ChBE News—Fall/Winter 2009

ChBE News

School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering @ Georgia Tech

FALL/WINTER

VOLUME 16

2009-2010

Semiconductor Research Corporation Funds $28M Interconnect Focus Center Collaboration ChBE professor Paul Kohl leads joint research effort for interconnect and packaging to slash chip footprint by 10x while decreasing power consumption and increasing performance.

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he Interconnect Focus Center (IFC) received $20 million in funding from the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world's leading university‑based research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, and an additional $8 million in matching funds. The IFC develops new electrical, optical, and thermal interconnect solutions that meet or exceed projections of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). These solutions will enable hyper‑integration of heterogeneous components for future terascale systems. Results from the research will reduce the footprint of chips by a revolutionary factor of 10 while decreasing power consumption and increasing performance.

Integrated circuits, which are the components that make electronic devices work, are composed of transistors made on semiconductor sub‑ strates with copper circuitry. Although the performance of the transistor improves as the size shrinks, the performance of the copper wiring does not. At very small dimensions, below 50 nm, the performance decrease of the copper wiring is exacerbated by scattering from the surface and grain boundaries. Thus, the performance of the integrated circuit is lim‑ ited by the wiring and not by the transistors themselves.

The Centerʼs research is aimed at creating new technologies for connecting the billions of transistors on a chip, improving the chip‑to‑ chip communication with better electronic packages, creating new ways to stack chips in a three‑dimensional package, developing new ways for wireless devices to operate, and producing new ways to trans‑ fer heat from integrated circuits using advanced cooling methods. The IFC capitalizes on the enormous amount of research being conducted in nanoscience and nanotechnology to develop novel high‑conductance electrical interconnects to replace copper. For example, optical signals are being explored as a means to communicate across chips and from chip‑to‑chip rather than electrical signals. Optical signals, like those used in fiber optic cables, do not suffer from the same interference and delays as electrical signals, and many optical signals can be simultane‑ ously transmitted in a waveguide.

Dr. Paul Kohl, Regentsʼ Professor, Institute Fellow, and Hercules, Inc./Thomas L. Gossage Chair in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, is the director of the IFC. “Transistors have made enormous progress in speed, performance, and miniaturization, which places

Photo by Rob Felt

greater demand on the electrical connections be‑ tween transis‑ tors and between indi‑ vidual chips. The interconnect and packaging challenges are greater today than ever,” says Dr. Kohl. “Geor‑ gia Tech has been a leader in creating new in‑ terconnect and packaging tech‑ nologies for in‑ tegrated circuits, and Dr. Paul Kohl (right) working in the lab with PhD student weʼre very Nathan Fritz. pleased to part‑ ner with SRC in launching the IFC.” Two new areas of research are increasingly important in the IFC. First, the chip‑to‑chip connections can be shortened by stacking multi‑ ple chips to form a 3‑D network. This improves the electrical connectiv‑ ity but creates significant challenges in fabricating vertical connections and in cooling the inner layers. Second, small wireless devices, espe‑ cially sensors, will soon become ubiquitous in our lives. Thus, it is essen‑ tial to find new power sources and ways to communicate that conserve energy and maximize functionality.

The IFC is based in the Nanoelectronics Research Center located in the Pettit Microelectronics Research Center (MiRC) building at Georgia Tech. There are 13 collaborating universities, including Stanford, MIT, and the University at Albany, which is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network.

Environmental Climate Research ChBE professors address the growing concerns over carbon cycle issues and climate trends through the development and deployment of new technologies in carbon management. They are investigating whether greenhouse warming is causing a global increase in hurricane intensity, analyzing ocean‑atmosphere interactions, modeling the carbon cycle, and determining climate trends. Other technology focus areas include carbon capture and sequestration related to power generation. These professors also conduct research to discover and refine new processes for eliminating the threat of climate change from carbon dioxide emissions. energy consumption and CO2 emissions by as much as a full factor of ten for each unit of product produced.

Membranes able to remove contaminants such as CO2 and H2S from natural gas are particularly interesting to Dr. Korosʼs group, since typical feeds may comprise hundreds of millions of cubic feet per day.

The membranes developed by Dr. Korosʼs group are hollow fibers with outside diameters not much larger than a human hair. Separating layers on the outer fiber surface may be less than 100 nm–almost 1000 times thinner than a piece of standard typing paper. The fibers are bundled to‑ gether into modules with as much as 10,000 square meters per cubic meter of volume. This would be equivalent to placing two football fieldsʼ worth of area in a volume not much larger than a standard size office desk. Besides membranes, Dr. Korosʼs group has recently begun making fibers for sorbents to capture CO2 from massive flue gas streams.

Both the membrane and sorbent research requires integration of materials science with the core chemical engineering topics of thermody‑ namics, reaction engineering, and transport phenomena. Much of Dr. Korosʼs work is done collaboratively with industry and with other faculty in ChBE. His direct collaborators include Drs. Chris Jones, Ronald Chance, Carson Meredith, Sankar Nair, Victor Breedveld, and Ronald Rousseau, as well as others through the Center for Specialty Separations led by Dr. Charles Eckert.

Photo by Caroline Joe

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William J. Koros Energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and climate are all indirectly linked since tradi‑ tional separation processes use thermal driving forces derived from combustion of hydrocarbons. Dr. Koros focuses on effi‑ cient large‑scale separation and purifica‑ tion processes. His non‑traditional approach relies upon membranes and sorption separators that can reduce both

Photo by Caroline Joe

Photo by Caroline Joe

Christopher W. Jones Dr. Jonesʼs research group works at the in‑ terface of chemistry and chemical engi‑ neering, emphasizing the design, synthesis, and application of new materials applied to catalysis, reaction engineering, and separa‑ tions. The group is composed of predomi‑ nantly chemical engineering students and postdoctoral researchers but also includes physical, organic, and inorganic chemistry students and postdocs. For the last several years, a growing component of the groupʼs research has been the development of new materials for chemical separations. A par‑ ticular emphasis has been placed on carbon dioxide capture from dilute gas streams, especially power plant flue gas. Recently, Jason Hicks, PhD ChE ʻ07 and Jeffrey Drese from the group have designed new CO2‑ad‑ sorbing aminosilica materials with large, tunable CO2 capacities. Today, the group is studying the synthesis‑structure‑property relationships as‑ sociated with the new adsorbent materials: the overall goal is to develop a rational framework for the synthesis of adsorbents with precise control of important kinetic and thermodynamic properties such as the rates of adsorption and desorption, the CO2 capacity, the heat of adsorption, and so on. In parallel, Dr. Jones works closely with the Koros group on the in‑ corporation of the new adsorbent materials into novel separation plat‑ forms that may ultimately lead to more efficient, lower‑cost capture of CO2 from dilute gas streams.

Dr. Jones, together with Dr. Sunho Choi, the Dreyfus Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Chemistry, also leads the campus‑wide “Forum on Energy and the Environment,” which brings together researchers from an array of disciplines to discuss the related issues of CO2‑induced climate change, fossil energy production, renewable fuels, and the pub‑ lic policy, ethical, and societal issues associated with the modern fossil‑ energy‑powered world.

