Chemical Engineering Major Named HENAAC Scholar of the Week

Cesar Ruiz, a chemical engineering student at UC Irvine, was selected as the HENAAC Scholar of the Week at the end of February, and was featured on www.henaac.org.  The Scholar of the Week program highlights outstanding Hispanic students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics who share the goal of contributing to the Hispanic community by developing role models for future generations.

Ruiz is interested in nanomaterials, and began his research in June 2006 with Dr. Szu-Wen Wang (http://wanglab.eng.uci.edu/).  Ruiz studies the structure and thermostability of certain proteins to determine their effectiveness as a scaffold - or a protein whose main function is to bring other proteins together for them to interact - for the molecular encapsulation of substances in drug delivery systems.

He has been honored on the Dean’s List, is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and is vice president of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.  In 2006, he was a HENAAC/NASA Scholarship Recipient.