UF ChE News_Spring 2017

S P R I N G 2 017

W W W.C H E .U FL . E D U

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING NEWS

PR O FE SS O R W I NS T E ACH ER O F T H E Y E AR AWAR D PAGE 6 AN N UAL SHAH LEC TURE I N SU R FACE SCI EN CE PAGE 3

CHAIR’S MESSAGE

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR OUTSTANDING FACULTY AND THE MANY AWARDS RECEIVED THIS ACADEMIC YEAR

GREETINGS FROM GAINESVILLE! This is an exciting time to be par t of the Gator ChemE family! We have much to celebrate this Spring. First, we hired our newest faculty member, Dr. Whitney Stoppel, who will be joining the depar tment as an Assistant Professor in Fall of 2018. Her research program will be located in the new biotechnology labs in the Herber t Wer theim Laborator y for Engineering Excellence, currently under construc tion.

Dr. Stoppel received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Tulane University, her PhD from University of Massachuset ts– Amherst, and she is currently a postdoc toral research associate in Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University.

Second, thanks to the generosity of Alex Moreno (BS ’83), who is funding the Alex Moreno Professorship, the Depar tment of Chemical Engineering will be leading the new Energy Systems Program in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. In addition to bringing new faculty with energy exper tise to UF, this program will provide new undergraduate and graduate educational opportunities in Energy Systems Engineering. The objec tive of this program is to bet ter prepare engineering students for career paths that help address our current and future energy needs by providing them broad understanding of energy resources, conversion, transmission, and storage, as well as the environmental and social impac ts of various energy options.

Finally, 2017 is a milestone for the Depar tment’s histor y. Lew Johns and Shirley Kelly have now ser ved in the depar tment for 50 years! Both joined UF in 1967 and have been ser ving our students with their own personal flairs ever since. Notably, Shirley was the ver y first African American hired by the College of

2 Powering The New Engineer

Engineering.Thank you to all who were able to join us for our celebration of this great milestone on April 7. We are looking forward to the next 50 years with you, Shirley and Lew! On a sadder note, the Gator ChemE family has lost a prominent member and great supporter of our students, Dr. Leonard Bernstein (’62), who passed away last fall. Dr. Bernstein led a highly distinguished career as a climate scientist at Mobil and later as a member and a repor t-author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Dr. Bernstein’s generous financial suppor t has truly transformed the undergraduate experience at UF, leading to the construc tion of the Chemical Engineering Student Center, major upgrades to the Unit Operations Laborator y, and the new Harr y and Ber tha Bernstein Professorship in Chemical Engineering held by the Direc tor of Undergraduate Af fairs, Dr. Spyros Svoronos. The Gator ChemE Family will never forget you and all you have done for us, Lenny!

Our outstanding faculty continue to earn the highest honors. Please join me in congratulating Professor Kirk Ziegler for receiving the University of Florida 2016-17 Doc toral Disser tation Advisor/Mentoring Award, recognizing his excellence, innovation, and ef fec tiveness in doc toral student advising and mentoring. Professor Ranga Narayanan received the Herber t Wer theim College of Engineering Teacher/Scholar of the Year Award, for distinguished achievement in both teaching and scholarly ac tivity and visibility within and beyond the College. Finally, Professor Helena Hagelin Weaver was this year’s recipient of the Herber t Wer theim College of Engineering Teacher of the Year Award, for her outstanding undergraduate instruc tion and her innovations in safety education.

Congratulations!

Go Gators!

D.O. SHAH ANNUAL LECTURE IN SURFACE

Engineering of Colloidal Assemblies to Move and Change Shape: Smart Gels, Reconfigurable Clusters and Self-Propelling Microbots

SCIENCE The Shah Lecture in Surface Science will present strategies for electric and magnetic field driven assembly and manipulation of a rich variety of dynamic structures from colloidal particles. In the first part of the talk, we will describe a new smart gel system of ultraflexible chains from magnetically responsive nanoparticles inside multiphase water-oil systems (Nature Mater. 14:1104, 2015). In the second part of the talk we will discuss how metallo-dielectric Janus/patchy spheres and microcubes acquire complex polarization patterns in external fields, leading to multidirectional interactions and assembly. We will describe how magnetically responsive Janus microcubes can be assembled hierarchically into dynamically reconfiguring microclusters and chains.

