Laura Johana Castellanos-Suarez, a Ph.D. candidate at The Ohio State University, has been awarded the Phi Tau Sigma Student Achievement Scholarship for her exceptional scholastic productivity and leadership. Building on a strong foundation in Chemical Engineering, Laura’s Ph.D. research, titled "Innovative and sustainable biotechnological processes to valorize byproducts from the dairy and poultry industries," focuses on transforming waste streams into high-value functional ingredients. Her current work leverages extrusion technology to develop patent-pending, protein-rich prototypes, a progression from her Master’s research where she specialized in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and kinetic modeling.
Beyond her research, Laura is a prolific communicator and leader within the scientific community. She has presented her findings at prestigious international venues, including the ADSA and AOCS annual meetings, where she was recently honored with the 2026 AOCS Biotechnology Division Student Award. As the 2025 President of the Buckeye Chapter, she has been instrumental in the chapter's success, organizing professional development events and securing funding that led to the chapter earning the Chapter of Excellence designation in 2024. Her unique ability to bridge the gap between engineering modeling and food science application makes her an exemplary recipient of this honor.