Sankar Nair A significant component of Dr. Nairʼs re‑ search addresses problems in environmen‑ tally benign processing and utilization of materials, chemical feedstocks, and fuels.

This research involves the engineering of advanced materials and membranes, as well as fundamental studies of structure‑ property relationships in these (usually nanostructured) materials and membranes. Some prominent applica‑ tions include the removal of greenhouse gases and acidic or toxic impu‑ rities from gaseous fuels, economical separation of biofuels such as ethanol from aqueous feed streams, development of better membranes for potential use in fuel cell devices, and environmentally benign pro‑ cessing of new functional materials to be incorporated in nanocompos‑ ite films and membranes for a variety of technological applications. A common scientific theme uniting these research problems is the chal‑ lenge of tailoring and functionalizing the structure, shape, composition, and architecture of materials and membranes in a rational manner to achieve high performance in the desired applications. This research pro‑

gram enjoys substantial collaborations with the research groups of Drs. Chris Jones, William Koros, and David Sholl. Several aspects of this pro‑ gram involve a unique synergy of experimental and computational re‑ search in order to create a strong scientific foundation for the pursuit of technological advances. It also benefits from the support and collabora‑ tion of industrial, federal, and other organizations. The results of this re‑ search program have led to several recent patent applications and publications. Approximately a dozen PhD‑track, MS‑track, and postdoc‑ toral researchers are pursuing this work. A number of ChBE undergradu‑ ate students, as well as high school teachers in the Atlanta area, have also taken advantage of the substantial research and hands‑on educa‑ tional opportunities created by this program.

Photo by Josie GIles

David S. Sholl Developing new technologies for economi‑ cally feasible large‑scale carbon capture will require breakthroughs in materials and processes, not just incremental advances on existing technologies. The risk in devel‑ oping any new class of materials is high, so the ability to make useful predictions about materials properties without undertaking time‑consuming experimental studies can be crucial in jump‑starting work in a new area. Dr. Shollʼs group uses detailed computational mod‑ eling methods to accelerate the search for new materials in applications where the number of possible materials is too large to be considered by traditional experimental testing. Many of the applications his group fo‑ cuses on are directly driven by the development of carbon capture tech‑ nologies or emission‑reduction processes. For example, they are using efficient computational methods to examine nanoporous zeolites and metal‑organic frameworks for use as membranes for carbon dioxide sep‑ arations. The models, which begin with atomically detailed structures for

Photo by Josie Giles

Photo by Caroline Joe

Athanasios Nenes Dr. Nenesʼs research focuses on atmos‑ pheric particles and understanding their impacts on air quality, clouds, radiation, and climate. His research is driven by the need to obtain predictive understanding of the impacts humans have on the environ‑ ment. The research group is engaged in a diverse set of multiscale modeling and ex‑ perimental efforts. One such effort focuses on developing computation‑ ally efficient and comprehensive aerosol thermodynamic models (ISORROPIA, ISORROPIA‑II) for use in regional and global atmospheric models such as the EPA Community Model for Air Quality and the Har‑ vard GEOS‑CHEM. His group is also involved in developing and commer‑ cializing instrumentation for fast and highly accurate measurements of the cloud‑droplet‑nucleating characteristics of atmospheric particles, as well as devising simple techniques for characterizing organic‑water inter‑ actions, hygroscopicity, and cloud‑droplet‑nucleating characteristics of atmospheric particulate matter. Another aspect of Dr. Nenesʼs research involves laboratory studies and ground‑based and airborne field studies on cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity and aerosol‑cloud interac‑ tions. Locations studied include the continental US, the Arctic, Latin America, and the Eastern Mediterranean. His group is also engaged in the modeling of these aerosol‑cloud‑climate interactions and is working on developing and evaluating cloud microphysical parameterizations for use in regional and global climate models (e.g., global models developed by the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the Max Planck Insti‑ tute ECHAM‑5, and the UK GLOMAP). Finally, Dr. Nenesʼs group is study‑ ing the impacts of marine ecosystem productivity on clouds and climate, as well as the effects of air pollution on oceanic iron bioavailability.

each material, allow researchers to consider hundreds of candidate ma‑ terials and refine this diverse group to a small number of the most prom‑ ising candidates. In another example, Dr. Shollʼs group is using similar approaches to develop metal alloy films that can economically produce ultra‑high‑purity hydrogen from the high‑temperature syngas mixtures that are relevant in gasification processes. This purification process, if im‑ plemented on large scales, could play a key role in using existing hydro‑ carbon resources in a carbon‑neutral way. In all of the work conducted

by Dr. Sholl and members of his group, the computational efforts are coupled with experiments being performed either by Georgia Tech col‑ leagues or external collaborators.

Krista S. Walton The selective removal of CO2 from nitro‑ gen‑containing streams such as flue gas or methane‑containing streams such as natu‑ ral gas is one of the grand challenges for separations science. Conventional porous materials such as zeolites and activated car‑ bons often have low selectivities and are difficult to regenerate, which leads to sig‑ nificant expense. Metal‑organic frameworks (MOFs) represent a new di‑ rection in porous materials research that could lead to the creation of designer‑specific multifunctional materials. The rich field of coordination chemistry provides a versatile platform from which these materials may be assembled from an almost infinite set of building blocks. In contrast to conventional microporous materials, these hybrids are formed through interconnection of metal clusters and organic ligands. They have demonstrated interesting adsorption properties and have a clear potential for impacting a wide range of adsorption‑based technologies.

Metal sites can be coordinatively unsaturated and exposed on the inte‑ rior surfaces of the material where they are open to direct approach by sorbate molecules. The organic ligand used to construct the material can be functionalized in a variety of ways. Thus, a material may be syn‑ thesized with open metal centers and pore walls decorated with various functional groups to provide molecule‑specific binding sites. The goal of Dr. Waltonʼs work is to manipulate MOF chemistry to create novel metal‑ organic structures with regenerable CO2‑specific adsorption sites. Her groupʼs strategy focuses on developing methods to synthesize MOFs through assembly of the paddle‑wheel structure using copper atoms and by functionalizing the organic ligand with amine groups. This re‑ search has the potential to open a completely untapped class of materi‑ als to the development of new and improved adsorbents for selective and efficient CO2 capture.

ENVIRONMENTAL CLIMATE FACTS ► Average

global temperatures increased by about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the 20th century.

► The

U.S. contains only 5 percent of the worldʼs population but contributes 22 percent of the worldʼs carbon emissions.

► Between

20 and 25 percent of carbon emissions comes from deforestation and land use change.

► Personal

cars and trucks emit 20 percent of the carbon emissions in the U.S.

► Air

conditioning and heating account for almost half of electricity use in the average American home.

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ChBE Class News 1960s Thomas J. Pierce, Jr., ChE ʼ61, of Bermuda Run, N.C., has been elected chairman, board of direc‑ tors, of Hickory Springs Manufacturing Company headquartered in Hickory, N.C. The company is one of the largest manufacturers in the furniture and bedding industries.

