CBE Names 2019 Outstanding Students

May 3, 2019

The School of Engineering honored its outstanding students, faculty and staff at the 2019 Annual Awards ceremony May 3rd in the Centennial Engineering Center Courtyard.

SOE Awards

The following Chemical and Biological Engineering students were honored:

Emily N. Ganley • Outstanding Sophomore

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Emily Ganley is a sophomore studying Chemical Engineering at UNM. Emily is very involved with the UNM engineering community; she participates in electrochemical research with Dr. Garzon and UNM COSMIAC, and is involved with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). For example, she organized SWE’s annual outreach event this year (attended by 85 girls!), and will serve as the president of SWE next year. She is also involved as a mentor through programs with the Women’s Resource Center and the UNM Honors College. She is passionate about her chemical engineering coursework and is so grateful for the UNM community’s ongoing support. She hopes to pursue a career in academia; working toward this goal, she will be doing research at a UCLA chemistry laboratory this summer!

Savannah N. Cheek • Outstanding Junior

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I was born and raised in Santa Fe, NM, and am now a third year Chemical Engineering student at the University of New Mexico with a concentration in bioengineering and minors in both mathematics and chemistry. I currently work as an undergraduate research assistant in Prof. Han's lab studying radiative cooling of silica microsphere substrates, and was an author on my first paper in February of this year. I have also worked with UNM's Department of Psychiatry doing research on a neurological disease called cerebral cavernous malformation. My passion is environmental sustainability and my goal is to use my engineering knowledge to come up with innovative ways to clean up and protect the environment. My hobbies include scuba diving, swimming, volleyball, and taking long hikes when I'm not studying, working in the lab, or working as an IT specialist for UNM's Human Department.

Ryan C. Hill • Outstanding Senior

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I am a senior in the Chemical Engineering program with a concentration in Chemical Processes. I have always been interested in renewable energy, especially for transportation purposes. This has driven me to do materials and electrochemical research at UNM and Sandia National Labs. This year, I also acted as captain of the UNM Chem-E-Car team for the regional AIChE conference, where UNM took first place! I recently accepted an offer to pursue a Ph.D in Chemical Engineering at the University of Kentucky and will be headed there in the Fall.

Adeline Fanni • Outstanding Graduate Student

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Adeline Fanni received a master’s degree in Biotechnology Engineering in 2013 from Polytech Marseille in France. In 2014, she joined the pharmaceutical company Allergan in Liverpool, UK, where she developed expertize in process development for the production of monoclonal antibodies. She then joined the Biomedical Engineering Department at UNM and started her PhD in 2015. Since 2015, Adeline has been working with Dr. Eva Y. Chi on the characterization of a novel fluorescent probe for the detection and remodeling of toxic amyloid aggregates implicated in neurodegenerative disorders. She developed experience in protein production in bacteria host, in protein purification and characterization, as well as in spectroscopy. She worked in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team including scientists fromLANL, SNL and UNM. She mentored 7 undergraduate students from the NSF REU program, UNM PREP program and UNM IMSD program. She will graduate in the Summer 2019 with a cumulative GPA of 4.15.