On August 20, 2026, several Chemical Engineering students came together to showcase their summer research at the 2026 CSChE U of T Summer Research Symposium. Held in Wallberg Building, Room WB215, the symposium provided students with an opportunity to present their research and share their work with members of the Department community.
Participants presented their research to two separate judging panels, with one panel evaluating the first judging block and another evaluating the second. Each panel consisted of two Chemical Engineering professors and two graduate students, with two first-place and two second-place winners selected.
“I’m grateful to all the undergraduate students who presented and the graduate students and professors who volunteered to judge. The symposium would not have been able to bring together the Chem Eng community without everyone’s involvement,” says Ryan Xu, Co-Director of Professional Development for CSChE.
Congratulations to the 2026 winners:
First Place
- Reena Wu
- Raymond Li
Second Place
- Ryan Gill
- Bill To
As part of their award, the first-place winners will be sponsored to attend the CSChE national conference in Edmonton in May 2027, where they will have the opportunity to connect with the broader Canadian chemical engineering community.
Spotlight on First-Place Winner Reena Wu
We spoke with first-place winner Reena Wu about her summer research experience and what the award means to her.
Under the supervision of Professor Levente Diosady, Wu spent the summer conducting research focused on the functional and physicochemical characterization of proteins from common beans. Her work investigated how processing conditions can influence protein recovery and composition, including factors such as pH and dehulling.
“The goal was to better understand how these variables could be optimized to produce plant-based protein ingredients with desirable properties for food applications,” says Wu.
At the symposium, Wu presented several functional and physicochemical properties of one variety of common bean, including its emulsifying and foaming properties, oil-holding capacity and colour. These characteristics can help researchers better understand the potential of common bean proteins for use in food applications.
Winning first place was particularly meaningful for Wu, as it marked the culmination of her first experience conducting summer research.
“Winning the award was really meaningful because it was my first summer conducting research, and it made me reflect on how much I had learned and grown over the four-month experience,” she says. “It was especially rewarding to communicate my work to an audience outside of my immediate research group and see that I could effectively explain and defend my research to an audience unfamiliar with the project.”
Looking ahead, Wu is excited about the opportunity to attend the CSChE national conference next year.
“I’m most looking forward to presenting my research to a larger chemical engineering community and meeting students, researchers and professionals working in different areas of the field,” she says. “I’m especially excited to learn about the range of research and industry applications represented at the conference and to represent our protein research group from Professor Diosady’s Food Engineering Lab.”
Spotlight on First-Place Winner Raymond Li
We also spoke with first-place winner Raymond Li about his summer research experience, his work in biomedical innovation and what he is looking forward to at the CSChE national conference.
Working under the supervision of Dr. Kai Huang in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Li’s summer research focused on developing a novel composite nanomaterial for deep-tissue bioimaging.
His project aims to overcome a key limitation of traditional persistent luminescent materials, which require high-energy excitation that has limited applications for imaging through biological tissue. Li developed a composite material by coating strontium aluminate (SAO) with mesoporous silica and incorporating NaYF₄,Tm upconversion nanomaterials within its pores.
The material can be excited using 980 nm near-infrared (NIR) light. The upconversion nanomaterials convert the NIR light into ultraviolet energy, which then charges the SAO core through energy transfer. Using ex vivo pigskin models, Raymond successfully demonstrated deep-tissue bioimaging with detectable afterglow through up to two centimetres of tissue.
Li presented this research at the Summer Research Symposium, where his work earned him a first-place award.
For Li, the recognition was particularly meaningful because the project marked his first experience conducting research.
“Taking on this project right after my first year with no experience and while still navigating the transition to university meant facing many challenges,” he says. “Winning this award feels like a validation of the hard work it took to get this project to work.”
More than simply recognizing the outcome of his research, Li says the award represents the persistence required to overcome the challenges that come with experimental research.
“More than anything, it represents the persistence required to face experimental difficulties and push through the early stages.”
His motivation for pursuing research comes from his interest in using biomedical innovation to advance healthcare. As a first-place winner, he will have the opportunity to attend the CSChE national conference in Edmonton in May 2027, where he will share his research with the broader chemical engineering community.
“I’m excited to share my findings on luminescent bioimaging materials with the broader chemical engineering community at the national CSChE conference,” Li says. “To me, research achieves its true impact on the world only when it’s shared. That’s how the scientific community learns and drives progress.”
He is also looking forward to connecting with industry professionals and fellow students and learning about the different approaches researchers are taking to address complex engineering challenges.
“The chance to exchange ideas with industry professionals and fellow students is priceless. I’m looking forward to seeing the diverse approaches other researchers are taking to solve complex engineering problems.”
Congratulations once again to Reena, Raymond, Ryan and Bill, as well as all seven students who participated in this year’s Summer Research Symposium. Their presentations showcased the exciting research being carried out by undergraduate students across the Department.