1970s Scott Blackstock, ChE ʻ79, owner of Tidal Wave Auto Spa, was named the 2009 Small Business Administrationʼs (SBA) Small Business Person of the Year for Georgia and is competing for the na‑ tional title during the SBAʼs National Small Busi‑ ness Week celebration in May 2010. Scott is president and owner of S.S. Blackstock, Inc., which operates 10 Tidal Wave locations.

1990s Greg Willis, ChE ʻ94, has relocated to Singapore, where he is the merchandising director for the consumer division in Dellʼs Asia‑Pacific region.

Since joining Dell in 2000, Greg has worked in var‑ ious marketing and sales management leadership roles in the companyʼs U.S. consumer division.

Dr. Theodore F. (Ted) Wiesner, ChE PhD ʻ94, was voted the “Most Outstanding Professor” in the Department of Chemical Engineering by the class of 2009 at Texas Tech University. He also was awarded $100,000 by the American Chemical So‑ ciety‑Petroleum Research Fund for his research entitled “Pyroelectrically Mediated Reduction– Oxidation Reactions.”

2000s Shannon Dobbins, ChE ʻ00, was hired as a process engineer/project engineer at the firm of Ford, Bacon & Davis in Greenville, S.C., in April.

Ramon Farach, ChE ʻ02, married Elena Wilson on June 6 in Cumberland, Md. Ramon is a refinery hydrotreating engineer for LyondellBasell. The couple lives in Houston, Tex. Katelyn E. Swindle, ChE ʻ04, married Matthew Reilly on Jan. 17. The couple lives in St. Louis.

IN MEMORIAM 1930s John Hudson Holcomb, Jr., ChE ʻ35, of Birming‑ ham, Ala., on Aug. 24. In 1948, he joined his fa‑ ther in business at the Britling Cafeteria Co., for which he later served as president. An employee of Merck and Co. earlier in his career, he was manager of the Merck Stonewell Plant in Elkton, Va., during World War II. A life deacon of his

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church, he also was a recipient of the Salvation Armyʼs William Booth Award for outstanding service to the community.

Samuel Malone Troutman, ChE ʻ37, of Birming‑ ham, Ala., on Sept. 23. He worked for U.S. Steel for 41 years and was a member of the Woodlawn United Methodist Church, where he sang in the choir and was involved in maintaining the church. He was a member of the Amateur Radio Club and the American Theatre Organ Society‑ Alabama Chapter.

1940s Benjamin Willingham Carmichael, Sr., ChE ʻ41, of Atlanta, on Sept. 17. He served as an officer in the Navy during WW II. His engineering career in‑ cluded working for the Georgia Tech Engineering Experiment Station, Georgia Department of In‑ dustry & Trade, and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. Benjamin was a member of North Avenue Presbyterian Church, serving as a deacon and a life elder.

Toy F. Reid, MS ChE ʼ49, of Kingsport, Tenn., on July 26. Toy retired as an executive vice president of Eastman Kodak Co. and general manager of Eastman Chemical in 1989 after 41 years with the company. He directed the pioneering of polyeth‑ ylene terephthalate (PET) in beverage and food containers. In 1994, Toy was inducted into the Georgia Tech College of Engineeringʼs Academy of Distinguished Alumni. He served on the boards of directors for Eastman Kodak, the Ten‑ nessee State Board of Education, Junior Achieve‑ ment of Kingsport, and United Way of Greater Kingsport. He was an Army Air Forces captain during WW II.

1950s Melbourne Warren Croft, ChE ʻ55, of Lynchburg, Va., on June 9. Melbourne retired from Babcock‑ Wilcox as a nuclear engineer after 35 years with the company. He served as a first lieutenant in the Army.

1970s

Robert A. Schulze, ChE ʻ41, of Columbia, S.C., on Aug.12. Robert retired from DuPont as a chemical engineer after a 41‑year career with the com‑ pany. He was a hospice volunteer and wrote a book outlining safety practices in chemical engi‑ neering. Following graduation from Georgia Tech, he worked on the Manhattan Project.

Robert John McCann, ChE ʼ78, of Atlanta on July 24. He had been working for the Environmental Protection Agency in Atlanta since 1982. Earlier, he was a chemical engineer with Goodyear in Akron, Ohio. A deacon and board member at his church, he also was a volunteer with Outreach Ministry, Habitat for Humanity, and the Bill Glass Prison Ministry.

Dan Pierce Pulley, ChE ʼ43, of Henrico, Va. on June 28. He worked most of his life and traveled the globe for Virginia‑Carolina Chemical Co., ac‑ quired by Mobil, where he retired in 1987 as a managing engineer.

Benjamin Bedell Koomen, ChE ʻ04, of Washing‑ ton, D.C., formerly of Nashville, on Aug. 9. He was a clinical laboratory manager at GeneDx in Gaithersburg, Md.

Julius Aldrich “Andy” Anderson, ChE ʻ48, of Mon‑ roe Township, N.J., on April 12. In 1983, he retired from PPG Industries after work‑ ing in market develop‑ ment and sales for 35 years and receiving a distin‑ guished service award.

Andy earned a bachelorʼs degree in chemistry from the University of South Carolina in 1939 and en‑ listed in the Navy in 1940, serving as a gunnery offi‑ cer aboard the USS Jarvis.

He was discharged with the rank of lieutenant commander in 1945.

2000s

ChBE Receives Gift from Shell

On October 1, the Shell Oil Company presented a $121,500 gift to support various programs at Georgia Tech. Of that amount, ChBE re‑ ceived a $40K contribution, with $30K allocated to fund the Unit Op‑ erations Lab and the remaining designated as unrestricted funds.

School Chair Ronald Rousseau and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies Pradeep Agrawal received the check on behalf of ChBE.

External Advisory Board (EAB) Profile Foundation for Success Kellye P. Hafner, PhD ChE ʻ96, knows that a strong family foundation is the secret to enduring success.

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ellye P. Hafner, PhD ChEʼ96, is someone whose passion and determination have made her successful. Having gone from being a remarkable student to a valued employee, and now a dedicated mother, Kellye focuses her energy on the most important things in her life and manages them all remarkably well. Kellye credits her parents with provid‑ ing the foundation that has led to her success. She says, “My mother and father are my greatest inspiration because no matter what the circumstances, they have always provided me with in‑ credible love, support, encouragement, and guidance. Theyʼve greatly influenced me in my roles as friend, wife, mother, co‑worker, and leader.”

Her parents supported Kellyeʼs decision to explore chemical engineering as a career. When she was a senior in high school, they arranged for her to visit the University of South Carolinaʼs Department of Chemical Engineering. Kellye completed her first of four co‑op assignments after her freshman year and found that she not only enjoyed her classes but also thrived in the work‑ ing environment of chemical engineering. One of her favorite undergraduate professors, Dr. Van Brunt, encouraged her to pursue a graduate degree after receiving her B.S. in 1991.

