Gaughan receives fellowship to pursue PhD

The UIC Summer Research Opportunities Program, or SROP, was established in 1986. It seeks to introduce domestic undergraduate underrepresented sophomores and juniors to academic research experiences where they work one-on-one with a faculty mentor, host workshops about graduate admissions procedures, financial aid opportunities, and test-taking skills. Students also participate in training regarding the graduate application process. Following the SROP, UIC Graduate College has established the SROP Early Admission Graduate Fellowship to recruit and support SROP alumni in graduate programs at UIC.

UIC Department of Chemical Engineering senior Matthew Gaughan will pursue his PhD in chemical engineering through the SROP Early Admission Graduate Fellowship, through which he will receive $33,000 throughout the duration of his PhD and to help continue research efforts he began in his undergraduate program.

“I’ve been part of an SROP cohort under the UIC Graduate College since I applied and have been participating in meetings, workshops, and research for the better part of the past year and a half,” Gaughan said. “I’ve also been working on my proposal that could lead into research toward my PhD thesis.”

The first year of Gaughan’s PhD will likely include rotating through the laboratories and completing coursework. After which, he wants to focus his research on the use of microbial bioprocessing in a chemical engineering context for industrial chemical production. He would like to work on bioreactor systems utilizing biomass waste streams.

He explained that bio processing holds a number of sustainability advantages and is one of the most promising routes toward an industrial-scale sustainable manufacturing process. The sustainability aspect will show a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and an improvement in environmental friendliness of industrial production processes. This is because microbial processes involve biotic systems and thus occur at more ambient, less energy-intensive conditions. Additionally, the biotic components involved in processing frequently utilize renewable resources or more environmentally safe resources that can be better integrated, thus reducing pollution outputs and creating new waste streams, which contribute to the cyclical process.

Gaughan also participates in research in Assistant Professor Ezinne Achinivu-Ibagere’s MODSE Lab. In the lab, he focused on synthesizing novel immobilized enzyme biocatalysts for valorizing lignin. His research involved developing inorganic supports onto which enzymes could be immobilized. This strategy effectively shielded the enzymes from environmental factors that might otherwise denature them or compromise their catalytic activity. By stabilizing these enzymes, Matthew contributed to advancing sustainable methods for converting lignin,a major component of plant biomass,into value-added products.

Through the SROP program, “I met a lot of really interesting people and found that their stories really matched the career path I saw myself going on and it encouraged me to apply to the program and mentorship,” Gaughan said. “I plan to continue my work in this particular direction. It was a cool cohort too.”

He added that if undergraduates participate in the SROP, they benefit from the cohort through meeting other students around the College of Engineering and doing research at the graduate level. When undergraduate students participate in graduate-level research, it’s great exposure and fosters a productive cohort. A lot of people in the cohort are pursuing interesting areas of study that Gaughan was not aware of, and this made him want to become more immersed in the research.

Gaughan noted that he is looking forward to seeing the progression of research from everyone he’s met through the SROP, including students from other majors in the College and administrators of the program. He added the program administrators and leaders are very invested in their students and checking out those students’ research and making sure they’re making progress throughout. It’s an immense support system, which he appreciates, especially going into his PhD.

Gaughan graduated with his bachelor’s in May 2025.