News and Events

Chen, S. S.; Carraher, J. M.; Tuci, G.; Rossin, A.; Raman, C. A.; Luconi, L.; Tsang, D. C. W.; Giambastiani, G.; Tessonnier, J.-P. Engineered Nitrogen-Decorated Carbon Networks for the Metal-Free Catalytic Isomerization of Glucose to Fructose. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2019, 7 (20), 16959.

https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b04067

Chen, S. S.; Tsang, D. C. W.; Tessonnier, J.-P. Comparative investigation of homogeneous and heterogeneous Brønsted base catalysts for the isomerization of glucose to fructose in aqueous media. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 2020, 261.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2019.118126

This is a highly prestigious invitation, as only 1-2 undergraduates from each state are invited every year to attend, and only 2 students from Iowa State University have been selected to attend this event in the past 22 years. He was also recognized with an Engineering Excellence Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). Congratulations, Brandon for representing Iowa State University and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering!

The news release of this accolade can be accessed at https://news.engineering.iastate.edu/2019/03/22/undergrad-brandon-vance-will-display-research-to-congress-in-washington-d-c/

Marco and Hamed gave invited oral presentations of their research at the 2019 Great Plain Catalysis Society (GPCS) Spring Symposium held at the Phillips 66 Research Center in Bartlesville, OK. Marco also received a travel award for attending this conference.

Prerana was one among the top 38 chemical engineering students nationwide who received an Honorable Mention. Congratulations, Prerana!

Brandon presents his work “Fuelling Space Exploration: Engineering Materials to Produce Rocket Fuel on Mars” at the Research in the Capitol event

Sani presents her research at 2019 ACS Spring Meeting and is recognized for her Excellence in Polymer Graduate Research. Congratulations on this prestigious award, Sani!

Elspeth defended her thesis on “Fueling the mission to Mars and Earth’s transition to renewable energy: Increasing catalyst performance for carbon dioxide methanation”. Congratulations Elspeth!  We wish her the best for her next journey with NASA !!!

Dr. Tessonnier and Sani publish a chapter in the ACS book, Green Polymer Chemistry: New Products, Processes, and Applications, in collaboration with Dr. Eric Cochran.

Abdolmohammadi, S.; Hernández, N.; Tessonnier, J.-P.; Cochran, E. W., Bioadvantaged Nylon from Renewable Muconic Acid: Synthesis, Characterization, and Properties. In Green Polymer Chemistry: New Products, Processes, and Applications, American Chemical Society: 2018; Vol. 1310, pp 355-367.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bk-2018-1310.ch022

The article can be accessed at: https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2018/10/16/doebioprivileged

Chen, S. S.; Yu, I. K. M.; Cho, D.-W.; Song, H.; Tsang, D. C. W.; Tessonnier, J.-P.; Ok, Y. S.; Poon, C. S., Selective Glucose Isomerization to Fructose via a Nitrogen-doped Solid Base Catalyst Derived from Spent Coffee Grounds. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2018,6 (12), 16113-16120.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b02752

Prerana Carter – Synthesizing Novel Biobased monomers for improved polymer properties

Dustin Ganesbom – Trans-3-Hexenedioic Acid Incorporation into Nylon 6,6 for Flame Retardancy

Joseph Hadel – Novel Biobased Monomers for Modifying Polymer Properties

Radhika starts her post-doc at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado. We know you will do great things!

Daniel, Hamed, and Marco all passed their PhD qualifier exams!

Dr. Tessonnier receives tenure and is promoted to Associate Professor at Iowa State University.

Elspeth returned from her second Center Based Research Experience at Kennedy Space Center. She spent 10 weeks in Florida characterizing her catalysts.

Hamed was awarded the Engineering Trinect Fellowship as part of a program partnering Des Moines Public Schools and Iowa State University resulting in the infusion of engineering design into the elementary teacher preparation program.

Tessonnier, J.-P.; Rao, R. G.; Giambastiani, G.; Tuci, G., Covalent Methods for Functional Carbons’ Synthesis. In Metal-free Functionalized Carbons in Catalysis, Villa, A.; Dimitratos, N., Eds. Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge, 2018.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/9781788013116-00001

Mathew Laureano joins the Tessonnier group!

Radhika and Elspeth visit the BESSY II Synchrotron to perform Near Ambient Pressure X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (NAP-XPS) at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Germany. The work was done in collaboration with Raoul Blume from the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society.

Sani, Radhika, and Elspeth participated in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department’s Perfect Pitch contest. This event challenged all the Chemical Engineering Graduate students to explain their research in just 90 seconds.

Brandon Vance joins the group as an undergraduate research assistant through the prestigious Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program.

The group takes a brief break to celebrate Radhika’s birthday.

Marco Nazareno Dell’Anna – Identification and Electrocatalytic Conversion of Bioprivileged Molecules

Daniel Viju Vincent Sahayaraj – Continuous Flow Lignin Deconstruction in Supercritical Solvent Mixtures and Conversion to Renewable Chemicals

Hamed Bateni – Tailoring Metal-Carbon Support Interactions for the Selective Hydrogenation of Multifunctional Chemicals.

Si (Season) Chen, a grantee of the prestigious Fulbright Hong Kong Program, joins the Tessonnier group for a ten-month stay as a visiting scientist from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She will be working on Glucose Isomerization. Congrats and Welcome!

R. G. Rao, R. Blume, T. W. Hansen, E. Fuentes, K. Dreyer, S. Moldovan, O. Ersen, D. D. Hibbitts, Y. J. Chabal, R. Schlögl, J.-P. Tessonnier, Interfacial charge distributions in carbon-supported palladium catalysts, Nat. Commun., 2017, 8, 340. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00421-x

The group celebrates Elspeth’s birthday after she returns from her summer-long Center Based Research Experience at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL.

The ACS Catalysis Division (CATL) conferred their travel award to Radhika for attending the 254th ACS conference held in Washington D.C. in August 2017. Congratulations!!