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Chemical & Biological Engineering News

Whitney Loo being interviewed by Alex Holloway
October 24, 2024

Ask an expert: Whitney Loo explains plastics recycling and the challenges of sustainability

Whitney Loo is the Conway Assistant Professor of chemical and biological engineering. Loo studies polymers, which are “macromolecules” composed of many repeating units. They are the building blocks for many…

Whitney Loo
October 1, 2024

With DOE early career award, Whitney Loo is engineering the heart of next-gen batteries

The U.S. Department of Energy has selected Whitney Loo, the Conway Assistant Professor in chemical and biological engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for a prestigious 2024 Early Career Research…

Marcel Schreier working in the lab
September 25, 2024

For future sustainable chemical processing, electricity breaks bonds

A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison chemical engineers has taken an important stride toward a greener, more selective way to steer hydrocarbon transformation into other chemicals. Using a finely controlled…

Phillip A Levy Engineering Center spelled out on the entrance of the new UW-Madison College of Engineering Building
September 11, 2024

With $75 million gift for new UW-Madison engineering building, brothers’ impact spans generations and transcends campus boundaries

A historic $75 million gift will fuel construction of a much-needed new engineering building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With their lead gift—the largest single gift in college history—brothers and…

Mai Ngo
September 10, 2024

Focus on new faculty: Mai Ngo wants to eavesdrop on how cell types talk with one another

Modern medical technology is pretty good at making damaged organs and tissues last longer or function better. However, with the exception of organ transplants, it’s not possible to replace damaged…

a maple tree on the UW-Madison campus
July 25, 2024

In complex systems, function follows form, and that’s why Victor Zavala wants chemical engineers to think about how the shape of systems influences their behavior

Most people learn how important shapes are in preschool. But in a commentary in the July 25, 2024 issue of the journal Nature Chemical Engineering, a University of Wisconsin-Madison chemical…

Corn field
July 16, 2024

Upcycling discarded plants: New UW-Madison center to harness energy, nutrients from biomass

The nonprofit Schmidt Sciences and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) have selected a multi-institution group of researchers to establish the new Center for Mineral and Metal Oxide…

WiscWind team members demonstrate their wind turbine during 2024 Collegiate Wind Competition
May 21, 2024

Offshore wind: UW–Madison undergrads win national award with design for floating wind turbines on Lake Michigan

Winds on the Great Lakes could provide more than enough clean energy to meet the needs of the eight bordering states, yet logistical, social, and environmental challenges have stymied development…

Image from Bloom game
May 14, 2024

Zavala helps develop educational video game tackling algae blooms

The latest video game from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Field Day Lab and Victor Zavala, the Baldovin-DaPra Professor in chemical and biological engineering, teaches high school students how to harness…

Megan McClean and Zack Harmer
May 1, 2024

Machine learning illuminates experimental design for synthetic biology

When Zack Harmer’s advisor and lab leader, Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Megan McClean, suggested he explore a potential collaboration with Chemical Engineering Professor Victor Zavala’s computational group, the University of…