Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Jessica Smeltz, Ph.D., Head

Professors

Alan B. Brown, Ph.D.; physical organic chemistry, sensor science, bioorganic chemistry, NMR spectroscopy

Yi Liao, Ph.D.; photochemistry and photoresponsive materials

Gordon L. Nelson, Ph.D.; polymer science, polyurethanes, nanocomposites, smoke, toxicity, sustainability, physical organic chemistry

Nasri Nesnas, Ph.D.; bioorganic chemistry, natural products, chemical neuroscience, vision chemistry

Manolis M. Tomadakis, Ph.D.; analytical and numerical studies of transport; reaction and nuclear magnetic resonance in porous, composite and biological media; materials characterization through computer simulations

Rudolf J. Wehmschulte, Ph.D.; inorganic and organometallic chemistry, catalysis

Associate Professors

Boris B. Akhremitchev, Ph.D.; single-molecule research and techniques, protein-ligand interactions, hydrophobic interactions, protein aggregation, atomic force microscopy, force spectroscopy, physical and biophysical chemistry

Chris A. Bashur, Ph.D.; cardiovascular tissue engineering, scaffold fabrication and characterization, cell-microenvironment interactions, modulating graft-induced host response, drug delivery, bioprinting, tissue vascularization

James R. Brenner, Ph.D.; tissue engineering test beds, open-source hardware

Vipuil Kishore, Ph.D.; development of biomimetic scaffolds, cell-material interactions, in vitro tissue models, 3D bioprinting, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine

Roberto Peverati, Ph.D.; computational methods for electronic structure theory calculations, quantum chemistry software

Toufiq Reza, Ph.D.; biofuels, waste-to-energy, food-water-energy, hydrothermal carbonization, thermochemical conversion, deep eutectic solvents, pyrolysis, torrefaction, pelletization

Jessica L. Smeltz, Ph. D., department head; organometallic chemistry, catalysis, chemical education

Norito Takenaka, Ph.D.; organic chemistry, asymmetric catalysis, synthetic chemistry, bioorganic and medicinal chemistry

Jonathan E. Whitlow, Ph.D., P.E.; process modeling and simulation, chemical process design, renewable energy conversion systems and process control

Assistant Professors

Pavithra Pathirathna, Ph.D.; analytical chemistry, electrochemistry, micro/nanoelectrodes, carbon fiber microelectrodes, sensors for in-vivo and in-vitro applications

Maria E. Pozo de Fernandez, Ph.D.; diffusion in polymers, properties of polymer systems, thermodynamics, fluid phase equilibria at high pressures, supercritical fluids

Stephen Smith, Ph.D.; chemical education

Robert Usselman, Ph.D.; quantum biology, electron spin resonance

Bo Wang, Ph.D.; metabolomics data interpretation approaches development using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques; metabolomics applications in drug effect of natural compounds discovery and animal response to combinational environmental pollutants; environmental pollutants photodegradation; metabolomics applications in diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and nutritional studies

Professors Emerita

Mary Sohn, Ph.D.

Professors Emeriti

Michael W. Babich, Ph.D.; Paul A. Jennings, Ph.D., P.E.; Joshua Rokach, Ph.D.

Associate Professor Emeritus

Joel A. Olsen, Ph.D.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (CCE) is to provide a safe working environment in the pursuit of excellence in education, research and innovation in the fields of chemistry and chemical engineering. The attainment of these goals is achieved by (1) offering outstanding undergraduate and graduate curricula that provide students the opportunity to obtain the required knowledge, technical and communication skills and a thorough understanding of the associated safety, ethical, social and economic responsibilities in their respective fields; (2) engaging in internationally recognized research that will increase knowledge and lead to technological innovations; and (3) providing an atmosphere that stimulates intellectual curiosity and encourages creative interactions among faculty and students. Success in the accomplishment of these goals will equip students with the capacity to thrive in diverse professional roles in research institutions, global industries and local communities.

Research

Current research activities are in the following areas:

Energy and the Environment: There are several projects on recovering energy and water from unwanted wastes by applying fundamental engineering concepts and advanced physiochemical, thermal and biological processes. Research specifically focuses on developing engineered processes to produce sustainable and cost-competitive renewable energy and carbon-based materials. The primary goals of these projects are to valorize negative value wastes by producing solid fuel, fertilizer or adsorbent. Other projects include the removal of trace organic contaminants from water using reverse osmosis and the design of systems for controlling contaminants in spacecraft atmospheres.

Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering: Tissue engineering is a multidisciplinary field (physics, chemistry, biology, engineering) that employs a combination of cells, scaffolds and bioactive molecules to generate functional tissue grafts for the repair, replacement or regeneration of diseased tissues. Research in elucidating how cells interact with their microenvironment, such as topography and scaffold composition, and using this knowledge to develop strategies to produce tissue-engineered grafts is ongoing. Biomaterials are biocompatible natural or synthetic materials that interact with biological systems and are used for prosthetic, diagnostic, therapeutic or storage applications. In the tissue engineering realm, biomaterials are used to engineer a temporary framework (scaffold) that resembles the native tissue and provides a support structure to facilitate cell adhesion, proliferation, differentiation and tissue regeneration. The research involves several of the steps required for producing clinical products, including scaffold fabrication, cell culture analysis and the initial steps of translation. In addition, drug delivery principles are incorporated to improve construct remodeling and integration with the body. There is also a focus on developing computational models to understand transport through core-sheath fiber systems for biomedical and biologicals systems.

Computational and Experimental Drug Delivery: The focus of this research is the discovery of novel ways to deliver bioactive agents to improve tissue engineering and regenerative medicine approaches. Applications include small diameter vascular grafts as well as the endothelial integrity of the blood-brain barrier. Novel pharmaceutical compounds are being developed including gasotransmitters and therapeutic peptides. Light-sensitive materials and ultrasound sensitive carriers are examples of techniques being investigated to overcome challenges for delivering these compounds. The research involves assessing safety and efficacy when delivered to tissues and cells of interest in a controlled manner. Both experimental and computational approaches are used to model and understand delivery of these compounds and to properly control the dose.

Analytical Chemistry: Research projects span a wide range of topics including metabolomics, lipidomics, proteomics, instrumental development, and invivo and in vitro electrochemical sensing and surface analysis. In metabolomics, projects involve metabolomic data interpretation approaches using AI techniques and their applications in the drug effects of food compound discovery, animal response to combinational environmental pollutants, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and nutritional studies. In electrochemistry, research involves fabricating new electrochemical sensors to probe metal toxicity in humans in point of care devices.

Inorganic Chemistry: Research in inorganic chemistry includes homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, nanomaterials and organometallic chemistry. Projects involve developing catalysts, investigating low-temperature routes to nitride and oxygen materials and synthesis of doped titania for photocatalysis.

Biochemistry: Research includes studying the chemistry of vision, understanding the colossal maze of neural networks via light-responsive molecules that can be activated at specific synapses and investigating cancer therapeutics.

Organic Chemistry: Research includes studying the structural bases of chemical phenomena such as molecular recognition and molecular sensing, discovering new photochemical processes, designing and synthesizing molecules and polymers based on the discovered photochemical processes, synthesizing complex natural products via asymmetric catalysis, developing photo responsive tools for understanding the brain, studying polymer flammability and developing new nanocomposites and polymers.

Physical Chemistry: Research opportunities include both theoretical and experimental physical chemistry. Specific topics include density functional theory calculations of spin systems, including spin dynamics, developing and analyzing new databases and understanding nanoscale properties of intramolecular interactions and structural dynamics crucial in many biological processes via high special and force resolution scanning probe techniques.

Transport and Separation Processes: Current projects include the development of computer simulation algorithms for estimating transport, reaction and nuclear magnetic resonance parameters of porous, composite and biological media, including fuel cell gas diffusion media. Other recent projects have investigated membrane separation of gases, extraction of lipids from microalgae, the use of supercritical fluids for extraction of citrus oils and modeling transport and reaction in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells.

Programs

Bachelor of Science

Nondegree

Master of Science

Doctor of Philosophy