David and Lin honored as Andrew Carnegie Society Scholars

Eleanor David and Jing Lin have been named Andrew Carnegie Society (ACS) Scholars in recognition of academic excellence, volunteerism, leadership, and involvement in student organizations, athletics, and the arts.

David, Lin, and the other 2024-25 ACS Scholars were selected by their deans and department heads to represent the senior class in service and leadership. Through the ACS Scholars Program and the generosity of ACS members, each scholar receives a monetary award to support their academic and personal growth.

Eleanor David

David is a senior studying both chemical engineering and viola performance through the Engineering and Arts additional major. She is considering a master's degree in nuclear engineering or a job in industry after graduation.

Last summer, David interned at Kairos Power, a nuclear energy start-up. She did analytical chemistry work to support their development of a molten salt nuclear reactor.

David's undergraduate research is also focused on sustainable alternatives. She works with the Chan Group on the synthesis and design of polymers. "Finding ways to incorporate more degradable materials into plastics as they're manufactured is increasingly important," David says. To replace conventional polymers and fillers in materials, the Chan Group is focused on proteins that are commonly available as agricultural side products. David is working to combine proteins and polymers by initiating polymerization reactions with UV light.

She has presented her research at the American Chemical Society Central Regional Meeting and the Out in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (oSTEM) national conference. David is president of the oSTEM @ CMU chapter and helped to revitalize it after the COVID-19 pandemic. She led the chapter to the oSTEM national conference for the past two years. This fall, she received the national Chevron oSTEM Scholarship.

David is also president of Fringe buggy and booth. When she joined as a first-year student, she had a lot of theoretical knowledge but not as much practical, hands-on engineering experience. David wanted to get involved with building the buggy, and the head mechanic that year became her mentor. By her junior year, David was in the role. This year, she's driving the buggy she built, Blackbird, while serving as president.

Read more about David's leadership across campus and her focus on safety and process engineering design as head mechanic for Fringe.

Jing Lin

Lin is a senior majoring in chemical engineering. He is planning to go into industry after completing the Integrated Master's/Bachelor's (IMB) degree.

A summer internship with PPG gave him a new perspective on the field. His experience formulating paint is also proving helpful for painting the Fence and booths.

Lin says it means a lot to be recognized as an ACS Scholar for initiatives that he believes in and for the things he does for fun.

Lin has played on the Carnegie Mellon Men's Ultimate Frisbee team since Orientation week his first year, when he noticed the team out on The Cut. "It's a very welcoming community," he says, "and a fun competitive thing."

The campus community of first generation students has been another important part of Lin's experience. As president of FirstTogether last year, Lin focused on increasing awareness of the needs of first generation students and advocating for resources.

He's also involved with Fringe buggy and ChemE Cube, a national competition in which teams design, build, and demonstrate a one cubic-foot plant to produce a chemical process. The problem statement this year was about direct air capture with regeneration. As Senior Build Lead for the CMU team, Lin was able to apply his senior year courses along with building experience he gained through his undergraduate research.

Lin is part of the Jen Research Lab, which specializes in designing and building instruments. Since joining the lab his first year, Lin has worked on projects related to wildfire smoke and cloud-seeding particles. He is now working on computational fluid dynamics for reactors in the Jen Lab.

Read more about Lin's first research project in the Jen Lab, constructing an exposure chamber for testing the effects of wildfire smoke on cells.