🎉 I’m happy to share that our research, “Sex-specific lipidomic profiling of the marine mussel Mytilus coruscus: A comparative analysis of male and female lipid metabolism”, has been published in Food Chemistry. This research is part of our earlier work on seafood quality and nutrition, and we’re excited to share it. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this work!
News & Highlights
Selected milestones, awards, and research activities since Aug 2025.
2026
MII Technical Conference and Review 2026
Building on the work I previously presented at ISSCS 2026, I got to share our latest results on bioinspired self-cooling nanocomposites made from ChNF and gelatin. The poster covered additional findings on ChNF structure and charge, film mechanical properties, and their relationship with cooling performance. It was a great chance to discuss the work with researchers outside our group and get feedback from different perspectives.
Honestly, I was pretty surprised by how much interest it got! So many people stopped by to chat about how these materials work and where they could actually be used. I ended up talking through the results with people for most of the session, and nearly lost my voice by the end! 🤣
Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA, USA
Southern SARE Graduate Student Grant 2026
🎉 I’m so excited to share that I’ve received the 2026 Southern SARE Graduate Student Grant! My project will focus on testing chitin-based passive cooling liners in the field to help reduce postharvest heat buildup and keep strawberries fresh longer. The goal is to develop a sustainable and affordable solution for small-scale farms in the South. Huge thanks to Dr. Feng and Dr. Yang for all their help with the proposal and application process! 🙏
Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA, USA
NAJUA Graduate Student Best Paper Competition 2026
🏆 Thrilled to have won 3rd Place in the NAJUA Graduate Student Best Paper Competition 2026 for our research on bioinspired passive cooling materials! It’s great to see our work recognized for its quality and originality! 🎉
Chicago, IL, USA
Professional Development for Agricultural Literacy (PDAL) 2026
I had a great time helping Prof. Justin Barone with a hands-on workshop at PDAL 2026, a teacher immersion program at Virginia Tech! We showed secondary school teachers how to make gummy bears from scratch using simple kitchen ingredients. It was a fun way to explore some food science and see how different ingredients and processing methods can change the texture and flavor of food! 😆
Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA, USA
International Symposium on Stochastic Complex Systems (ISSCS) 2026
At ISSCS 2026, I presented our recent research on bioinspired self-cooling nanocomposites based on ChNF and gelatin. The materials exhibited enhanced mechanical properties, including increased stiffness and strength, while retaining high flexibility. They also achieved effective passive radiative and evaporative cooling, demonstrating promise as sustainable materials for thermal management applications.
Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA, USA
2025
Pratt Fellowship 2025
🎉Excited to share that I’ve been awarded the 2025 Pratt Fellowship from the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech, in recognition of my academic record and potential for success! Grateful for this support, which will help empower my ongoing research journey!
Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA, USA