Orlin D. Velev Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University

April 17th, 2017 NEB 201

Dr. Orlin Velev received M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Sofia, Bulgaria, while also spending one year as a researcher in Nagayama Protein Array Project in Japan. After graduating in 1996, Velev accepted a postdoctoral position with the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware. He has contributed more than 190 publications, which have been cited more than 17,000 times. He has received numerous awards, has been elected to an ACS Fellow and MRS Fellow, and has served as member of the Editorial Advisory Boards of Langmuir, Chem. Mater., Biomicrofluidics and Particle and as Section Editor of Curr. Opin. Colloid Interface Sci. Technologies based on his research have formed the basis of two Research Triangle Area startup companies. He has been an advocate of incorporating the latest achievements in the areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology in the engineering curriculum.

Velev group web-page: http://www.che.ncsu.edu/velevgroup/ Velev faculty page: http://crystal.che.ncsu.edu/

Reception in Atrium To Transform the Future 3

IN MEMORY OF DR. LEONARD BERNSTEIN (’62) DR. BERNSTEIN LED A HIGHLY DISTINGUISHED CAREER AS A CLIMATE SCIENTIST AT MOBIL AND L ATER AS A MEMBER AND A REPORT-AUTHOR FOR THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE.

Upon graduating from UF with his BCHE in 1962, Lenny completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University in 1969. Lenny spent the next twenty years as a researcher for Exxon. He worked, in part, to determine the effects of gasoline quality on air pollution.

When he moved to Mobil in 1989, he quickly became the corporate expert on climate change. Though working for an oil company, he understood that human-induced climate change was a threat with severe impacts to people.

In 1995, Lenny began attending UN meetings devoted first to the negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol, then to its ratification and implementation.

He was a member of the writing team that produced the overall summary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Fourth Assessment’s Synthesis Report. In 2007, the IPCC shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore, and Lenny was recognized for contributing to this award. No, he didn’t “win” the Nobel Prize but he, along with his fellow scientists and engineers, treasured the certificate from the King of Norway.

DR. LENNY BERNSTEIN, BELOVED UF Chemical Engineer and distinguished UF alumnus, passed away last fall, ending an enthusiastic, active, and caring life. He was committed to the environment, educating the next generation of chemical engineers, and devoted to hiking: melding these three lives seamlessly.

4 Powering The New Engineer

Lenny was proud of persuading others the old fashioned way, with a pencil on graph paper. It was the same kind of optimistic rationalism he used to influence people who take pride in denying facts and reality: show them on paper, as simply as you can, and as many times as you need to.

In his other life passion, Lenny discovered the pleasures and challenges of hiking in his twenties and hiked his first mile on the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) in 1974. He’s been hiking, maintaining, and supporting the A.T. ever since. Lenny and his wife Danny (Danielle) are “A.T. end-to enders”—completing the 2,185-mile trail in 1998. He also walked all the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, becoming a Smokies 900M. He was very active in the Carolina Mountain Club, serving twice as president.

The club recognized his service by granting him its highest club honor—Honorary Life Membership.

Lenny’s philanthropic contributions to the University of Florida, the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering were transformational. Lenny generously endowed a professorship in memory of his parents, Harry & Bertha Bernstein, within the Department of Chemical Engineering to fund, in perpetuity, the Director of the Undergraduate Program position.

“Lenny expressed a deep appreciation for the value of the education he received at the University of Florida in shaping his career and his life” recalls CHE Department Chair Dr. Richard Dickinson.

