Shammah Lilonfe, a doctoral student in the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, won the first-place Judges’ Award at the 2025 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition during the organization’s annual meeting in Boston on November 4, 2025.
Lilonfe received the award for presenting research on the efficient and reliable scale-up of a novel membrane-based separation process designed to support critical minerals and materials development and strengthen U.S. supply chains.
“I design smarter ways to recycle and ramp-up the production of critical minerals so as to avoid scarcity and high prices. I work on scaling up a new membrane technology to recover lithium and other critical minerals from liquid battery waste,” said Lilonfe.
His research combines process modeling, optimal experimental design, and optimization, drawing on experience from process development in the Dowling Lab as well as industrial systems optimization roles at ExxonMobil and Shell.
“I am grateful for the guidance and support of my advisor, Alexander Dowling, the Dowling Lab, my dissertation committee and the Phillip Lab at Notre Dame,” Lilonfe said.
The AIChE Three Minute Thesis Competition highlights graduate student research and promotes clear communication of complex technical work to broad audiences.
—Karla Cruise, Notre Dame Engineering