Sam Root’s interest in knowledge of polymers started in high school. His father worked in the flexographic printing industry and after school, Root would head to the plant to do quality control. When his interest in organic materials chemistry, soft matter physics, and engineering started to grow, he decided to study chemical engineering.

“I have to tell my mom,” were the first thoughts that ran through Hector Gomez Jimenez’s head when he found out he was the recipient of the 2023 Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering (GEM PhD) Fellowship from the National GEM Consortium. 

Sometimes the best way to learn something new isn’t from a lecture, rather a hands on approach. Graduate student Dillon Gagnon and others in the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, under the direction of Assistant Professor Svetlana Morozova, are using this approach to teach science classes to Cuyahoga Community College students preparing to take the General Educational Development (GED) test.