For Kellye, Georgia Tech offered everything that she wanted in a graduate school. “GT was a big name school with a variety of research opportunities in chemical engineering,” she says. At‑ lanta also offered a multitude of recreational and cultural activities and placed her within driving distance of her hometown of Gilbert, S.C. “Family is very important to me, so being able to easily make a weekend trip home was vital,” says Kellye. Although she originally intended to pursue a masterʼs degree, her graduate advisor, Dr. Charles Eckert, and others, encouraged her to focus on a Ph.D. Kellye has fond memories of her experience at GT and says that “Dr. Eckert was a very supportive, encouraging, and creative thesis advisor.”

Upon graduation in 1996, Kellye joined MeadWestvacoʼs (MWV) Charleston Research Center as a research chemical engineer in the acti‑ vated carbon research group. She was a member of the team that started the companyʼs $100+ million state‑of‑the‑art activated carbon plant in Wickliffe, Ky. in 1997, and then worked on several post‑startup projects to further enhance plant performance. Kellye led several new product development projects and became team leader for carbon research in 2002. In 2004, she was promoted to research director for the Specialty Chemicals Division. This position evolved into a business development role within MWV Specialty Chemicals.

A business unit within MeadWestvaco, MWV Specialty Chemicals is the worldʼs leading supplier of activated carbons for automotive emis‑ sion controls and a leading supplier of asphalt emulsifiers and printing ink resins. Products are based on sustainable resources of sawdust and pine chemicals. For the past two years, Kellye has focused on activated carbon for drinking water applications. She works closely with business managers, sales teams, and technical groups. Her training as a chemical engineer allows her to provide the technical expertise necessary to con‑ nect the performance of activated carbon to industry applications.

During her tenure at MWV, Kellye has coordinated a variety of hands‑on, science‑based activities for middle school students visiting the MWV facility in North Charleston. She also partnered with the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) in Chemical Engineering program at the University of South Carolina for ten years by coordinating a day visit to MWV that included lab demonstrations, a chemical plant tour, and teamwork‑building skills.

In addition to her leadership involvement at MWV, Kellye serves in numerous roles in her community. She has been a member of the ChBE EAB at Georgia Tech since 2002. Kellye enjoys her responsibilities and says that “Participation on the advisory board offers a ʻreal worldʼ perspec‑ tive that can be used to shape undergraduate and graduate programs and impact the next wave of scientists, engineers, and business leaders.”

She also finds that serving on the EAB of her alma mater is a great way to stay connected with the ever‑changing and growing School of Chemi‑ cal & Biomolecular Engineering. “The EAB is given a unique perspective of student feedback, curriculum, new faculty strengths, and research programs and resources; the EAB takes this information and identifies focus areas for continuous improvement and holds the school leadership accountable,” she says.

No matter how hectic her schedule, Kellye always makes time for her family. She and her husband Mark live on Daniel Island, S.C. with their nine‑year‑old daughter Annalise and their soon to be four‑year‑old son Justin. Kellyeʼs free time is spent with her husband and children, so she is often attending Annaliseʼs swim meets or reading and playing games with Justin. She signed on for a second year as a Girl Scout junior troop leader working with 4th and 5th graders and also volunteers with her daughter at Seacoast Church in the four‑year‑old classroom. Whenever she can squeeze it into her schedule, Kellye exercises by running and doing aerobics. She admits that “Trying to stay fit and healthy while bal‑ ancing work and family time is not easy!”

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Feature

Making a Difference Dr. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, ChE ʻ79, uses media and the Internet to facilitate patient and physician education.

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ccasionally you meet someone who appears to be a natural‑ born star, someone whose talent abounds and whose success is admirable. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, ChE ʼ79, is one of those people. Her unusual resume includes physician, chemi‑ cal engineer, baton twirler, Miss Georgia 1976, and youngest (former) president of the American College of Physicians. She is a board certified doctor of internal medicine in Atlanta, and a clinical associate professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, and she serves on the staff at Piedmont Hospital. Her clinical expertise has been recognized both nationally and internationally with the titles of Master of the Ameri‑ can College of Physicians (MACP) and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP).

In addition to drawing on her natural talent, Dr. Fryhoferʼs diverse achievements have been accomplished with hard work, dedication, and perseverance. She also possesses a tremendous passion for helping oth‑ ers, which translates into a commitment to her patients, both those who visit her internal medicine practice and those who watch her videoblog and podcast series on the Internet.

For Dr. Fryhofer, the desire to help others was realized at an early age. When she was only five, she knew that she wanted to be a doctor.

Realizing she had to make good grades, she hit the books and became an excellent student. Although a career in medicine was her ultimate goal, Dr. Fryhofer was also practical.

“I knew I wanted to attend medical school. With chemical engineer‑ ing, I took pre‑med requirements as electives and finished with a degree that had job security. Medicine, just like chemical engineering, is about solving problems, and the engineering mindset has given me an edge in my career.”

Dr. Fryhofer selected Georgia Tech because of its “great engineer‑ ing department and great reputation.”

Her acceptance into the Institute her‑ alded the beginning of many accom‑ plishments because in those days at Georgia Tech, only one female was ad‑ mitted for every nine males. She ex‑ celled in the classroom and also on the football field as the featured baton twirler for the Yellow Jackets. Her rou‑ tine on the field was as impressive as her academic performance. Dr. Fryhofer graduated with high honors in 1979 and then received her M.D. degree and internal medicine residency training from Emory University School of Medi‑ cine, where she is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society.

During what would have been her sophomore year, Dr. Fryhofer took a break from Georgia Tech. Her decision

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had nothing to do with needing time away from her studies: she was ful‑ filling her role as Miss Georgia by making public appearances. She repre‑ sented Georgia in the national pageant and tap‑danced for her talent.

She didn't make the finals, but she walked away with scholarships that paid her way through college and medical school.

Dr. Fryhofer was only the second Miss America contestant to go on to become a doctor. She still recalls an interview with a pageant judge who asked her, “What makes you think you could be a doctor?” It was 1976, and back then the judge didnʼt think twice about the implications.

Dr. Fryhofer remembers being surprised by the question. She had a 3.7 GPA in chemical engineering, and it had never occurred to her that she could not be a doctor.

Believing in herself is one of the qualities that has made Dr. Fryhofer so successful in all her endeavors. She still draws on her experience as a public persona by using her competency in front of the camera, com‑ bined with her exceptional knowledge of medicine, to educate millions of people through a variety of media sources. Today, Dr. Fryhoferʼs inter‑ nal medicine practice centers largely, but not exclusively, on female pa‑ tients. Her interest in womenʼs health stems from personal experiences with patients and from the early days of her practice, which coincided with a growing national movement to improve health care for women.

For more than twenty years, Dr. Fryhofer has maintained her clinical office while serving the community through public appearances, broad‑ casts, and web‑based videos. “I am very interested in using media and the Internet to facilitate patient and physician education,” she says.

