Congratulations to Melissa Bonillã, an MASc student in Dr. Robin Hutchinson’s lab, who recently won the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Sustainability Prize (top poster prize) at the Polymers for Sustainable Future: 85th Prague Meeting on Macromolecules.
Melissa receives the RSC Sustainability Prize from Chairmen of IMC Prague, Hynek Beneš(left) and Zdeněk Starý (right).
The Polymers for Sustainable Future 2024 conference, which was held in Prague, Czech Republic, 24–28 June 2024, reflects current global problems and challenges in the field of polymers and plastics in relation to the environment. The goal of the conference is to bring the latest scientific findings in the field of polymer materials from both academia and industry, reflecting the current global problems associated with the sustainability of polymers and plastic pollution of the Earth. Melissa was selected as the winner of the “RSC Sustainability Prize” (the top poster prize) from over 90 posters.
She also recently won first prize in the poster competition at the 9th Green Chemistry Initiative Symposium entitled, “Making Greener Choices,: A more sustainable approach to chemistry”, which was hosted at the University of Toronto.
Melissa’s thesis is on developing an Efficient Cu-Mediated Process for Acrylic Block Copolymers. Her fascination with polymers started during her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering at Universidad de Costa Rica. After graduation, she dived into the industrial world, working as an engineer at companies like Grupo Sur and Smith & Nephew, and also getting involved in research at places like The National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models (LanammeUCR). She took the opportunity to join the Hutchinson group to continue exploring the fascinating field of polymers. Her main interest lies in polymer science and its practical applications in industry. Melissa hails from Costa Rica, and is passionate about dancing, meeting new people, traveling, and, of course, polymers.