In the first installment of the Meet the Summer 2021 RAPID® Interns spotlight series, we are highlighting four interns in the Summer 2021 program. Scroll down to learn more about Danny Shade, an intern at Dow who is currently a Ph.D. Student at Georgia Institute of Technology; Saubana Olorunsola Dada, a Ph.D candidate at the University of Arkansas; Andrea Garcia-Ortiz, a 4th-year undergraduate student at Oregon State University; and Brian Bick, a 2nd-yr Ph.D. student at Stony Brook University.
Danny Shade
Danny Shade, a Ph.D. student at Georgia Institute of Technology, is working on a project entitled "Modeling Packed Bed Adsorption Kinetics for Gas Separations" as an intern with Dow. Danny’s primary accomplishment this summer was to create and validate a process model to describe adsorption kinetics in a packed bed. This model will be useful for describing adsorption equilibria and kinetics for separation processes.
What are your career aspirations?
"I would like to make advanced separations like adsorption and membrane processes more competitive with legacy separations like distillation for large-scale chemical production. Advanced separations offer enormous energy savings potential and it is imperative that separations become more efficient in my lifetime."
What are your thoughts on the RAPID Intern Program so far?
"The RAPID program has been an excellent platform from which to connect with other researchers in my field and related areas. I was able to connect with other graduate students whose work had interested me in the past, and these connections helped improve my understanding of their work. I enjoyed the chance to help undergraduate RAPID interns explore their options after graduation."
Saubana Olorunsola Dada
Saubana Olorunsola Dada, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Arkansas, is working on a project entitled "Stainless steel ultrafiltration membrane as a replacement for dissolved air floatation for treating poultry processing wastewater" in the Membrane Research laboratory under Professor Ranil Wickramasinghe. The project involves treating poultry processing wastewater with stainless steel ultrafiltration membrane of different pore sizes and at different transmembrane pressure. The characterization of the permeate was done to ascertain the efficiency of the membrane.
What are your career aspirations?
"I once had the experience of staying in a community where there was no access to potable water. This is one of my major drives to proceed my education to Ph.D. level. After my Ph.D., I want to be a consultant where I will use my acquired knowledge to solve the issue of clean water and sanitation (SDG 6) and sustainability."
What are your thoughts on the RAPID Intern Program so far?
"This internship has given me the opportunity to learn a lot about process intensification and modular processing. It has also given me the chance to learn with other students from different schools and I have gotten ideas from different perspectives. Although I have heard about process intensification prior to this program, the lectures gave me in-depth knowledge on process intensification."
Andrea Garcia-Ortiz
Andrea Garcia-Ortiz, a 4th-year bioengineering undergraduate at the Oregon State University, is working on a project entitled "Designing microscale-based flow architecture in medical devices to reduce blood damage" in Dr. Goran Jovanovic's lab. The project's goal is to Produce a mathematical model and numerical simulation of blood flow through micro-channel device. As well as measuring anticipating blood flow distribution through micro-channel array in medical device. Finally, proposing an SOP for characterizing blood damage in micro-channel medical devices.
What are your career aspirations?
"I plan on pursuing a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering with the desire to develop orthopedic biomedical devices. I hope to utilize my knowledge in medicine with engineering principles and practices to cultivate innovative solutions for unmet clinical needs."
What are your thoughts on the RAPID Intern Program so far?
"The RAPID Intern Program has allowed me to grow as an undergraduate researcher. Over the last ten weeks, I have gained an immense amount of confidence and practical engineering skills that will help cultivate my future engineering endeavors. The guidance and advice that I have received from RAPID employees and fellow interns are invaluable and I wish them all success in the upcoming years."
Brian Bick
Brian Bick, a 2nd-year Ph.D. student at Stony Brook University, is working on a project entitled "Design of a 5 kW Power-to-Gas (P2G) Demonstration Integrated System" in the Institute of Gas Innovation and Technology under the Mahajan Research group. For this project, the design of a 5kW Power to Gas (P2X) demonstration unit was the goal. After understanding all the unit ops, which are an electrolyzer, low pressure metal hydride hydrogen storage tanks, and fuel cells, we began to assembly of the unit.
What are your career aspirations?
"My career goal is to be a lead researcher in the field of Hydrogen Energy, focusing on the right technologies to help kickstart and enable the widespread adoption of Hydrogen power grids, the transportation sector, and eventually home heating and cooking."
What are your thoughts on the RAPID Intern Program so far?
"The RAPID Program was highly informative about how Process Intensification is the new gold standard for Improving unit operation processes and integrating all the units through modular design. The webinars and e-courses were not only great at teaching about PI across multiple domains, but they also helped with career life skills and how to become a better Chemical Engineer."
