UF Chemical Engineering News Sp/Su 17

S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2017

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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 S TAFF M EM B ER CELEB R AT E S 50 Y E AR S O F SERV I CE PAGE 12

CHAIR’S ME SSAGE

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

GREETINGS FROM GAINESVILLE! Richard Dickinson, who has ser ved as Depar tment Chair for eight years, announced his upcoming depar ture from the Chair position on August 15. He will be joining the National Science Foundation to be Direc tor of the Chemical, Biological, Environmental, and Transpor t Systems (CBET) Division, beginning August 16, 2017 on a temporar y rotator assignment. With sixteen programs and a budget of nearly $200 million, the CBET division at NSF suppor ts fundamental engineering research that involves the transformation of mat ter by chemical thermal, or biological means or the exchange of mass, energy, or momentum.

It is the primar y source of NSF research funding for chemical, biological, and environmental engineering researchers and strives to be the intellec tual hub for integration of physical, mathematical, molecular, and life sciences within engineering. “I am thrilled to have been selec ted to ser ve CBET in its leadership role in identif ying and exploring the frontiers of engineering research to benefit the health, economy, and environment of the nation and the world”, says Professor Dickinson. “As a rotator, I retain my UF faculty position, so I will be able to return to the University of Florida in a few years with useful insights and connec tions gained from working within the federal research funding agencies in Washington.”

The Chemical Engineering Depar tment made numerous notable accomplishments under Professor Dickinson’s eight years of leadership as Chair. In the past six years, the Chemical Engineering Depar tment has received over $15M in new gif ts (cash, pledges, and bequests) from its generous alumni and friends, compared to $10M over the entire prior histor y, 2 Powering The New Engineer

thereby securing a bright financial future for the depar tments’ research and educational programs.

The number of endowed faculty positions in the depar tment increased from two to eight positions (as well as three new bequests for endowed Chairs).

The Depar tment designed and construc ted a new building, the Chemical Engineering Student Center, which was completely funded by generous alumni donors. The depar tment also passed ABET accreditation review of the B.S. program with no program shor tcomings. During Professor Dickinson time as chair, five Assistant Professors were promoted to Associate Professor with tenure, six were promoted to Full Professor, and four were promoted to Distinguished Professor. The depar tment completed a major overall and upgrade of the Undergraduate Unit Operations Laborator y, thanks to a generous $1 million financial contribution $1M from the late Dr. Leonard Bernstein, exceptional leadership from Unit Ops Lab direc tors Fan Ren and Dimitr y Kopelevich.

Professor Dickinson’s depar ture means new leadership for the Depar tment. The Herber t Wer theim College of Engineering will launch the search for the new Chair in the Fall Semester. “I am confident that the Dean will work with the faculty identif y an outstanding replacement who will continue to bring the depar tment to new heights.” says Professor Dickinson. “We have several strong faculty leaders in the depar tment already, and this is the type of oppor tunity that could at trac t excellent external candidates who could bring fur ther distinc tion and visibility to the depar tment.”

INSIDE THIS EDITION

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To Transform the Future 3

FACULTY

PUBLICATIONS, HONORS & AWARDS SEE ALL PAPERS & PUBLICATIONS ON OUR HOMEPAGE: WWW.CHE.UFL.EDU DR. KIRK ZIEGLER WINS THE FACULTY DOCTORAL MENTORING AWARD The UF Graduate School’s annual Faculty Doctoral Mentoring Award encourages and rewards excellence, innovation and effectiveness in mentoring doctoral and Master of Fine Arts students through their final dissertation or fine arts thesis project.

Nominations for the award come from current graduate students, graduate alumni, faculty members, graduate coordinators, department chairs, school directors, college deans and higher-level administrators. Each year, the award gives $3,000 to approximately five faculty members, with an additional $1,000 deposited into each winner’s department account for use in supporting doctoral or Master of Fine Arts students.

