Chemical Engineering Student Wins Third Place Award in AIChE’s Student Poster Competition

A University of Maryland student with dual majors in the Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Computer Science earned third place at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ (AIChE) 2025 Undergraduate Student Poster Competition, in the Computing and Process Control II category.

In early November, Abhi Senthilkumar ’26 won the recognition for his work towards a synthesis process for albuterol sulfate, a chemical found in bronchodilators—a type of medication that expands and relaxes airway muscles to improve breathing. His work was the product of a Summer research experience with professor and associate chair James Ferri’s group at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“Winning this award felt like a recognition of my hard work this summer, and highlighted the importance of computational research. I am thankful to Professor Ferri and the rest of the lab for welcoming me and helping me grow a lot as a scientist,” said Senthilkumar.

The synthesis process for albuterol sulfate—currently listed in the Food and Drug Administration’s drug shortage list—involves distillation, hydrogenation through a packed bed reactor, and monitoring quality conditions; involving multiple units in a time consuming fashion. Over the Summer, Senthilkumar developed automation systems for the distillation column as well as the purification analysis, specifically to measure the concentration of tert-butylamine, a common impurity in this process. He leveraged his computational skills to write a Python code to execute data collection, actuation and process control.

Although he had previous research experience in chemical and biomolecular engineering, this was the first poster that earned recognition at the AIChE Annual Student Conference, a national meeting where academics and industry professionals gathered from October 31–November 3, 2025.

Senthilkumar was introduced to research earlier in high school, when he was selected to participate in an internship program for the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, MD. When he moved to College Park to pursue an engineering degree, he sought out ways to pursue research in his major, which led him to chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Jeff Klauda’s lab, where he works on computational drug design and protein engineering. He says that the experience in his lab has polished some hard skills—such as code writing, data analysis and molecular dynamics knowledge, as well as time management skills—all while obtaining mentorship from a subject matter expert.

“Dr. Klauda gives me the leeway to try new things in my own way. I’ve presented multiple research posters in different conferences, and he’s always been very supportive of that,” he said.

Senthilkumar, who is set to graduate in the Spring of 2026, says that graduate school is on the horizon, and he’s exploring doctoral programs where he can continue to pursue similar research that he conducts in Klauda’s lab related to computational drug design.

Published December 5, 2025