Guanrui Li

Hello, everyone. My name is Guanrui Li coming from China. I am a PhD student in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering. When I was young, I dreamed of becoming an engineer. This passion came from my uncle who was chemical engineer and devoted almost his whole life to improve people’s livelihood by inputting the power of new technologies into traditional industries. I would like to become the person like him so I chose chemical engineering as my major.

I have already achieved my master’s degree in University of Florida. During that period, I have conducted some biological researches concerned with EMT (Epithelia to Mesenchymal Process). EMT process is the first step of cancer metastasis, which means the nuclear shape may change after this process since cancer nuclear shapes are irregular. The hypothesis is that nuclear shape changes after EMT process. The relevant paper has been submitted to the Nuclei Acid Research Journals. For my PhD career, I would like to devote myself to researches relevant to the human disease such as cancer treatment.

To become a chemical engineer, I believe the ability of cooperation and leadership can never be stressed too much. Therefore, I led a team on designing chemical manufacturing processes for coursework project in my undergraduate study. The challenge of this project is to improve the yield of product since nowadays industry is so mature that improvement is hard to achieve. We proposed the solution to change the separation system by applying a new technology called carbon dioxide separation. The new technology improved efficiency and purification compared to the previous technology. On designing this propylene production lines which are capable of outputting 100 thousand tons annually, I was responsible for allocating tasks and supervising mission accomplishment in every step. Furthermore, I finished several tasks individually, including theoretical computation, process optimization and equipment selection. What matters most in the project is the opportunity of transforming chemical reactions in laboratories into large-scale industrial production. I also gained detailed information about chemical engineering since I had to look up every standard for chemical plant construction and all the specifications on equipment such as chemical reactors, packing towers and compressor. I gained not only the knowledge of process design and equipment arrangement, but also the ability of collaboration.

In my philosophy, the ultimate satisfaction of life is obtained through dedicating myself to the fullest extent in pursuing something I enjoy and be the best in. Therefore, the knowledge and research experience gained through undergraduate and postgraduate work is insufficient to achieve my career goal. Therefore, I chose to study my PhD degree and majored in Chemical Engineering in Florida State University as there are a number of superior educational resources which I could use.
I will treasure this opportunity and help others to give back to the community in the future. I hope one day I will be able to assist students achieve their dreams as you have helped me.