“He embodied the principal of ‘paying it forward’ to support the education and futures of current chemical engineering students.”

1941-2016

PROFESSORSHIPS

The professorship encourages the holder to undertake activities that benefit undergraduate education within the department. This inspired Professor Spyros Svoronos to modify the Process Control classes, so that simulations are replaced by hands-on experiments individually performed by each student in the regular classroom. This enables the combination of lecturing and simultaneous experimentation on the lecture topic, providing unique experiential education.

Lenny cared deeply about educating the best and brightest minds, particularly at the undergraduate level. Lenny also funded significant renovations to the CHE Unit Operations Laboratory, which included upgrades and replacements such as: •

Rebuilding the West Distillation Column to eliminate leaks in the system and enable distillation at higher pressure

•

Installing new Gas Chromatographs, including autosamplers.

This renovation has allowed our students to enhance the accuracy of their measurements of product composition

• Comprehensive upgrades of the Process Control System for the two pilot scale distillation columns, which allowed the department to upgrade aging control equipment and outdated software while providing students with experience operating a modern chemical plant •

Replacing the failing and inefficient Thin Film Evaporator. This change has begun to improve students’ experience by allowing them to collect more reliable and meaningful data

•

Upgrading the aging Filtration System by replacing the Slurry Pump to a pump with dry seal to eliminate leakage in the system, installing a more powerful Vacuum

•

Pump, and replacing the Filter Motor to allow better control over the filter rotation speed

•

Replacing the Fluid Flow experiment with a more versatile system which allows the students to explore a wider range of flow conditions

•

Purchasing a new Hydraulic Lift for use with the pilot distillation columns. It replaced an old lift which was becoming a safety hazard

Lenny served as a member of the Chemical Engineering Advisory board and drove the 20-hour roundtrip from his home in North Carolina to Gainesville to attend the meetings. He did not stay for the next day’s football games; his focus entirely on improving student education. He received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Florida in recognition of his career achievements, steadfast support, and advocacy of the college.

Lenny meant so much to so many within the college and CHE Department. His impact and legacy resides in all of the programs and people he touched over his lifetime, along with the generations of students to come that will reap the benefits of Lenny’s hard work as a volunteer and most generous donor to advance education excellence within chemical engineering at UF.

5

To Transform the Future 5

FACULTY AWARDS & PUBLICATIONS SEE ALL PAPERS & PUBLICATIONS ON OUR HOMEPAGE: WWW.CHE.UFL.EDU

HELENA HAGELIN-WEAVER PROFESSOR

2016-2017 HERBERT WERTHEIM COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING TEACHER OF THE YEAR AWARD

KIRK ZIEGLER

FAN REN

PROFESSOR

DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR

2016-2017 COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LEVEL MENTORING AWARD & DOCTORAL DISSERTATION ADVISOR AWARD

PUBLISHES NEW BOOK, SEMICONDUCTORBASED SENSORS

ANUJ CHAUHAN

JASON WEAVER

RANGA NARAYANAN

ASSOC. CHAIR & PROFESSOR

PROFESSOR

DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR

HHS SBIR/STTR CONFERENCE BEST POSTER AWARD FOR RESEARCH ON OPTHALMIC DRUG DELIVERY BY CONTACT LENSES. 6 Powering The New Engineer

AMERICAN VACCUUM SOCIETY (AVS) FELLOW

2016-2017 HERBERT WERTHEIM COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING TEACHER/SCHOLAR OF THE YEAR AWARD

PhD Student wins 3rd Place Award & Honorable Mention Award

STUDENT

AWA R DS Yang Zhao

Celeste Sheets Undergrad Selected to Represent UF at McDonald Cadet Leadership Conference Celeste Sheets, a fourth-year ChemE undergrad, has been selected as the candidate to represent UF at the McDonald Cadet Leadership Conference (MCLC) at West Point. The mission of the conference is for top student leaders to work in teams to build their leadership skills and develop strategies to address global issues.

