FacultyResearch July 25, 2024 · 2 min read 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 engineer encourages his colleagues to…
Educational InnovationFaculty May 14, 2024 · 4 min read 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 Tejeda, the Baldovin-DaPra Professor in chemical and biological engineering, teaches high school students how to harness systems engineering and attempt…
FacultyResearch October 27, 2020 · 1 min read Huber and Zavala will investigate biodegradable polymers with new grant Two chemical and biological engineering professors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are part of a new $2.5 million grant from the Department of Energy to develop biodegradable polymers that can replace the polyethylene currently used…
Educational InnovationFaculty April 2, 2020 · 5 min read Statistically significant: Zavala designs stats course for chemical engineers Engineering is ruled over by many ironclad laws: Kirchoff’s Laws, Boyle’s Law, the laws of thermodynamics, and the list goes on. But when engineering principles encounter real-world situations, these laws cannot predict all aspects of…
Faculty June 29, 2018 · 1 min read Victor Zavala selected for NAE Frontiers of Engineering Symposium The National Academy of Engineering invited Victor Zavala Tejeda, Richard H. Soit Assistant Professor of chemical and biological engineering, to be one of 84 participants in the 2018 United States Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. At…
Research May 1, 2024 · 3 min read 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 Tejeda’s computational group, the University of Wisconsin-Madison PhD student didn’t…
Research March 17, 2026 · 4 min read To support future space missions, Brenda Cansino-Loeza suggests a heavy dose of freeze-dried bacteria mixed with a lot of patience When Brenda Cansino-Loeza joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a postdoctoral researcher three years ago, she had plenty of experience working on earth-bound projects; in fact, her research focused on developing tools to make the…
Educational Innovation February 20, 2026 · 3 min read From engineering to everywhere: Network optimization tools used for analyzing curricula At its heart, education is a process: Students move step by step through their curriculum and, if all goes well, this results in an end product: Graduates equipped to thrive in the real world. That’s…
Research August 18, 2025 · 6 min read UW-Madison researchers map out a promising future for solvent-based plastics recycling In the more than 100 years since researchers developed synthetic plastic, it has become the world’s most common engineered material—used in nearly everything humans produce, from automobiles and food packaging to medical implants and electronics….
ResearchWisconsin Idea April 7, 2025 · 4 min read “Super algae” could suck phosphorus out of manure and keep waterways healthy A team of chemical and biological engineering researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed a new strain of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, which takes up 8.5 times the phosphorus compared to its…