College

College of Engineering and Polymer Science

Date of Last Revision

2026-05-07 06:09:33

Major

Chemical Engineering

Honors Course

CHEE: 497

Number of Credits

3

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Date of Expected Graduation

Spring 2026

Abstract

The goal of this project was to utilize the Signature molecular descriptor to construct a predictive model for computing the normal boiling point using a 4856-compound dataset. The final model intends to be applied to screening compounds whose experimental normal boiling point values are not readily available. Compounds were deconstructed into their height-1 atomic Signatures, resulting in 225 unique descriptors for the dataset, which were used as independent variables for creating the model. Machine learning (ML) techniques were employed to evaluate the applicability and accuracy of different ML models for predicting normal boiling point using the Regression Learner App in MATLAB for training and testing. 26 total ML models were evaluated with multiple linear regression (MLR), support vector machines (SVM), and Gaussian process regression (GPR) models performing with the greatest predictive accuracy. Testing R2 values for these models were 0.84, 0.86, and 0.88, respectively. Although the more complex SVM and GPR models exhibited greater predictive ability, MLR was selected as the optimal choice for the final model due to its simplicity, ease of interpretability and implementation in accordance with its intended use.

Research Sponsor

Dr. Donald Visco

First Reader

Dr. Fardin Khabaz

Second Reader

Patrick Cuddihy

Honors Faculty Advisor

Dr. Bi-min Zhang Newby

Proprietary and/or Confidential Information

No

Community Engaged Scholarship

No

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