The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is pleased to welcome three additions to the department faculty: Dr. Zengyi Shao, Dr. Jean-Philippe Tessonnier and Dr. Qun Wang.
Access here to learn about the Iowa State research area Dr. Shao is interested in. Dr. Shao comes with three years of experience as a research assistant professor and postdoctoral research fellow at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her education includes a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champain, as well as a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Nankai University (Tianjin, China). Her activities at University of Illinois include designing novel synthetic biology tools to activate cryptic pathways for drug discovery, including highly efficient methods of constructing large DNA molecules. At Iowa State, she will continue her work in biorenewables and natural product biosynthesis using synthetic biology tools. Dr. Shao will begin her Iowa State faculty appointment as assistant professor January 1, 2013.
Access here to learn about the Iowa State research area Dr. Tessonnier is interested in. Dr. Tessonnier began his Iowa State CBE faculty appointment June 18, 2012, as assistant professor and Carol & Jack Johnson Faculty Fellow. He brings seven years of experience as a postdoctoral research fellow at Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society (Berlin, Germany), project leader also at Fritz Haber Institute and, most recently, research associate at the University of Delaware. Dr. Tessonnier’s research experience includes the study of functionalized graphene sheets as catalyst and catalyst supports, carbon nanotubes functionalization for biomass conversion and carbon nanotube synthesis. He will continue his research at Iowa State in heterogeneous catalysis and biorenewables. His education was received at Universite de Strasbourg (France), where he graduated with his Ph.D. in Chemistry-Catalysis, M.Sc. in Analytical Chemistry-Materials Science and B.Sc. in Chemistry.
Access here to learn about the Iowa State research area Dr. Wang is interested in. Dr. Wang begins a joint position August 16, 2012, in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering this fall. He got his first Ph.D. in environmental science and engineering from Wuhan University in 2007. He got another Ph.D. in chemical and petroleum engineering from University of Kansas in 2010. Before he joined Iowa State, he worked as a Jorge Heller Postdoctoral Fellow in Professor Robert Langer’s Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Wang’s areas of interest include biomaterials, nanotechnology, drug delivery systems, regenerative medicine, environmental-friendly chemistry and wastewater treatment. At Iowa State University, Dr. Wang will continue his research in functional materials for biomedical and environmental engineering. Functionalized design represents a powerful strategy for developing next generation materials for numerous emerging applications, including energy, pharmaceutics, environment and biomedicine. Dr. Wang will employ his expertise in materials science, drug delivery, nanotechnology, and cell biology to provide innovative solutions to the challenges in waste water treatment and public health related problems.
