November 2023 Statler Circuit: Department Digest and Awards

Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 

In collaboration with Professor Tagbo Niepa from the chemical engineering department at Carnegie Melon University and faculty advisor and assistant professor of chemical and biomedical engineering, Soumya Srivastava, biomedical engineering doctoral student Negar Farhang-Doost, gave an award-winning oral presentation at the 50th Annual SciX meeting held in October, 2023, in Sparks, Nevada. The presentation, entitled "Candida auris infection detection by dielectrophoresis,” received the AES (American Electrophoresis Society) Blue Fingers Student Award. This award recognizes the most outstanding student paper submitted at the conference. Out of over 100 papers submitted, only one is selected. 

“This award has sentimental value for me as it is a strong motivator, inspiring me to continue my research endeavors and strive for further excellence,” said Farhang-Doost.

Her research deals with an emerging pathogen that poses a serious threat to public health. Candida auris detection research is vital as it addresses the growing concern regarding an increased trend in infection cases. Due to the lack of sensitivity in the current techniques, developing a new technique for early detection using dielectrophoresis would be a significant assistance to improve public health. 

Working under the advisement of Oishi Sanyal, an assistant professor in chemical and biomedical engineering, Km Prottoy Shariar Piash, a chemical engineering graduate research assistant, received the AIChE Environmental Division Graduate Student Paper Award (3rd Prize) for a recent journal publication. 

The paper, entitled "Integrating chemical precipitation and membrane separation for phosphorus and ammonia recovery from anaerobic digestate," was focused on the process of recovering nutrients (N,P,K) from municipal wastewater. In collaboration with Lian-Shin Lin, professor and chairperson of Wadsworth Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Piash is developing a hybrid chemical precipitation and membrane filtration technique to recover phosphorous, ammonium and potassium from municipal wastewater which can then be utilized as fertilizers, effectively addressing eutrophication issues.

In recognition of this research, he was also awarded the WVU Outstanding Merit Fellowship for Continuous Doctoral Student and was recognized at the annual Fellows Celebration held in September 2023. 

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