Dr. Fryhofer was a medical correspondent for CNN Headline News from 2001 to 2005, reporting on important medical issues on air and in print in her weekly CNN web column “Vital Signs by Dr. Sandy.” In addi‑ tion, she has appeared on NBCʼs “Today Show,” CNN, CNN Streetsweep,

CNN Talk Back Live, FOX News Network, NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, and ABC News NOW. Dr. Fryhofer has served on various committees and panels for the CDC, Institute of Medicine (IOM), and other organizations, addressing topics such as breast and cervical cancer screening, STD guidelines, folic acid, racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare, challenges facing the uninsured, womenʼs health issues, and obesity. She is a member of the ACP Adult Immunization Advisory Board and has testified and lectured about vaccines, including the new cervical cancer vaccine, the new shin‑ gles vaccine, as well as flu vaccine concerns. She has been a member of the Womanʼs Day Magazine Health and Fitness Advisory Board since 1998 and wrote a weekly health blog for Womanʼs Day website called “ON CALL with Dr. Sandy” from June 2007 to March 2009. She currently has videoblog and podcast series featured on WebMDʼs Medscape called “Medicine Matters.”

One of Dr. Fryhoferʼs most impressive achievements is her 2000 to 2001 tenure as president of the American College of Physicians, the na‑ tionʼs largest medical specialty society. She was only the second woman to be elected president and was the youngest president, male or female, in the collegeʼs 85‑year history. During her tenure on the ACP Board of Regents, she chaired the Committee on Womenʼs Health and was an ac‑ tive member of the Education Committee. She was national spokesper‑ son for the Doctors for Adults Public Education Campaign. Additionally,

she is a current member of the ACP Delegation to the American Medical Association and serves on the AMA Council on Science and Public Health.

To Dr. Fryhofer, her professional and community commitments are simply of an extension of what it means to be a doctor. A simple state‑ ment on her web site characterizes her philosophy best: “Our medical practice is all about you and your well‑being. . .because your health mat‑ ters.” She says that her patient practice focuses on prevention. “I encour‑ age healthy lifestyles and I personally practice what I preach. My children have followed my example. Their strong athletic interests are proof of their interest in exercise.”

Throughout her remarkable career, Dr. Fryhofer has also been a star in the role of wife and mother. She and her husband George William Fryhofer III, who is an attorney, met while she was in her second year of medical school. The couple married eleven months later, and they are the parents of boy/girl twins. Both children were varsity athletes in high school and are now college athletes. Daughter Sandra Lynne is the starting middle blocker on the Harvard Volleyball team, and son George rowed in the top freshmen lightweight 8‑man boat at Harvard.

Living by example and believing in herself are mantras that Dr. Fry‑ hofer has embraced since she first dreamed of being a physician. Over‑ coming obstacles both imagined and real have made her an inspirational leader in the medical community and to the countless people she has reached through public engagements, television, and the Internet.

PhD Student Kate Cerully Selected for NASA Summer Program in Airborne Science

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ost children have dreamed of traveling into outer space. Adults and children alike tour NASA every year, and thousands of enthusiasts gather to watch shuttle launches. Although everyone is familiar with the space program, many do not realize the additional areas in which NASA con‑ ducts research. One of those areas includes collecting data on Earth's oceans, climate, and other features. As part of NASAʼs Earth science re‑ search division, NASA sponsors the Student Airborne Research Program designed to immerse students in NASA's Earth science research through the use of ground measurements, aircraft, and satellite‑data collection.

Kate Cerully, a second‑year PhD student, had the opportunity of a lifetime this past summer when she was selected as one of 29 participants in the 2009 program. Kate is working towards a doctoral de‑ gree in chemical engineering with a minor in earth and atmospheric sciences (EAS), so her research meshes perfectly with the program. Her advisor is professor Athanasios Nenes, who shares a joint ap‑ pointment in ChBE and EAS. The program began with lectures at the University of California, Irvine, given by university faculty members, research institutions, and NASA scientists. Among those who spoke was Sherwood Rowland of the University of California, Irvine, a Nobel Laureate in chemistry and a long‑time user of NASAʼs DC‑ 8 airborne laboratoryʼs capabilities for his research on atmospheric chemistry.

Using the DC‑8 flying laboratory based at NASAʼs Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., Kate, along with the other undergraduate and graduate students, received a rare behind‑the‑ scene look at instrument integration, flight planning, and payload testing that is the basis of every suc‑ cessful Earth science airborne campaign carried out by NASA. These airborne research campaigns play a pivotal role in the calibration and validation of NASAʼs space‑borne Earth observations, remote sens‑ ing measurements, and high‑resolution imagery for Earth system science.

Kate, who grew up in Altoona, Pennsylvania, received her undergraduate degree in chemical en‑ Kate Cerully taking samples aboard the DC‑8, NASAʼs gineering from the University of Pittsburgh. She selected Georgia Tech primarily for the variety of re‑ “Flying Laboratory.” search conducted in ChBE. She has a strong interest in sustainability and is concerned about “making a positive impact on the way we deal with the natural elements around us.” When she found Dr. Nenes, she knew that his research program “fit her to a T.” Kateʼs research focuses on investigating and characterizing the link between aerosol volatility, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity, and droplet growth kinetics. Her research will provide much‑needed constraints for global modeling studies of aerosol‑cloud interactions, which is necessary to better understand the indirect effects of aerosols on climate change.

The program is one of NASAʼs tools that can assist with the development and testing of new instruments and future satellite mission concepts. The programʼs goal is to stimulate interest in NASAʼs Earth science research and aid in recruitment of the next generation of engineers and scientists.

The Student Airborne Research Program is managed through the National Suborbital Education and Research Center (NSERC) at the University of North Dakota, with funding and support from NASAʼs Airborne Science Program. The NSERC was established through a cooperative agreement between the Uni‑ versity of North Dakota and NASA.

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Student Profile Great Expectations Melissa McCoy is one of ChBEʼs rising stars. With a 4.0 GPA, numerous leadership roles, and several internships already completed, she is bound for a brilliant career.

Photo by Malina Janakat

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elissa McCoy is the type of student who stands out from the mo‑ ment you meet her. She arrived on the Georgia Tech campus in fall 2008, fresh from high school, with the expected enthusiasm of a teenager excited to be in college. Yet she was quite different than a typical first‑year student. Melissa brought with her 39 advanced placement credits, qualifying her for classification as a sophomore. She tackled her fresh‑ man year with gusto and quickly declared her major as chemical and biomolec‑ ular engineering.

“I have no doubt that ChBE is the major that is right for me,” says Melissa.

The National Merit Scholar traveled from her hometown of Dallas, Texas, during her senior year of high school to meet with Dr. Pradeep Agrawal, ChBEʼs Associ‑ ate Chair for Undergraduate Studies. She already knew that she wanted to major in ChBE; the only remaining decision was selecting the right school. After visiting the campus and discovering all of the benefits offered by Georgia Tech and Atlanta, Melissa made her decision and registered for classes.

As the daughter of two chemical engineers, Melissa comes by her proclivity for the discipline naturally. However, although her academic interests may have been influenced by her parentʼs career choices, Melissa has already carved her own niche in the academic world. As a Presidentʼs Scholar, she completed her first year in May 2009, earning a 4.0 while successfully juggling several leadership roles.

