked with Julie on the research, explains. He adds, “Using a cleverly-chosen functional monomer and a simple but effective acid catalyst, we established a new pathway to tune the physical properties of thermoplastics for target applications as well as to produce high-value chemicals through implemented upcycling capability.” Julie has worked on the project for more than a year with Atharwa. Lee, an associate professor, supervised the project, says, “Julie is one of the best undergraduate students that I have worked with over the years. Julie is a real problem-solver and clearly represents the RPI undergraduate research excellence.”
Congratulations Logan, Melissa, and Julie Yang on your strong presence at the 2025 AIChE!