Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Researchers: Brown, Glatz, Jarboe, Reilly, B. Shanks, J. Shanks

Biobased products, which encompass chemicals and energy from biorenewable resources, are receiving significant attention due to their importance in a sustainable economy. This research area focuses on the fundamentals of biological and chemical processing for biological feedstocks and consists of separation and conversion technology.

Research thrusts:

• In situ plant product enhancement
• Recovery of recombinant proteins from plants
• Conversion of natural products to medicines
• Carbohydrate and oils catalytic transformations to chemicals
• Enzymatic conversions
• Pyrolysis and gasification of biomass

Researchers: Fox, Hillier, Kushner, B. Shanks, Vigil

The fundamental investigation of the nature of the active sites on catalysts continues to be an important research area that leads to better understanding of catalytic phenomena and the design of improved catalyst systems. In addition, the interaction between transport processes and reaction kinetics can be critical to reactor performance necessitating the use of highly detailed computational fluid dynamics simulations to model the system behavior.

Research thrusts:

• Combinatorial methods for screening electrochemical catalysts
• Design of organic-inorganic hybrid catalyst systems
• Development of combined catalyst/sorbent materials
• Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques
• Efficient algorithms for complex chemical kinetics
• Solid phase evolution in reactive precipitation through CFD

Researchers: Clapp, Mallapragada, Narasimhan, Rollins, Schneider

This area of research focuses on the design and synthesis of novel biomaterials for targeted delivery of proteins, vaccines and DNA, tissue engineering, biocompatible nanoparticles, and biosensors. 

Research thrusts:

• Biocompatible quantum dot nanoparticles
• Micro/nanopatterned polymers for nerve regeneration
• Biodegradable polymers for protein stabilization and vaccine delivery
• Stimuli sensitive smart polymers for sensing and delivery
• Bioinspired superparamagnetic nanoparticles for biomedical imaging

Researchers: Glatz, Jarboe, Reilly, J. Shanks

Research in this area embraces the analysis and design of biological systems by employing rational and combinatorial approaches. The characterization of biological processes is carried out using molecular- and systems-level techniques.

Research thrusts:

• Metabolic engineering of plant secondary metabolites
• Phytoremediation of energetic materials
• Implementation of the metabolic engineering cycle using functional genomics tools
• Production, characterization, and mutation of improved enzymes
• Protein precipitation and crystallization, membrane processing, microfiltration, and chromatography
• Recovery of recombinant proteins and other biological byproducts from plants

Researchers: Cochran, Fox, Lamm, Reilly, Rollins

Computational methods have become increasingly important tools for discovery and interpretation of chemical and biological phenomena. Modeling and simulation efforts focus on several length and time scales, ranging from the molecular to the macro scale, and include collaborations to develop multiscale algorithms to interface the various modeling approaches. Computational modeling efforts are closely coupled to our experimental campaigns in catalysis and reaction engineering, biochemical, biomedical, and biomaterials engineering, biobased products, and advanced polymeric and nanostructured materials.

Research thrusts:

• Statistical process models for chemical and biological systems
• Computational fluid dynamics for reactor analysis
• Multi-scale modeling of plasma
• Mesoscale simulation of nanostructured polymeric materials
• Molecular simulation of dendritic polymers, polymer nanocomposites, and nanoparticle aggregation
• Bioinformatics to probe protein and enzyme structure-function relationships

Researchers: Clapp, Cochran, Hebert, Hillier, Mallapragada, Narasimhan, O'Donnell, B. Shanks

Research in this area focuses on the development of advanced functional materials by controlling interfaces and structure at the mesoscale.  Approaches incorporate tailored surface chemistry, crystalline structure, and combinatorial discovery with modern characterization techniques.

Research thrusts:

• Colloidal behavior and interfacial phenomena
• Nanocrystal synthesis and application
• Nanoscale design of semicrystalline polymer interfaces
• Combinatorial design of adhesives
• Combinatorial discovery of fuel cell catalysts
• Polymer nanocomposites
• Novel multi-analyte chemical and biological sensors
• Design of nanostructured metal oxide materials

Researchers: Dong, Fox, Hill, Jolls, Lamm, Vigil

Research in transport phenomena focuses on the description and modeling of fundamental mechanisms by which mass, heat, and momentum are transferred within and between various phases. Thermodynamic studies provide accurate predictions of transport properties and are intimately related to problems in this area.

Research thrusts:

• Stochastic models for turbulent reacting flows
• Multiphase flow simulation of gas/liquid and gas/solid systems
• Multiphase Couette-Taylor flow
• Nanoparticle aggregation under shear
• Prediction of crystalline polymorphs