DRS. KIRK ZIEGLER & RANGA NARAYANAN FUNDED PROJECT FEATURED IN CASIS MAGAZINE Collaborative partnerships are key to enabling the growth of research, development, and commercialization opportunities on the ISS National Lab and setting the stage for a sustainable economy in low Earth orbit. Recently, CASIS and the University of Florida Office of Research contributed $250,000 in matching funds to enable the Joint UF/CASIS International Space Station Research Initiative. Through a mutual selection process, awards were made to three new-to-space UF investigators in December 2016, and the projects are scheduled to launch to the ISS National Lab in 2017/2018.

One of the awarded projects, led by principal investigator Kirk Ziegler, will use the microgravity environment on the ISS to observe electrodeposition, a process by which an electric current is used to form thin metal features on conductive surfaces like electrodes. As consumer electronics become smaller and more densely packed, components such as heat exchangers and sensors must also shrink in scale. Controlling the patterning of these components is critical at the micro-, macro-, and nanoscale to achieve the precise structures needed for component functionality.

4 Powering The New Engineer

DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR MARK E. ORAZEM PUBLISHES 2ND EDITION OF BOOK Distinguished Professor Mark E. Orazem publishes the 2nd Edition of his book Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy.

His book provides the fundamentals needed to apply impedance spectroscopy to a broad range of applications with emphasis on obtaining physically meaningful insights from measurements.

Orazem is a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society, past President of the International Society of Electrochemistry, and recipient of the 2012 ECS Linford Award for Outstanding Teaching. He organized the 6th International Symposium on Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy and teaches short courses on impedance spectroscopy for industry and for The Electrochemical Society.

Orazem is also the lead organizer for the 68th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry to be held August 27 - September 1, 2017 in Providence, RI. The scientific theme of the meeting is Electrochemistry without Borders, meant to emphasize the global character of the electrochemical community encompassed by the ISE.

JASON WEAVER PUBLISHES IN SCIENCE Jason Weaver recently published an article (April 2017) in Science magazine with his collaborator Aravind Asthagiri reporting low-temperature conversion of methane on the IrO2(110) surface. Their work is the first to report highly-facile methane activation at temperatures as low as 150 K. The ability to activate methane at such low temperature may provide new opportunities to develop catalysts capable of efficiently converting methane to value-added products. Weaver and co-workers are currently focusing on selective conversion of methane on IrO2-based materials.

This month, a book chapter written by Distinguished Professor Fan Ren, “AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistor Based Sensors for Bio-Applications�, has been downloaded 7000 times to date. Such readership results demonstrate some very important factors about the reach and usage of his InTechOpen published research: Visibility - more than 7000 researchers worldwide read, downloaded and interacted with your published content; Impact - this achievement demonstrates the influence his research has had within the scientific community; Connectivityresearchers from all over the world have been able to connect with his research to obtain relevant information to further develop their own research projects.

To Transform the Future 5

FACULTY

(CONTINUED)

STUDENT

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 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

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING ALUMNUS INVESTS $3M IN NEW UF ENERGY PROGRAM Written by Jen Ambrose, Information Specialist, Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.

With a vision for transforming the future of sustainable energy, serial entrepreneur and University of Florida alumnus Alex Moreno just invested $3 million to help create a new professorship and program in the department of chemical engineering.

“My education in chemical engineering prepared me to advance my own companies, and now I’m grateful to be in the position to give back,” says Moreno. “With this initiative, my hope is that UF can further move society forward by exploring and creating more bold solutions for our energy needs, and by educating the next generation of engineers who will lead in this area.”

With Moreno’s support, the college will move forward with an integrated energy program, accessible to students across all engineering majors, that will offer a certificate and minor in energy systems. Course offerings will include an introduction to biofuels, petroleum engineering, electric energy systems, reactor analysis and computation, energy conversion, clean combustion, sustainable energy systems and more. New research expenditures in the program are expected to reach $2-2.5M per year, with an estimated 24 new peerreviewed publications and 3-5 Ph.D. graduates annually.

The senior faculty member hired to lead this new energy systems program will be appointed as the new Alex Moreno Endowed Professor in Energy.

