Dr. Kirti Yenkie receives the 2022 AIChE Environmental Division Early Career Award

Dr. Kirti M. Yenkie, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Rowan University, is the recipient of the 2022 Environmental Division Early Career Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). As described by AIChE, the award is to “honor an individual with outstanding contributions in environmental chemical engineering in the early stages of the recipient’s career.”

Dr. Yenkie’s research contributions focus on applying process systems engineering to the areas of environmental sustainability and healthcare. Specifically, her work has been applied in environmental resource management, solvent recovery and reuse, wastewater treatment and asset management, plastics recycling, petroleum pipeline cleaning operations, cancer diagnostics, and addressing COVID-19 challenges. For her work, she has integrated a broad range of research tools that include mathematical modeling, data analysis, process design, process control, optimization, and risk analysis and quantification techniques.

Since joining Rowan Chemical Engineering in 2017, Dr. Yenkie has built an impressive research and professional career. She has made important research contributions both individually and through active collaborations with other Rowan faculty, and external academic, federal and industry partners, garnering extramural funding from numerous sponsors, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Atlantic County Utilities Authority, AstraZeneca, Inspira Healthcare, KEEN Education Foundation, and ExxonMobil. She has made important contributions as a teacher by integrating computational tools in process control, process optimization and thermodynamics courses, and in 2019, Dr. Yenkie was recognized by Computer Aids for Chemical Engineering (CACHE) as one of 20 Outstanding Young Chemical Engineering Educators. She has been passionate about engaging students, particularly women, in research, having mentored to date 57 undergraduates of which 25 have been women, many of whom have won AIChE presentation and poster awards for their research work with Dr. Yenkie. Dr. Yenkie is active in AIChE, currently serving as Director of the AIChE-Environmental Division, Secretary of the AIChE-Sustainable Engineering Forum, and Academic Subcommittee Member of the AIChE-Delaware Valley Section. 

Dr. Yenkie will be receiving the official award and delivering an invited talk at the Environmental Division Awards and Honors Session in November at the 2022 AIChE Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona.

More details on her award can be found at this link.