Oluwatosin Popoola, Clarkson Chemistry Ph.D. student, received an American Chemical Society (ACS) graduate student award from the Division of Agricultural Chemistry (AGRO) for his poster presentation at the just concluded 2022 ACS National Fall Meeting, held in Chicago, IL in August 2022.
Oluwatosin tied for second place in the “Best Poster” category and received a monetary award to help defray the costs of attending the National conference. The award recognizes students involved in research projects promoting an understanding of the role of chemistry in agriculture. The award is based on an outstanding presentation and detailed poster describing the candidate’s research and its impact on agriculture, food supply and the environment.
“This award is a recognition of our research and Oluwatosin’s contribution to the development of packaging material for addressing key challenges in agriculture and the food supply,” says Prof. Silvana Andreescu, Popoola’s research advisor in the BIOSEM Research Group at Clarkson.
Oluwatosin’s presentation discussed the development of 3D-printed nanocomposites for smart antimicrobial food packaging. Post-processing food wastage is still a major and pressing challenge in the worldwide food supply chain due to food spoilage by the actions of micro-organisms such as bacteria.
Andreescu and her research team are developing smart antimicrobial packaging material from sustainable biomolecules and agricultural materials for sustaining the quality, nutrient value, flavor, taste and shelf-life of fruits, vegetables, and other agricultural produce, thereby reducing food loss and food waste.
Several other students from Andreescu’s group, including Reem Khan, Aqsa Khan, Aaditya Deshpande, Abd Ur Rehman, and Mohamed Hassan also attended and presented their research at the ACS Fall 2022 conference, Sustainability in a Changing World.