A Distinguished Alumnus of the department, a frequent guest lecturer, and a member of its external advisory board, Moreno is an enthusiastic supporter of chemical engineering. After graduating from UF, Moreno worked at General Electric’s Chemical Metallurgical Management Program, a highly selective management training program. From there he entered the MBA program at Harvard University. He has since launched a number of companies and projects, ranging from environmental services, healthcare staffing, and

construction and development. He is currently the CEO and cofounder of Nightingale Nurses, one of the largest healthcare staffing companies in the country.

He’s also the CEO and founder of Panther Development Investments, which provides consulting services to Native American nations, particularly in the areas of energy development, infrastructure and financing.

In 2015 he received UF’s department of chemical engineering’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award.

“We are fortunate to have Alex in our Gator Engineering family,” said Cammy Abernathy, dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. “He shares our vision for transforming the future of energy, and he knows very clearly the kind of resources it will take to make that happen. He has been very generous in supporting this program, and we are very grateful to partner with him.”

The new energy systems program and the number of UF’s world-renowned faculty in the areas of energy research are expected to grow from additional support provided by the state of Florida, the university, and private donors.

“With this kind of strategic and transformative investment from a distinguished chemical engineering alumnus, we are poised to make a major impact on new technologies and in engineering education,” said Richard Dickinson, chair of the department.

“We will continue to expand our role as a national and international leader in energy research.”

Moreno’s gift is the largest private commitment made to the department of chemical engineering since it was founded more than 75 years ago. Funding for the department from contracts and grants typically exceeds $4.5 million per year, with support coming from federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, NASA, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

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J AYA N T & Y O G I N I

SHROFF

After graduating from the University of Florida in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering,

and then earning his master’s in engineering and an MBA, Jayant “Jay” Shroff advanced through a series of R&D jobs at Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. – including Bell Labs, AT&T and Lucent Technologies.

He married his best friend, Dr. Yogini Shroff. Both emigrated to the United States in the 1960s, and together they enjoyed growing their successful careers and expanding their community of friends.

M A K ING A DIFFE RE NCE Stay Local – Focusing on the one geographic area where the Shroffs already spoke the language and understood the challenges, helped them make the biggest difference.

Take A Holistic Approach – In order for a child to learn, they need access to more than just a school. They need sanitation, good nutrition, medical care and safe transportation.

8 Powering The New Engineer

Then they stopped and looked around. They saw that their success was unattainable to the vast majority of people in their home country, India. Eighty percent of Indians live in villages, with little or no opportunity to receive an education – especially for girls. With that in mind, they endeavored with their friends to raise money and awareness and to find ways to help. Within a week, they had received $450,000 in seed money.

“I’d never had that kind of exhilaration – no matter how well the stock market had performed, no matter how much money I had made personally,” said Jay Shroff.

The Shroffs hired consultants to examine the best ways to make an impact, chalking out performance parameters for six different programs in six different villages.

With their engineering and medical minds, they quickly learned that any system they created to effectively help people gain access to education would not be a simple one. Yes, textbooks and teachers would be needed, but so would routine medical and dental care, and support for basic hygiene. Students with vision problems would need glasses. In schools that could not provide room and board, students would need reliable transportation, and in some parts of the country, that would not be an easy thing to provide.

“It became so obvious,” said Dr. Yogini Shroff.

“The children aren’t learning if they’re not fed, if they can’t see, if they have lice, or if their teeth hurt.”

Jay and Yogini carry out this work through the nonprofit they co-founded, Yuva Pragati. (For more information, see www.youthwellnesscamp.com).

The name literally means “in service of youth”. In this spirit, Yogini and her medical colleagues arrange to visit schools regularly, often getting up hours before dawn to travel to remote locations. Many of the girls who meet Yogini and her colleagues decide that they, too, want to grow up and be doctors. Jay lists this as one of the biggest measures of their impact.

“For the first time, these girls are able to dream and harbor ambitions for their futures,” said Jay. “This is a profound change in a short period. During our initial meeting these girls could not even respond to such a question – ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’”

One of the first students the Shroffs worked with was a young girl who had a heart defect. They raised money for her to travel to the nearest city and have surgery.

Last year that young girl finished medical school and is now a doctor.