Celeste has been active in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), Chemical Engineering Peer Advisors, the Society of Women Engineers, Benton Engineering Council’s E-Week, the Engineering Student Advisory Council, and the Engineering Student Leadership Advisory Board. Celeste has technical experience with participation in two design teams through the AIChE, and has gained hands-on experience through multiple engineering internships including working for Arthrex, Inc., Georgia Pacific, ExxonMobil, Tropicana, Dow Chemical, and an internship with Chevron Corporation this summer.

Yang Zhao, a Ph.D. Candidate from Dr. Kirk J. Ziegler’s research group, received the 3rd Place 2016 Carbon Nanomaterials Grad Student Award at the 2016 AIChE Annual Meeting. Yang was the only UF finalist and recipient since the establishment of this prestigious oral presentation award. His talk reported the formation of thermodynamic co-surfactant states around single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), which provides a promising foundation for the development of large-scale, high-throughput chromatographic separations that can collect nanotubes with different electronic properties. Yang was alson awarded an Honorable Mention in the oral presentation competition at the NanoFlorida 2016 Symposium in Orlando.

Lorena Maldonado-Carmargo

Kevin Buettner

Ph.D. grad published article in Nano Letters

Ph.D. student receives PTF Best Poster Award

Nano Letters is one of the premier journals in the field of nanotechnology, and the journal publishes high-impact, fundamental work in all areas of nanotechnology. Lorena Maldonado-Camargo’s manuscript entitled, “Breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein Relation for the Rotational Diffusivity of Polymer Grafted Nanoparticles in Polymer Melts”, describes detailed measurements of the rotational diffusivity of magnetic nanoparticles of various sizes and coated with polymer melts of various molecular weights.

Lorena’s work clearly demonstrates that there is a critical melt molecular weight above which the Stokes-Einstein relation for the rotational diffusivity no longer accurately predicts the rotation of the nanoparticles in the melts.synthesis of surface modifications of cobalt ferrit nanoparticles.

Kevin Buettner was one of three students to receive the Particle Technology Forum (PTF) Best Poster Award at the 2016 Annual AIChE Meeting in San Francisco.

The PTF gave Kevin the award and a $500 prize for his poster titled, “Multi-scale Approach to Developing Non-spherical Models for Large-scale Simulations”. Kevin is a fourth year Ph.D. student under Professor Curtis (pictured center). His research focuses on improving granular flow simulations by developing new models that incorporate complex particle properties such as shape, roughness, and flexibility. The aim of Kevin’s research is to aid in the design and scale-up of processes in manufacturing lines that utilize particulate flows.

Lorena worked in Dr. Rinaldi’s research lab, where her thesis project focused on the She defended her Ph.D. thesis last term and joined Intel in January 2017.

To Transform the Future 7

PROFESSORSHIPS

P. O . B O X 11 6 0 0 5 G A I N E S V I L L E , F L 3 2 6 11 W W W.CH E .UFL . EDU

UPCOMING EVENTS APRIL 6

6-7

GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM 8AM-2:30PM, PERC 202 The GRACE (Graduate Association of Chemical Engineers) will host their annual Symposium, offering graduate students the opportunity to showcase their research to peers and a panel of judges.

CHE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING 8AM-5PM, CESC CONFERENCE ROOM

7

50TH WORK ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION FOR SHIRLEY KELLY 5PM-8PM, CESC ATRIUM The Department of Chemical Engineering will honor Graduate Academic Advisor, Shirley Kelly, for her 50 years of service to the Department. Invitation only.

17

DINESH O. SHAH ANNUAL LECTURE IN SURFACE SCIENCE 4PM, NEB 201 (LECTURE), CESC ATRIUM (RECEPTION) This talk will present strategies for electric and magnetic field driven assembly and manipulation of a rich variety of dynamic structures from colloidal particles. Reception will proceed talk.