ISTC had several student hourly workers and interns joining us for projects this summer.
• Nathan Tissier is a junior at the University of Illinois completing his degree in agriculture and biological engineering. He has been providing laboratory support in the ARIES program for several months. His current projects include speciation of arsenic compounds in Hawaiian algae and summative mass closure of biomass for energy crops. He is an avid golfer, fisherman, and other outdoor activities.
• Joe (Huizhou) Yin is working as a student hourly with B.K. Sharma. Joe is studying for his B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Illinois and expecting to graduate in May 2013. He has been working with B.K. on his research on conversion of low quality oils to lubricant base oils through chemical modification.
• Tina Dinh is working as student hourly with Wei Zheng and B.K. Sharma. Tina is a B.S. Chemical Engineering student at Illinois and is expecting to graduate in Dec. 2013. She has been working on biochar project to study its effectiveness in preventing fertilizer run-off.
• Seth Rients has working as an intern with Joe Pickowitz this summer. Seth is in the Professional Science Master’s program on Advanced Energy and Fuel Management at Southern Illinois University. He has been working on developing a variety of water reuse systems for the laboratory and building, as well as examining ways to reduce water use in the production of biodiesel at ISTC.
• Wonky Yuen is working as a student hourly with Xinli Lu. Wonky is the third year PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering, at UIUC. He has been working on groundwater availability, heating & cooling potentials for the sponsored project – Illinois Groundwater Source Geothermal Resource Mapping.
• Chris Yim is a senior at Central High School who is participating in a 4-week internship with Junhua Jiang. His research with Junhua has been on electrochemical detection of nitrite using biochar electrodes. Chris is taking part in a pilot program called the I-STEM High School Summer Research Experience which was organized by the I-STEM office on campus.