The 2024 Catalysis Club of Philadelphia (CCP) Spring Symposium-Student Poster Joint Conference was a one-day event organized by CCP, a nonprofit organization providing opportunities for members in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware area. This year’s spring symposium was held in Claymont, Delaware, featuring plenary talks by representatives from universities around the area, as well as industrial representatives from chemical companies like GRACE, Johnson Matthey, Zeolyst, Ecovyst, and Air Products, which focused on the catalysis for a greener future. The day’s event was capped off with a poster session featuring graduate student posters from the participating universities.
8 graduate students from Lehigh Univerity’s Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department (ChBE) participated: 4 from the Rangarajan research group (3 out of 4 presented posters), 4 from the Wachs research group (All 4 presented posters). Their research poster details are as follows:
Rangarajan Group:
- Johari Dramiga: Thermodynamic and Kinetic Investigation of S Impurities in Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell Feed Flow
- Aojie Li: Elucidating the Essential Role of Hydrogen Bonding and Direct H-transfer in Transfer Hydrogenation on Transition Metal Catalysts
- Adhika Setiawan: Microkinetic Modeling-driven Density Functional Theory Exploration of Ethylene Epoxidation on Partially Oxidized Silver Catalyst Surfaces
- Joseph Thompson: [NO POSTER]
Wachs Group:
- Neelesh Kumar: Spectroscopic Elucidation of Phase Evolution in NiO/YSZ and LaFe0.9Ni0.1O3 under Oxidative and Reductive Gas Environments
- Dang Nguyen: Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane (ODHE) to Ethylene by the Bulk MoVNbTe (M1Phase) Mixed Oxide Catalyst: Surface and Bulk Properties
- Eli Ream: Direct Conversion of Ethylene to Propylene through Simultaneous Ethylene Dimerization and Olefin Metathesis with 8%NiSO4/8%ReO4/γ-Al2O3 Catalyst
- Erin Sobchinsky: Ethylene Dimerization to n-butene with Nickel Sulfate on Zirconia: Investigation of the Molecular Structure and Activity of Surface Nickel and Sulfate Species
6 total awards were given out at the event, 2 sharing the “Best Overall Award” title, and 4 sharing the “Poster Award” title. Adhika Setiawan and Aojie Li both won the Poster Award titles, winning a $150 cash prize each in the process.
Li is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Lehigh research group of Professor Srinivas Rangarajan, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His research focused on mechanistic understanding of catalytic transfer hydrogenation, a catalytic technology that can enable sustainable and decarbonized hydrogenation of biomass to value-added chemicals. Prior to this poster award at CCP, he won 2nd place in the student poster competition at the 2023 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting (Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division). Li has a multidisciplinary background in hydrology and environmental engineering. Beyond his primary focus, recently he is exploring deep learning and molecular dynamics.
Originally from Bandung, Indonesia, Setiawan completed his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a research focus on lignocellulosic biomass depolymerization. Upon graduating, he continued his studies at Purdue University, obtaining a M.S. degree in Chemical Engineering, and achieving the best master’s student research project award with his research in catalytic upgrade of light alkane/olefins. Currently, Setiawan is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in Lehigh’s Chemical and Biomolecular Department, working with Professor Srinivas Rangarajan. While his background was purely in experimental research, for his Ph.D. thesis, Setiawan made the transition to computational/theoretical research, with a research focus on the mechanistic elucidation of the selective oxidation of ethylene. Setiawan received the Leonard A. Wenzel prize for his excellent performance in his qualifying examination in 2020, and more recently, Setiawan was awarded the Kenneth A. Earhart Travel Award based on his achievements in research, as well as his contribution to the activities of the department. Upon completing his thesis at the close of 2024, he plans to continue his career in academia with a postdoctoral research position, and eventually, a research professorship.
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