Check out this UConn Today article featuring our senior, Caitlin Noonan—from scraps to solutions, she’s turning campus food waste into carbon-capture material.
Caitlin’s project, “Converting the University of Connecticut’s Food Waste into Activated Carbon for Carbon Capture, Sequestration, and Usage,” conducted under the guidance of Professor Julia Valla, explores a clever way to repurpose discarded food scraps into biochar that can trap CO₂ and be reused or returned safely to soil.
Here’s what makes her work so exciting:
- She sourced food waste from South Dining Hall, dried and powdered it using a FoodCycler Eco 5, then transformed it into biochar via slow pyrolysis.
- By steam-activating the biochar at 900 °C, she created a porous, reusable material adept at adsorbing CO₂—without relying on chemical activation methods that can generate harmful byproducts.
- Unlike conventional adsorbents, Caitlin’s biochars can ultimately be used as a soil amendment, improving soil health and storing carbon long-term with minimal environmental risk.
Caitlin is a recipient of the highly competitive Goldwater Scholarship and a Summer Undergraduate Research Fund (SURF) Award winner from the Office of Undergraduate Research at UConn, underscoring both her academic excellence and research potential. Caitlin’s work further illustrates how everyday waste can become part of the solution—and highlights the impact chemical engineers can make in sustainability and carbon removal.
Congratulations, Caitlin! We’re proud to see your outstanding achievements recognized and can’t wait to see where you take them next.
Read more on UConn Today.
Warmest congratulations to our graduate students, Azeem Sarwar and Muhammad Faheem Hassan, on being selected as one of the five finalist teams for the UConn–Eversource Clean Energy & Sustainability Innovation Program!
We are extremely proud of our junior, Caitlin Noonan ’26, for being named a Goldwater Scholar!
President Radenka Maric (NAI Fellow, 2019) – A leader in sustainable energy, her pioneering work in materials and catalysts has advanced fuel cell technologies, energy storage, and electrochemical sensors, enabling high-performance clean energy solutions.
Prof. Cato Laurencin (NAI Fellow, 2013) – The first UConn faculty member to become an NAI Fellow and a trailblazer in regenerative engineering. His breakthroughs in nanotechnology, polymer chemistry, and tissue regeneration have earned him national honors, including the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
Prof. Luyi Sun (NAI Fellow, 2021) – An expert in polymeric materials, ceramics, and composites, his research is driving innovation in packaging, energy, and catalysis, shaping next-generation materials for diverse applications.
We are thrilled to share that our graduate student, Hasan Nikkhah, has received the Best Poster Award at the 2024 Foundations of Computer-Aided Process Design (FOCAPD) Conference for his work on seawater desalination. In collaboration with our undergraduate student Dev Barochia and under the guidance of Professor Burcu Beykal, Hasan presented their research, “Design and Optimization of a Multipurpose Zero Liquid Discharge Desalination Plant,” which introduces a novel approach to multicomponent seawater desalination with zero liquid discharge.
Warmest congratulations to Professor Cato Laurencin, recipient of the 2025 Paul Terasaki Innovation Award! The Paul Terasaki Innovation Award honors individuals who have made outstanding and sustained contributions to biomedical innovation, recognizing those who not only advance research but also translate their discoveries into real-world medical solutions. Dr. Laurencin embodies this mission through his pioneering work in regenerative engineering, polymer science, and musculoskeletal repair and regeneration. His groundbreaking contributions include the invention of the Laurencin-Cooper ligament for regenerating the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the development of engineered grafts for rotator cuff tendon repair and regeneration. His research has bridged fundamental science with transformative medical applications, impacting countless lives.
We proudly celebrate our faculty and students who have been recognized in the inaugural 
We are proud to share that Professor Jeffrey McCutcheon has been awarded the AIChE FRI/Neil Yeoman Innovation Award by the AIChE Separations Division! This prestigious award recognizes Dr. McCutcheon’s pioneering research in additive manufacturing of thin film composite membranes, a significant advancement in membrane technology that has broad implications for separations science and industry. Dr. McCutcheon presented his groundbreaking work at the AIChE Annual Meeting Separations Division Plenary session last fall.
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