Melissa served on the Freshman Activities Board her first year, is the vice president of Lambda Sigma, an honorary organization for sophomores dedicated to leadership and service, and is a member of the President's Council Governing Board. Most notably, however, she serves as the vice presi‑ dent of campus relations for Georgia Techʼs chapter of AIESEC, the worldʼs largest student‑based organization spanning more than 100 countries and more than 1100 universities. (The acronym AIESEC is no longer expanded–at one point, it expanded to a French phrase that meant International Asso‑ ciation of Students in Economics and Commerce.) AIESEC is dedicated to building international understanding and cooperation by providing young people with the tools and opportunities to become globally minded, responsible leaders and connecting them to organizations worldwide for inter‑ national internship experiences. As vice president, Melissa organizes campus events, including the Global Village, which is held in conjunction with the Georgia Tech Culture Fest. The Global Village promotes cultural understanding through visual presentations, food, music, dances, and traditional garments. Additionally, Melissa led the most successful AIESEC recruitment drive on campus to date, which firmly established the groupʼs presence at Georgia Tech. With a pool of 120 applicants from which to choose, AIESEC accepted 46 new members in 2009. Melissa also coordinated AIESECʼs part‑ nership with the International Rescue Committee in Atlanta to provide tutoring for international refugee students at Georgia Perimeter College. On November 6, AIESEC capped off the year by hosting the AIESEC International Autumn Ball, where John Brock, ChE ʻ70, MS ChE ʻ71, the president and CEO of Coca‑Cola Enterprises, served as keynote speaker.

Melissa has completed internships at Raytheon Company and Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., and participated in a shadow program at Frito‑ Lay, where she joined Malina Janakat, PhD ChE ʻ06, for two days to learn what life is like for a research and development engineer. Melissa assisted in a pilot‑scale lab and in a diagnostic‑panel taste test. She met with people from all stages of product development–from concept to commercialization– and spent time in the packaging room learning about innovations in compostable packaging film. She also attended a cross‑functional meeting to see how R&D works with other departments, such as marketing, finance, product supply, and purchasing, to launch a product on time and flawlessly.

While at Frito‑Lay, Melissa had lunch with Georgia Tech alumni, including EAB Board Member, Carlos Barroso, ChE ʻ80, who is the former senior vice president of research and development for PepsiCo. (Frito‑Lay is a wholly‑owned subsidiary of PespiCo.) Next summer, Melissa plans to intern at BP in Alaska. Each of her internship experiences has offered an introduction into a different area of chem‑ ical engineering. Her work at Raytheon and Air Products focused primarily on systems and supply, software design, and advanced separations. At BP, she will have the opportunity to conduct field experimentation, as well as work in onsite labs. “I enjoy exploring what the world has to offer and being given the opportunity to chart my own course through it. Hopefully, my experiences at Georgia Tech and in the working world will allow me to find the role I wish to play in my career and my life,” she says.

Although her parents often wonder when she finds time to sleep, Melissa promises that she does make time to relax and have fun. When she is not studying or organizing events for AIESEC and Lambda Sigma, she often watches movies or plays tennis. She is a member of Alpha Chi Omega, a social sorority, and enjoys spending time with her sisters.

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Letter from the Chair Before addressing activities in the School, I hope you wonʼt mind if I take this opportunity to reflect on the importance of education to the well‑being of our nation. As is my custom, this past Sunday I watched a trio of interview programs cov‑ ering the issues considered im‑ portant by the national television news media. I do this in the midst of stretching, lifting weights, and taking a long walk on the treadmill. This week was different because NBCʼs Meet the Press ad‑ dressed education. David Gregory had as guests on Meet the Press Secre‑ tary of Education Arne Duncan, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Reverend Al Sharpton. While there were minor (!) elements of differences within the group, each spoke about the role teachers have in challenging students to meet their full capabilities; the key point was to get students to expect more from themselves, not as a right but in order to meet their own potential. Why in the world would these three politi‑ cally focused men come together on this issue? The answer is in what I see every day among our most successful students: namely, the futures of in‑ dividuals and of society depend upon an educated citizenry. What kind of world would we have if we did not transfer our knowledge and skills to subsequent generations? We want you to know that we take that respon‑ sibility seriously and are committed to providing graduates from our pro‑ grams with what they need to be successful. It is such a treat to see others, such as Messieurs Duncan, Gingrich, and Sharpton, helping to elevate the discussion to the level its importance deserves.

Fall is the time those of us in academia welcome new students into our programs. This year we note a substantial rise in undergraduate enroll‑ ments in ChBE to near 700. The numbers reflect an increasing number of transfers from other engineering programs and the growing recognition of opportunities available to our graduates. We also welcomed more than 60 new graduate students into the School, clearly the largest incoming class in our history.

The annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers took place November 8 through 13 in Nashville, Tennessee. I am happy to report that there were 110 presentations given by a faculty member or graduate student from Georgia Tech, and there were 23 technical sessions chaired by Georgia Tech faculty members. Such a prolific output is indica‑ tive of the vitality and timeliness of the research going on in the School.

You may recall that in the last newsletter I remarked on my service as interim director of the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) at Georgia Tech. I am happy to report that Norman Marsolan has been ap‑ pointed director. Norman brings with him twenty years of experience at the International Paper Company (IPC). As the director of research and de‑ velopment at IPC, he led the global paper and packaging research and de‑ velopment program, delivering product and manufacturing process innovations. Norman will also hold an appointment as professor of the practice in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering.

The ChBE faculty continues to address our four strategic research thrusts in energy, materials, systems, and biotechnology. As one feature of

that effort, I participated in a Georgia Tech roundtable entitled “Cancer Re‑ search: The Intersection of Health, Medicine, Engineering and Comput‑ ing.” The event was co‑hosted by ChE alumnus John Brock, ChE ʻ70, MS ChE ʻ71, and Kathy Betty (who lost her husband, alumnus Garry Betty, ChE ʻ79, to cancer in 2007). Preparing to describe the cancer research of eight of my ChBE colleagues at the roundtable was quite a challenge. Neverthe‑ less, the exercise left me even more impressed with the capabilities in bio‑ molecular engineering developing in the School. The work I described included that of Julie Champion, Rachel Chen, Michelle Dawson, Hang Lu, Carson Meredith, Mark Prausnitz, Mark Styczynski, and Lakeshia Taite. It ranged from drug delivery, to cancer detection, to therapies addressing the disease itself. I hope you will let me know if you would like more infor‑ mation on this aspect of our program, as it is impossible to do it justice with a few sentences.

In my column last fall, I gave some of my observations related to the undergraduate design presentations and the graduate student Fourth‑ Year Colloquium. Here I would like to reflect on the 21st Annual Graduate Student Symposium held this past summer. This is an event, organized by our graduate students under the auspices of the Association of Chemical Engineering Graduate Students (AChEGS), that brings several industrial visitors to hear presentations and view posters describing the outstanding work of our graduate students. This was an especially challenging year be‑ cause of travel restrictions imposed by many of the companies that nor‑ mally participate, which led the students to move the Symposium from its usual time in the spring. Nevertheless, there was good corporate participa‑ tion to hear more than 20 oral presentations and to discuss a like number of posters. The Symposium chairs were Dhaval Patel and Jan Krajniak .

