2. FACULTY AND RESEARCH

2015 FACULTY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

A summary of individual faculty members' publications, patents, and funding is available here.

2015 RESEARCH FUNDING TOTALS, SOURCE, AND TYPE

RESEARCH FUNDING DETAILS:

·           Number of research awards:  31

·           Total awarded amount:  $9,185,414

·           Research expenditures:  $6,043,850  

·           Indirect costs:  $1,630,427

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2015

ARAVIND ASTHAGIRI:  Co-published two articles in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, a leading journal in chemistry, and another article on CO₂ electroreduction in ACS Catalysis, a leading journal in catalysis. 

BHAVIK BAKSHI:  Developed a novel "process-to-planet" framework toward sustainable process design by integrating models of chemical processes, life cycles, and the economy.

NICHOLAS BRUNELLI:  Developed cutting-edge hollow fiber catalyst for flow reactions.

JEFFREY CHALMERS:  Developing technology for separation of cancer cells and cancer stem cells; developing technology to separate and analyze exosomes; characterizing the intrinsic magnetization of cells.

STUART COOPER:  Published co-edited book, Advances in Polyurethane Biomaterials, Woodhead Press, an imprint of Elsevier.

L.-S. FAN:  Groundbreaking high-pressure pilot plant run for gaseous fuel combustion in chemical looping system.

MARTIN FEINBERG:  Pioneering research on chemical reaction network theory (ongoing).

LISA HALL:  Established a more efficient method to initialize simulations of microphase separated polymers. 

ISAMU KUSAKA:  Published "Statistical Mechanics for Engineers" (Springer, 2016), which simplifies equilibrium statistical mechanics for engineers wishing to expand their skills.

L. JAMES LEE: Developed a unique nanochannel electroporation (NEP) patch device capable of on-tissue gene transfection for regenerative medicine such as skin angiogenesis for wound healing.

UMIT OZKAN:  Bridging heterogeneous catalysis and electrocatalysis. Recent focus on catalytic treatment of water contaminated by chlorinated hydrocarbons.

ANDRE PALMER:  Demonstrated that islet grafts co-transplanted with a hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier reduced beta cell hypoxia and improved beta cell function in intramuscular grafts.

JESSICA WINTER:  In her role as chair of the AIChE Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum, is co-editing a book on Nanomanufacturing to be published through the AIChE.

DAVID WOOD:  Key contributor to the downstream processing strategy for the DARPA-funded BioMOD "biopharmaceutical factory in a briefcase."

BARBARA WYSLOUZIL:  Exploring phase transitions in aerosol nanodroplets.

SHANG-TIAN YANG:  Developing bioprocesses using engineered microorganisms for production of biofuels and biobased chemicals from biomass and CO₂.

JACK ZAKIN:  Developing low energy input techniques for heat transfer enhancement to/from inherently poor heat transfer fluids.

Cumulative Research Achievements:

• World leader in chemical looping processes that conserve resources and reduce emissions

• Groundbreaking self-cleaving affinity tagging for protein purification

• Leaders in nanobiotech and the development of magnetic quantum dots for diagnostics

• Innovative membranes for gas separations

• Immunomagnetic cell separation, cancer diagnostics and cell migration

• Tissue engineering and biomaterials for transfusion medicine

• Cutting-edge research in catalysis

• Polymer-based nanoengineering leading to new materials and devices benefitting manufacutring processes and medical diagnostics

• Innovations in sustainable engineering.