Published:
May 12, 2022
On Monday evening, May 9, 2022, Mr. Matthew Santoso was named a runner-up in the prestigious UT Co-op George H. Mitchell Award in recognition of his superior scholarly achievement based on his undergraduate research with his mentor, Alec Bridge. Professor Joan Brennecke, who co-supervises Alec with Professor Benny Freeman, nominated Matthew. The Mitchell Awards are the highest recognition that UT offers for undergraduate research.
Matthew’s undergraduate research has focused on developing an image analysis model to automatically compute macrovoid size and distribution in asymmetric membranes from SEM images. Such membranes are prepared by nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS), which is used ubiquitously in the membrane industry to produce ultrafiltration and microfiltration membranes as well as the porous supports for desalination and gas separation membranes. Macrovoids have a strong impact on the mechanical and transport properties of such membranes, so being able to rapidly and quantitatively characterize them has markedly accelerated our research to understand the impact of membrane processing conditions on membrane structure. Matthew and Alec are preparing a manuscript on this work for submission to the Journal of Membrane Science, which is the flagship disciplinary journal in the membrane field. Matthew has worked with Alec on this model for quite a while, doing much of the original modeling work remotely, due to COVID.
Matthew will leave the US early next week to go to Singapore, where he will pursue an internship at the Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES), which is the University of Cambridge’s first overseas research center. He will work on simulation of processes in chemical plants in Singapore to increase their sustainability.