Plans are under way for the 22nd Symposium, and we urge our industrial colleagues to plan on attending.

Finally, I can tell you that the School is remarkably strong. While we are dealing constructively with challenges resulting from the economic re‑ cession, I have the utmost confidence that the ChBE faculty members are delivering outstanding education and training to our students. We are grateful for the support from alumni, friends, and corporate supporters, which is vital to our continuing ability to perform at the level expected of Georgia Tech.

Photo by Lakeshia Taite

A

lumni and Friends of the School:

Associate professor Victor Breedveld (left) speaks with a potential stu‑ dent at the graduate school fair held on November 8 during the 2009 AIChE Annual Meeting in Nashville.

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Photo by Josie Giles

Meet ChBE’s Newest Faculty

T

he last issue of ChBE News introduced the faculty members who joined the School in spring 2009. This issue spotlights the four assis‑ tant professors who began their appointments at Georgia Tech this fall. The ChBE faculty now comprises more than 40 members, includ‑ ing nine women and eleven who have been hired within the past two years.

Julie Champion received her BSE in chemical engineering from the Uni‑ versity of Michigan in 2001, and her PhD in chemical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2007. She credits her summer intern‑ ships at General Motors R&D with motivating her to go to graduate school. At UCSB, Julie discovered the role that chemical engineers can play in improving human health. She won a National Science Foundation (NSF) graduate fel‑ lowship and created polymer particles with unique morphologies to demon‑ strate the effect of shape on drug delivery properties. In graduate school, she realized her passion was to teach and work with students to make an impact on human illness. To prepare for this career, Julie completed training at Cal‑ tech as a National Institute of Health (NIH) postdoctoral fellow. There she broadened her materials skills from polymers to proteins, including protein design and incorporation of “non‑natural” amino acids.

Currently, Julieʼs research interests focus on the design and creation of therapeutic biomaterials for the treatment of diseases such as breast cancer and chronic inflammation as well as spinal cord and combat injuries. She says, “As chemical engineers, our training allows us to operate at the inter‑ face of engineering, materials science, and medicine. We can fill that critical gap between biological discoveries and treatment of real people.” Her lab is working on engineering protein‑based materials that will alter the behavior of errant cells by combining “host‑control” methods of pathogens with drug delivery strategies.

Julie met her husband, Kevin Boulware, also a chemical engineer, in graduate school. Although they do talk science sometimes, they really enjoy cooking, wine, and playing outside.

Carsten Sievers received his Diplom degree in chemistry from the Tech‑ nical University of Munich, Germany in 2003, and a Doctor of natural science cum laude from the same institution in 2006. His graduate research in Dr. Jo‑ hannes A. Lercherʼs group was focused on heterogeneous catalysis for petro‑ leum refining processes and the development of novel catalytic materials.

This work included multi‑technique characterization of solid catalysts, in‑situ spectroscopy, and studies of reaction kinetics. His results were presented in 17 peer‑reviewed journal articles and 27 conference presentations.

After arriving at Georgia Tech in 2007 as a postdoctoral researcher work‑ ing on catalytic conversion of woody biomass in Dr. Chris Jonesʼs lab, Carsten began applying for faculty positions. ChBE recruited him as an assistant pro‑ fessor, and for the past year he has held a transitional position in ChBE as a re‑ search engineer.

Currently, Carstenʼs research aims at developing new catalytic processes for producing fuels and chemicals from renewable resources. His research projects include studies on surface chemistry of biomass‑derived oxygenates, development of processes for an integrated biorefinery, and improving the stability of catalysts under typical conditions for biomass conversion.

Carsten is married to Laura Sievers, who was born and raised in Canada.

The couple met at a student residence of the National University of Singapore when both were undergraduate exchange students.

Mark Styczynski received a BS in chemical engineering from the Univer‑ sity of Notre Dame in 2002, and a PhD in chemical engineering from MIT in 2007. His PhD research addressed the computational problem of discovering patterns in complex, high‑dimensional biological data. He completed a post‑ doctoral fellowship at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the field of comparative functional genomics, where he measured high‑through‑ put phenotypic (output) data from many closely related yeast species to un‑ derstand the forces of evolution that guided these speciesʼ development and ultimately control their metabolism. His postgraduate awards include an NSF

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graduate fellow‑ ship and an NIH postdoctoral fel‑ lowship.

Markʼs cur‑ rent research in‑ volves using system‑wide measurement of small‑molecule metabolism inter‑ mediates (metabolomics) as a way to under‑ stand and engi‑ neer cellular metabolism.

While a significant Back row from left: Mark Styczynski and Carsten Sievers; bottom row: Julie Champion and Krista Walton. portion of his work focuses on yeast as a model system, he is already establishing collaborations to directly study cancer metabolism and metabolism in some new model systems. In ad‑ dition to metabolomics, his research interests include systems biology, bioin‑ formatics, and metabolic engineering.

The cross‑cutting applications of his research excite Mark the most.

Studying metabolites and metabolism allows immediate applications in fields ranging from bioprocess engineering and biofuels to drug discovery and the design of disease diagnostic tools. He says that “getting to work with people from a variety of fields and provide a different perspective on their research is an amazing opportunity. It allows a young field like metabolomics to truly make a difference in the world in so many ways.”

Mark and his wife Megan, also a PhD from MIT, are looking forward to experiencing Atlanta and are particularly excited about exploring the north Georgia mountains and the southern portion of the Appalachian Trail. While theyʼll sorely miss the White Mountains in New Hampshire, they hope they can find a second home for their outdoor adventures in Georgia.

Krista Walton received her BSE in chemical engineering from the Univer‑ sity of Alabama in Huntsville in 2000. She completed her graduate work in ad‑ sorption science and porous materials under the direction of Dr. Doug LeVan at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and earned her PhD in chem‑ ical engineering in 2005. She was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the American Chemical Society (ACS) Petroleum Research Fund in May 2005 for studying hydrogen storage in metal‑organic frameworks. Krista completed her postdoctoral appointment under the direction of Dr. Randall Snurr in chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University.

In October 2006, Krista began a faculty position at Kansas State Univer‑ sity as the Tim and Sharon Taylor Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering.

She received several research awards during her time at K‑State, including the Army Research Office Young Investigator Award, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), and the National Science Foun‑ dation CAREER Award.

Kristaʼs current research focuses on various aspects of the design and synthesis of functional porous materials for use in applications, including ad‑ sorption separations, air purification, gas storage, chemical sensing, and catal‑ ysis. Her group employs a combination of molecular modeling techniques and experiments to develop a molecular‑level understanding of adsorption and diffusion properties.

Krista is excited to be living in the southeast again and enjoys spending time with her family in north Alabama. She is also a lifelong Braves fan and is looking forward to attending some games in the upcoming season.

