Davidson School of Chemical Engineering Professor You-Yeon Won was recently awarded $37,149 from the Purdue Trask Innovation Fund for development of a radiation-controlled drug-release formulation that is shown to improve the treatment of locally advanced head and neck tumors more effectively for some patients. More than 60,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with these cancers annually. The formulation allows toxicity and side effects associated with chemo-radiation to be minimized by encapsulating the drug with radiation-degradable capsules and injecting this formation into the patient's tumor before normal radiation. Dr. Won's research is being conducted in collaboration with the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Dr. Julie Liu, Associate Professor in the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, was recently named as a Purdue University Faculty Scholar beginning fall 2019. The five-year appointment will run through 2024 and includes $10,000 annually to support Dr. Liu's research and academic programs. University Faculty Scholars are a select group of mid-career faculty who are on an accelerated path for academic distinction.

The 2019 Mi-Bio Summit on Flexible and Stretchable Bioelectronics will be held on July 29-31 in West Lafayette on the Purdue University campus. During the 3-day event, conference attendees will have the opportunity to learn from experts in the emerging field of intrinsically-stretchable bioelectronics in order to bridge from the design of materials through clinical applications.

Professor Arvind Varma, the R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University and 10th Head of the School, passed away on July 14, 2019. Dr. Varma will be known as a ground-breaking chemical engineering researcher who has had significant impacts in the areas of hydrogen and other energy sources, chemical and catalytic reaction engineering, and in the synthesis of advanced materials. He will also be fondly remembered as an innovative leader in the field of chemical engineering.

Davidson School of Chemical Engineering graduate student Caralyn Coultas-Mckenney was awarded 3rd place in the recent 2019 International Fine Particle Research Institute (IFPRI) poster competition. Coultas-Mckenney is advised by Professor Stephen Beaudoin.