ChEMS News

Michigan State University again earned national recognitions in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Student Design Contest, earning first-place honors for the third consecutive year.

Megan Herman took top honors and will receive the A. McLaren White Award for best overall individual design. Mia Vollkommer won the first-place award in 2025 and Lauren Petrie won in 2024.

Thirteen Michigan State University College of Engineering faculty members were among those honored Sept. 29 during MSU’s 2026 Faculty Investiture and State of the University at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts.

More than 200 researchers, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers and government partners gathered in East Lansing on Aug. 11 for the 2026 Mobility Summit, themed “Michigan Moves: Building the Next Mobility Economy.”

Xinyue Liu, an assistant professor in the Michigan State University Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, has received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Medical devices implanted in muscular tissue work wonders to relieve chronic pain, rehabilitate muscles and control prosthetic limbs. However, traditional materials used to make the devices are hard to see on X-rays and CT scans. A new material developed at the MSU Polymer Engineering Lab provides high contrast on medical imaging for intramuscular implants, making implanted devices easier to locate and monitor.

For decades, algae have been seen as a promising source of sustainable food, animal feed, biofuels and carbon-neutral materials. Compared with traditional crops and livestock, algae grow faster, require less land and freshwater and can directly convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into useful products. However, a major challenge has limited the widespread adoption of algae technologies for large-scale applications: light cannot penetrate deeply into the dense cultures used to grow algae resulting in slowed growth and increased production costs.

Twelve student-athletes from the Michigan State University College of Engineering have earned Academic All-Big Ten honors for the 2026 spring season.

Thermoelectric materials can turn temperature differences directly into electrical power, with no moving parts and no working fluids. Devices based on these materials already power deep-space missions and provide precise solid-state cooling for sensitive electronics and sensors.

However, today’s thermoelectric materials are often too inefficient, expensive, or reliant on scarce or toxic elements to be used widely for energy recovery or cooling on Earth.

Michigan State University has awarded comprehensive scholarships to 51 extraordinary first-year students - 16 of them are headed to the College of Engineering. Alumni Distinguished Scholarships are part of a 71-year-tradition, University Distinguished Scholarships were initiated in 2000, and the Joseph R. and Sarah L. Williams Scholarships have enabled more students than ever to receive full merit awards to MSU.

Michigan State University College of Engineering students earned recognition this spring in competition, entrepreneurship, scholarships, fellowships and research. Their work spans computer science, civil engineering, biosystems engineering, elec