News Briefs Akua Asa‑Awuku, PhD ChE ʻ08, who recently joined the Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California‑Riverside as an assistant pro‑ fessor of chemical & environmental engineering, was selected to partici‑ pate in the 2009 Atmospheric Chemistry Colloquium for Emerging Senior Scientists (ACCESS). ACCESS brings together young researchers for scien‑ tific discussion and interaction with representatives of the principal fed‑ eral government agencies that fund atmospheric chemistry research.

These agencies include the DOE, EPA, NASA, NSF, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In conjunction with ACCESS, Akua also participated in the Atmospheric Chemistry Gordon Conference.

Graduate student Tae Hyun Bae, who works with Drs. Sankar Nair & Chris Jones, was named a recipient of the 2009 Doh Wonsuk Memorial Award by the U.S. Chapter of Korean Institute of Chemical Engineering.

Rajeswari Chandrasekaran, who works with Dr. Tom Fuller, and Ven‑ mathy Rajarathinam, who works with Dr. Paul Kohl, received AIChE Womenʼs Initiative Committee Travel Grant Awards for 2009. The award supports travel for female undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral associates to the AIChE Annual conference. Rajeswari and Venmathy were among the select group of twelve students chosen for this award.

Civil and environmental engineering professor John Crittenden accepted a joint appointment in ChBE. Dr. Crittenden is the director of the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, the Hightower Chair in Environ‑ mental Technologies, and a Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Eminent Scholar in Sustainable Systems. Prior to coming to Georgia Tech, Dr. Crit‑ tenden was the Richard Snell Presidential Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Arizona State University. He received his Bachelor's and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Dr. Clifford Henderson was named a Fellow of the Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE).

Dr. Mike Filler won the 2009 Ziegler Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award.

search and development program, delivering product and manufacturing process innovations. Prior to assuming his role at IPC, he held a tenure‑track position at Louisiana Tech University in chemical engineering. Dr. Marsolan earned his bachelorʼs, masterʼs, and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from Louisiana State University. He is actively involved in the Technical Asso‑ ciation of Pulp & Paper (TAPPI) and is currently serving as vice chair. He pre‑ viously served on the IPST Board of Executives from 2006 to 2008. Dr. Marsolan will also hold the position of professor of the practice in ChBE. Graduate student Rich Moore, who works with Dr. Athanasios Nenes, won the Best Student Poster Award at the 2009 annual conference of the American Association for Aerosol Research in Minneapolis.

Dr. Athanasios Nenesʼs research group received the NASA Group Achieve‑ ment Award this year for its participation in the 2008 Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) field campaign. The ARCTAS mission studies the smoke plumes from northern latitude forest fires and produces new data through a choreo‑ graphed effort between modelers and experimenters.

Dr. Elsa Reichmanis was named a Fellow of the American Chemical Soci‑ ety (ACS).

Georgina Schaefer, who works as an undergraduate researcher with Drs. Charles Eckert and Charles Liotta, spent ten weeks in a research‑intensive program at RWTH University in Aachen, Germany. Georgina worked on a switchable solvents project that included a thorough review of a combination of reaction and separations.

The October issue of the AIChE Journal featured “Developing Chiral Sur‑ faces for Enantioselective Chemical Processing” as its cover story. Co‑writ‑ ten by Dr. David Sholl and Dr. Andy Gellman from Carnegie Mellon University, the article was also spotlighted in the October issue of Chemi‑ cal Engineering Progress.

Ho Ming “Gabriel” Tong received a 2008‑2009 Outstanding Undergradu‑ ate Researcher Award (UROP) from the Institute.

Dr. Tom Fuller was named a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society and as‑ sociate editor of the Journal of the Electrochemical Society.

Dr. Chris Jones was selected to receive the 2010 Ipatieff Prize by the American Chemical Society (ACS). The award recognizes outstanding chemical experimental work in the field of catalysis or high pressure, car‑ ried out by an individual who is not over 40 years of age. Dr. Jones will re‑ ceive the award for his work on the elucidation of the nature of the truly catalytic species in palladium‑catalyzed Heck and Suzuki coupling reac‑ tions. The award will be presented at the 239th ACS national meeting in San Francisco in the spring.

ChBE Receives Gift from ExxonMobil

Dr. Yeuchun Kim, a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Mark Prausnitzʼs lab, received the second prize Edward Jenner Poster Award at the 3rd Global Vaccine Congress in Singapore. His poster was entitled “Improved Intradermal Immunization Using Microneedle Patches Coated with Influenza VLPs.” Dr. Hang Lu's research on automated high‑throughput cell microsurgery on‑chip was featured in the Lab on a Chip journal.

On November 1, Dr. Norman Marsolan became the new director of the Insti‑ tute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST). Dr. Marsolan has twenty years of experience at the International Paper Company (IPC). As director of re‑ search and development at IPC, he led the global paper and packaging re‑

On November 6, representatives from the ExxonMobil Corporation, Truman Bell (left) and Charlie Dixon (right), presented School Chair Ronald Rousseau with an unrestricted $19K gift to fund ChBE initiatives. Addition‑ ally, the company presented ChBE with a $25K gift for its ongoing Exxon‑ Mobil Success Program, which provides mentoring, study help, and professional development assistance to minority students, and also spon‑ sors guest speakers from academia and business. ExxonMobil made an ad‑ ditional gift of $26K to other Georgia Tech programs.

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ConocoPhillips Sponsors Fall Picnic Photo by Josie Giles

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epresentatives from ConocoPhillips Corporation joined the AIChE student chapter as the hosts of a fall picnic, which drew hundreds of ChBE students, faculty, and staff on October 16.

In addition to providing unique ConocoPhillips giveaways, the corporation organized a door prize raffle in which students received special prizes, including gift certificates for restaurants and i‑Tunes.

The picnic provided a forum for the corporate representatives to meet with ChBE students one‑on‑one and share details about the nu‑ merous opportunities for internships and permanent employment at locations in more than 30 countries.

ConocoPhillips provides ongoing support for the annual Cono‑ coPhillips/C.J. “Pete” Silas Program in Ethics and Leadership, student scholarships for international study at the Imperial College London, the AIChE student chapter, as well as unrestricted support for other ChBE initiatives. Additionally, Dr. Pradeep Agrawal, Associate Chair for Un‑ dergraduate Studies, served as a 2008‑09 ConocoPhillips Faculty Fel‑ low and received $50K in funding for undergraduate programs.

For the 2009‑10 academic year, ConocoPhillips has given $37K to Georgia Tech, of which $12K has been designated to ChBE.

We Welcome Your Questions, Comments, or News

Back row from left: ConocoPhillips representatives Nikki Benson, Bill Burns, Kingsley Ekworomadu, and Tim Langlais; AIChE student chapter leaders Josh Nagy and Melissa Marchbanks; front row: Katie Taylor, A. D. Barfield, and Kristen Brown.

ChBE News & Alumni News

ChBE Development

ChBE Program Information

Josie Giles (404) 385‑2299 Fax: (404) 385‑0185 josie@gatech.edu

Melisa Baldwin (404) 894‑0987 Fax: (404) 385‑0185 melisa.baldwin@chbe.gatech.edu

ChBE Main Office (404) 894‑1838 grad.info@chbe.gatech.edu ugrad.info@chbe.gatech.edu