It’s been many years and millions of dollars since their first inspiration to help, and the Shroffs are still hard at work. They now focus on mentoring younger people to be leaders in the work they have helped to start, including the Shroff Family Scholarship in Chemical Engineering at UF. Congratulations to this year’s recipients: Jarrod Dollinger, Jessica Russo, Oreana Ramirez and Virginia Lane.

To Transform the Future 9

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.

Lenny Bernstein 1941-2016 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.

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 10 Powering The New Engineer

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.

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.

PROFESSORSHIPS

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 embod11

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

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

• 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 • 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. 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.

• 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 To Transform the Future 11

12 Powering The New Engineer

PROFESSORSHIPS

Celebrating with Mrs. Shirley Kelly IT WAS 1967. The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series. The Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl by defeating the Dallas Cowboys in the infamous “Ice Bowl”. All knew famous quotes like, “What we have is a failure to communicate and “They call me MISTER TIBBS”. It was the year of the first handheld calculator. The world’s largest emerald, weighing 858 carats, was discovered. It was the year that The College of Engineering hired their first African-American at woman. Her name was Shirley A. Durham.

Shirley Ann Durham was born August 7, 1946, in Pigeon Creek, Alabama, known locally for the annual Catfish Festival and later nationally for the birthplace of the character Melanie Smooter, played by Reese Witherspoon, in Sweet Home Alabama. Her father, a native Floridian and her mother a native of Alabama moved to Florida when Shirley was young. At 23, she married Aaron Kelly; together they have a son Derrick and have been married for over 48 years.

As the first African American woman hired in the College of Engineering, Shirley began working in “The Hangar”, an airplane hangar-like building, converted to office space; where the O’Connell Center now stands. The department moved from “the ,hangar”, to what is now considered, the “old Chemical Engineering building” (723 ChE), in the latter part of 1967.

Shirley’s office was located on the second floor, room #219 and she eventually worked on every floor over the years, with the exception of the basement, only to retire on the same floor and room number 37 years later.

Shirley Kelly has worn many hats from the beginning with the department in 1967 at the age of 20. She is currently the Graduate Academic Advisor and Assistant to Dr. Anuj Chauhan, Director of Graduate Studies. She also serves as liaison between the Department of Chemical Engineering and Office of the Registrar.

Did I mention she retired? She tried on December 31, 2003, which lasted 4 days; returned to the department and currently holds the record as the longest staff member at 50 years and counting.

She now resides in her own office in the “new Chemical Engineering building” (1030 Center Drive), on the second floor.

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PROFESSORSHIPS

No matter where she resides on campus, Shirley has been a home base and “Mamma” for an enormous family of Gators, spanning across the globe. An array of pictures flood her office shelves, each with their own stories.

Santosh Nayak, (PIC) a graduate of 1970; came to the United States from India. He remembers Shirley fondly, as the “lady who smiled allot” and one he flirted with to gain typing help on his thesis.

Steven Sablotsky graduated with his Masters in 1979; his niece, Erica and Steven’s son, Shane, attended and graduated from the department years later.

To know Shirley is to know her warm heart, giving nature and of course that infectious laugh. I asked her, “How did you keep your sanity over the years?”, and she replied, “I don’t know that I have!”

“Shirls”, as I like to call her, would like everyone to know, that she has thoroughly enjoyed her life at Chemical Engineering and does not plan to retire anytime in the foreseeable future. She has the longest staff tenure in the College of Engineering and second longest at the University of Florida! Elizabeth Ann Jones is STILL currently employed with 60 years and counting at age 85.

Congratulations on 50 years Shirley, we all love you!

To view photos from the celebration event, visit https://ufchemicalengineering.pixieset.com/shirleykellycelebrates50years/ 14 Powering The New Engineer

Written by Sara Darwin. Sara transferred from CLAS SSC as HR Manager, back to and is nowTothe assistant the 14 Chair.

Transform the to Future

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 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 also 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 MaldonadoCamargo’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.

Kevin received a $500 prize for his poster titled, “Multi-scale Approach to Developing Nonspherical 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, defended her Ph.D. thesis last term, and joined Intel in January 2017.

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PROFESSORSHIPS

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