Agata Hochół, a PhD student at the Rzeszów University of Technology, has been awarded first prize in the Andrzej Pomianowski Competition for a Master’s thesis in chemistry, biology or physics related to issues of surface physicochemistry and interfacial phenomena. The competition is organised by the Jerzy Haber Institute for Catalysis and Surface Physicochemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The winner is a first-year PhD student at the PRz Doctoral School, a member of the Chmielarz Research Group and the Student and Doctoral Scientific Club of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering “IPSUM”. 

As part of her thesis, she developed green chemistry-inspired procedures for grafting ampholytic polymer brushes from silicon wafer surfaces by atom transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP).