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Research
Our department is involved in eight
different
categories of research:
Additionally,
our department is focused on research in a number of
specific areas related to fundamental knowledge, technical
applications, and integrated systems. Click on the links above or
a region of the image below to get more information about a topic.
Research: Biomedical Engineering
Engineering
applied to biological and medical systems, such as biomechanics,
biomaterials, and biosensors. Also includes biomedical engineering as
in the development of aids or replacements for defective or missing
body organs.
Faculty:
Research: Catalysis
The phenomenon
of
increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by a chemical present in the
reaction medium (homogeneous catalysis), or by a solid surface on which
the reaction can occur (heterogeneous catalysis).
Faculty:
- Michael
D. Amiridis: Reaction Kinetics, Heterogeneous Catalysis
- Andreas Heyden:
Nanomaterials, Catalysis, Computational Chemistry, Multiscale
Modeling
- John
R. Monnier: Heterogeneous Catalysis, Bimetallic Catalyst
Synthesis, Reaction Kinetics
- Harry
J. Ploehn: Interfacial Phenomena, Nanoscopic, Colloidal and
Polymeric Materials
- Christopher
T. Williams: Heterogeneous Catalysis, Surface Science, Catalyst
Design & In-situ Vibrational Spectroscopy
Research: Electrochemical Engineering
Electrochemical
Engineering is the study of the conversion of chemical energy into
electrical energy and the aspects that are involved in the relationship
between electrical and chemical energy including the fundamental
science of electrochemistry
Faculty:
- Branko
N. Popov: Electrochemical Power Sources, Industrial Metal
Finishing, Corrosion and Plating
- John
W. Van Zee: Fuel Cells, Computational Fluid Dynamic Models,
Corrosion, Batteries, Industrial Electrolysis.
- John
W. Weidner:
Fuel Cells, Batteries, Electrochemical Hydrogen Production,
Mathematical Modeling, Electrocatlysis, Electrochemistry in
Ionic Liquids
- Ralph
E. White: Fuel Cells, Batteries, Electrodeposition, Corrosion,
Numerical Methods
Research: Environmental Engineering
Environental
engineering develops new materials and processes using environmentally
sound methods. Sustainability and total environmental impact are
key factors considered in environmental engineering.
Faculty:
Research: Fluid Mechanics
Fluid
mechanics is the field of study which explores the transfer of
momentum
(fluid flow), energy (heat conduction, convection, and radiation), and
mass (diffusion processes) within different chemical processes.
Faculty:
Research: Nanoscience
Nanoscience
is the study of matter at the nano scale, from 1 to 100 nanometers.
At this length scale, traditional engineering and scientific
methods may not be applicable.
Faculty:
- Michael
D. Amiridis: Heterogeneous Catalysis, Reaction Kinetics
- Andreas Heyden:
Nanomaterials, Catalysis, Computational Chemistry, Multiscale
Modeling
- John
R. Monnier: Heterogeneous Catalysis, Bimetallic Catalyst Synthesis,
Reaction Kinetics
- Harry
J. Ploehn: Interfacial Phenomena, Nanoscopic, Colloidal and
Polymeric Materials
- Thanasis
D. Papathanasiou: Composite Materials, Multiphase Systems,
Computational Fluid Dynamics
- James
A. Ritter: Hydrogen Storage Systems, Targeted Drug Delivery, Gas
Separation and Purification
- Christopher
T. Williams: Heterogeneous Catalysis, Surface Science, Catalyst
Design, In-situ Vibrational Spectroscopy.
Research: Modeling and Simulation
Modeling
and simulation involves developing mathematical models that simplify a
practical problem to a level that it can be understood and simulated on
a computer. Modeling and simulation research at USC ranges
from the electronic and molecular scale to the simulation
of complete chemical plants.
Faculty:
- Jerome
Delhommelle: Monte Carlo Methods
- Edward
P. Gatzke: Process Control, Estimation and Diagnosis, Dynamic
Modeling, Optimization
- Andreas Heyden:
Nanomaterials, Catalysis, Computational Chemistry, Multiscale
Modeling
- Ralph
E. White: Fuel Cells, Batteries, Electrodeposition, Corrosion,
Numerical Methods
Research: Separations
Separations is
the study of chemical mixtures and
the necessary processes required to isolate specific components of a
mixture.
Faculty:
Fundamental Knowledge
In addition to
the traditional chemical
engineering fundamentals of mathematics, physics, and chemistry, our
department performs focused research in the specific fundamental areas
of catalysis, cell and molecular biology, computational chemistry,
electrochemistry, and polymers.
Catalysis
The
phenomenon of
increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by a chemical present in the
reaction medium (homogeneous catalysis), or by a solid surface on which
the reaction can occur (heterogeneous catalysis).
How can a catalyst be used to improve the yield or selectivity of a
chemical reaction? How can a catalyst be developed so that it
lasts longer or costs less?
Faculty:
- Michael
D. Amiridis: Reaction Kinetics, Heterogeneous Catalysis
- Andreas Heyden:
Nanomaterials, Catalysis, Computational Chemistry, Multiscale
Modeling
- John
R. Monnier: Heterogeneous Catalysis, Bimetallic Catalyst Synthesis,
Reaction Kinetics
- Harry
J. Ploehn: Interfacial Phenomena, Nanoscopic, Colloidal and
Polymeric Materials
- Christopher
T. Williams: Heterogeneous Catalysis, Surface Science, Catalyst
Design, In-situ Vibrational Spectroscopy
Cell and Molecular
Biology
Engineering
principles can be applied to biological and medical systems, such as
biomechanics,
biomaterials, and biosensors. This also includes biomedical
engineering as
in the development of aids or replacements for defective or missing
body organs.
How
can bio-compatible polymers be created for medical applications?
What are novel drug delivery techniques? Can increased
understanding of protiens lead to new disease treatments?
Faculty:
- Esmaiel
Jabbari: Tissue Engineering, Biomimetic Materials, Patterned
Biomaterials & Biologically Degradable Polymers
- Melissa
A. Moss: Protein Self Assembly, Alzheimer's Disease Inhibition,
Biophysical Techniques
Computational
Chemistry
Computational
chemistry uses advanced mathematics and high perfomance
computing to investigate the fundamental aspects of chemical reactions
and transport phenommena on a molecular or electronic level.
How does the
electronic and molecular structure of a system determine the
performance of a chemical reactor?
Faculty:
Electrochemistry
Electrochemical
Engineering is the study of the conversion of chemical energy into
electrical energy and the aspects that are involved in the relationship
between electrical and chemical energy including the fundamental
science of electrochemistry
How
can we use fundamental principles of electrochemistry to develop
new types of batteries and fuel cells? What is the best assembly
of electrochemical components to meet a known power demand?
Faculty:
- Branko
N. Popov: Electrochemical Power Sources, Industrial Metal
Finishing, Corrosion and Plating
- John
W. Van Zee: Fuel Cells, Computational Fluid Dynamic Models,
Corrosion, Batteries, Industrial Electrolysis.
- John
W. Weidner:
Fuel Cells, Batteries, Electrochemical Hydrogen Production,
Mathematical Modeling, Electrocatalysis, Electrochemistry in
Ionic Liquids
- Ralph
E. White: Fuel Cells, Batteries, Electrodeposition, Corrosion,
Numerical Methods
Polymers
Polymeric
materials are composed of chains of molecules with repeating
structural units. Changes in raw materials and processing lead
to changes in the final product.
How can polymer chemistry be used to make
better materials? Can
bio-compatible polymers be produced for medical applications?
Faculty:
Separations
Separations is the study of chemical
mixtures and
the necessary processes required to isolate specific components of a
mixture.
How can we separate two liquids or
gasses? How can we increase
purity of a product? How can we do this more rapidly or at a
lower cost?
Faculty:
Technological Applications
How
can fundamental knowledge be used in a
specific application area? Can engineering methods be used to
improve a process? Can we use scientific knowledge and
engineering methods to develop novel applications?
Batteries
How can we make better batteries? What materials should be used?
How can batteries be modeled? Can we understand capacity
loss in rechargeable materials?
- Branko
N. Popov: Electrochemical Power Sources, Industrial Metal
Finishing, Corrosion and Plating
- John
W. Van Zee: Fuel Cells, Computational Fluid Dynamic Models,
Corrosion, Batteries, Industrial Electrolysis.
- John
W. Weidner:
Fuel Cells, Batteries, Electrochemical Hydrogen Production,
Mathematical Modeling, Electrocatalysis, Electrochemistry in
Ionic Liquids
- Ralph
E. White: Fuel Cells, Batteries, Electrodeposition, Corrosion,
Numerical Methods
Fuel Cells
How can we make better fuel cells? What materials and components
should be used? Can we modify the design to make fuel cells
economically viable?
- Branko
N. Popov: Electrochemical Power Sources, Industrial Metal
Finishing, Corrosion and Plating
- John
W. Van Zee: Fuel Cells, Computational Fluid Dynamic Models,
Corrosion, Batteries, Industrial Electrolysis.
- John
W. Weidner:
Fuel Cells, Batteries, Electrochemical Hydrogen Production,
Mathematical Modeling, Electrocatalysis, Electrochemistry in
Ionic Liquids
- Ralph
E. White: Fuel Cells, Batteries, Electrodeposition, Corrosion,
Numerical Methods
Hydrogen Production
and
Storage
How can we
make more hydrogen? How can we store hydrogen for use?
How can we lower the weight and volume require to store hydrogen?
Pharmaceutical
How can we
improve pharmaceutical processes? Can we understand
the key concepts of of nucleation, crystalization, and
granulation?
Polymer
Processing
How can we
develop new methods for polymer processing? How can we
make target materials? Can we develop bio-compatible polymeric
materials?
Renewable Fuels
How can we
make sustainable fuels?
- Edward
P. Gatzke: Process Control, Estimation and Diagnosis, Dynamic
Modeling, Optimization
- Tom Stanford:
Process Modeling
- John
W. Weidner:
Fuel Cells, Batteries, Electrochemical Hydrogen Production,
Mathematical Modeling, Electrocatalysis, Electrochemistry in
Ionic Liquids
Tissue Engineering
How can we
use engineering methods to work with tissue for biomedical
applications?
- Esmaiel
Jabbari: Tissue Engineering, Biomimetic Materials, Patterned
Biomaterials, Biologically Degradable Polymers
- Jay
Blanchette: Tissue Engineering, Controlled Drug Release
Integrated Systems
How can
technologies be integrated and used at a
system level to make or improve a process or product?
Energy Storage and
Production
How can we
make better energy production systems? Can we develop
an economically viable fuel-cell system? Can we integrate
fuel cells, batteries, and super capacitors to make a better power
supply? Can we produce hydrogen cleanly and efficiently for fuel
cell applications?
- Edward
P. Gatzke: Process Control, Estimation and Diagnosis, Dynamic
Modeling, Optimization
- Branko
N. Popov: Electrochemical Power Sources, Industrial Metal
Finishing, Corrosion and Plating
- James
A. Ritter: Hydrogen Storage Systems, Gas Separations and
Purification
- John
W. Van Zee: Fuel Cells, Computational Fluid Dynamic Models,
Corrosion, Batteries, Industrial Electrolysis.
- John
W. Weidner:
Fuel Cells, Batteries, Electrochemical Hydrogen Production,
Mathematical Modeling, Electrocatalysis, Electrochemistry in
Ionic Liquids
- Ralph
E. White: Fuel Cells, Batteries, Electrodeposition, Corrosion,
Numerical Methods
Sustainable
Processing
Methods
How can we
make manufacturing methods sustainable? Can we
minimize overall environmental impact of a chemical process? Can
we develop new catalysts and reactors to minimize environmental impact?
- Michael
D. Amiridis: Reaction Kinetics, Heterogeneous Catalysis
- Andreas Heyden:
Nanomaterials, Catalysis, Computational Chemistry, Multiscale
Modeling
- Michael
A. Matthews: Green Chemical Engineering and Ionic Liquids
- John
R. Monnier: Heterogeneous Catalysis, Bimetallic Catalyst Synthesis,
Reaction Kinetics
- Harry
J. Ploehn: Interfacial Phenomena, Nanoscopic, Colloidal and
Polymeric Materials
- Christopher
T. Williams: Heterogeneous Catalysis, Surface Science, Catalyst
Design, In-situ Vibrational Spectroscopy
Biomedical
Systems
and Processes
How can we
make better biological systems? Can we use magnetic
properties to improve drug delivery? Can we use advanced control
methods for feedback regulation of a disease?
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