Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department
The University of Akron - Spring 2012 Newsletter
Departmental
Advisory Board
Mr. Larry Allen
Retired, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
Mr. Chris Arrick
Caterpillar, Inc.
Mr. Charles A. Clerecuzio
Bard Holding, Inc.
Mr. Roger Cox
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Mr. Tom Flynn
New Research Center for the College of Engineering
The official ribbon-cutting ceremony is still months away, but thanks
to the efforts of very determined project leaders and construction crews,
the College of Engineering's newest building is partially open to faculty researchers and students as 2012 gets under way.
Designated as the home of the National Center for Education and
Research in Corrosion and Materials Reliability, the new building has been
funded in part by the U.S. Department of Defense. It will contain laboratories and faculty offices supporting UA's undergraduate program in corrosion
engineering, which is part of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular
Engineering. The building also will be home to the Timken Engineered Surfaces Laboratory, a unique industry-university open innovation model. The
build-out of the labs was funded by The Timken Company, which also funded an endowed chair position in the College of Engineering.
This article was printed in the UA January 3rd, 2012 E-mail Digest. Further Information can
be found at http://www.uakron.edu/edigest/index.php?id=2816
Newsletter Supervisor: Gang Cheng
Edited by: Miranda Mick
The Babcock & Wilcox Company
Mr. Robert Handelman
Chemstress Consultant Company
Mr. Karl Jacob (Chair)
The Dow Chemical Company
Dr. Jeffrey S. Kanel
Renewable Algae Energy, LLC
Dr. Brian Kocher
Promerus LLC
Dr. Jackie Laurich
OMNOVA
Dr. Tim Mallow
Merck & Company, Inc.
Mr. Robert M. Shemenski
RMS Consulting Inc.
Dr. W. Leigh Short
Alternative Environment Strategies, LLC
Mr. Dan Spak
Firestone High School
Mr. John Zuppo
Emerald Performance Materials
The office received a holiday greeting from Jason Keith. He was kind enough to submit a
brief bio for this issue. Jason Keith (B.S. ChE. 1995) is currently Professor and Director
and holder of the Earnest W. Deavenport, Jr. Chair in the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering at Mississippi State University. Keith started his tenure as department
head in August of 2011. Prior to joining Mississippi State, Keith was on the faculty at
Michigan Technological University for 11 years as an Assistant Professor and Associate
Professor. Keith’s research interests are in modeling of transport systems, alternative energy, and improving engineering education. Jason and his wife, Salvadora, live in
Starkville, MS with their 3 children: Andrew (8), Maria (5), and Isabel (3), and their tenyear old chocolate Labrador retriever, Pennant. (We would like to hear from you. Send
notes and e-mails to us at [email protected])
One of our Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Advisory Board Members, Charles A.
Clerecuzio, P.E., CPIP, has been selected as the 2012 Chemical Engineer of the Year for Delaware Valley by The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Clerecuzio was
recognized at the AIChE’s CEO Night on March 29,2012 at the Union League of Philadelphia.
This honor is awarded annually in recognition of career achievements in the field of chemical
engineering by an active participant in AIChE.
Professor and her Team Develop Safer
Breast Implant with Healing Properties
UA team among GE Healthymagination Cancer Challenge recipients.
The University of Akron team consists of (from left): Kwang Su Seo,
Andrea Charif, Matthew Luebbers, Judit Puskas, Marcela Castano,
Balaka Barkakaty, Attila Gergely, Alejandra Alvarez Albarran and
Chengching K. Chiang.
Professor Judit Puskas is getting international attention for her efforts to develop a safer breast implant
that can help detect and then destroy cancer cells.
The work by Professor Puskas and her research partners at the university and Summa Health System is
among five projects across the globe awarded
$100,000 in seed money through the GE healthy
magination Cancer Challenge. (Information taken from Universty of Akron E-Digest)
College of Engineering Yearly Awards
Presented at the April 19th Banquet
Donald R. Burrowbridge Award:
Mallory Barker
AIChE Award:
Marcus Grimm
ChemStress Award UG:
Kyle Platt
ChemStress Award Grad:
Qiuming Wang
The Louis A.
Hill Jr. Award:
Professor
George Chase
CBE Faculty Award:
Glenn Cormack
Stephanie Lopina
Memorial Endowed Scholarship:
Jacob Kohl
Larry Focht:
Bradford Vielhaber
Outstanding
Administrative
Staff Award:
Mrs. Marcia
Main
Outstanding Senior Awards: Gurkamal Badyal, Mallory Baker, Robert Browne, Haley Carman, Glenn
Cormack, Benjamin Garn, Marcus Grimm, Andrew Janish, Matthew Latterner, Michael Lembono, Tanya
Miracle, and Andrew Thomas.
New Lab
During the move the
students helped to
carry boxes and
arranged the new
lab for days.
Professor Chase and
his team moved to
the 5th floor of
ASEC earlier this
semester!
Left to right:
First Row: Vidya Raja, Hyeon Ung Shin, Dr. Chase, Gabe Manzo,
Laila Shahreen, Goutham Viswananadam, Kristian Knudsen
Second Row: Hesam Hassan Nejad, Kitchaporn Nartetamrongsutt,
Jia Fang, Johnathan Rajala
Dr. Chase invited the
students to his home
where they obtained
carpenter skills by
making shelves for
their study room.
Judy joined the office in November 2011 to be our new Administrative
Secretary. She came to us by way of Wayne College/Holmes County
Branch. Her enthusiasm and patience with our students, especially in
working with the undergrads, is appreciated. She lives in Cuyahoga
Falls with Ollie (English Bulldog) and Rosie (Pug).
Miranda Mick is our new student assistant in the office. She joined the
office in October 2011. Her major is
Middle Level Education with a Science and Math concentration and
hopes to be graduating in Spring 2014.
Ashley Rastetter is a new student assistant working with Professor Evans. She
joined the office in February 2012. Her
major is Art History and hopes to be
graduating in Spring 2013.
The Akron ISPE Student Group received a $500 grant from the
Great Lakes Regional Chapter of ISPE. This funding is greatly
appreciated and will be used to assist in planned activities. In
April, the students will be traveling to Eli Lilly and Company
(Indianapolis, IN) for a tour of their Chemical Processing and
Bioprocessing R&D facilities.
The University of Akron’s Chem-E-Car Team preparing
the chemicals prior to testing. The car is power by an Alkaline Fuel Cell and stopped using an electrochemical cell.
From left to right, Adam Harrell, Christopher Denison,
Kylie Trumpower, Evan Arnold, and Jordan Shaffer.
The students will be competing with their car at the
AIChE regional conference on April 21, 2012 at The Univer-
Some of the AIChE Students at work planning the
2012 regional conference.
From left to right: Andrew Janish, Marcus Grimm,
Glenn Cormack, Lauren Best, Andrew Thomas,
Robert Browne
George G. Chase was awarded $5,000
from the Produced Water Society
Homero Castaneda-Lopez was awarded $1,032,243
from the SENER CONACyT
Dr. Edward Evans who was awarded a $10,000 summer fellowship by the
University for faculty research. Proposal entitled “Infrared Analysis of Mixed
Oxide Advanced Materials.”
UA researcher to manage pipeline corrosion in Mexico with $1M grant
Dr. Homero Castaneda-Lopez, assistant professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering received a $1,032, 450.00 grant from the National Science and
Technology Council (CONACyT) and Department of Energy in Mexico (SENER)
for his proposal on Multiscale tools for corrosion science and Engineering applied to oil and gas pipelines over the next three years. Dr. Castaneda proposed
mathematical deterministic and probabilistic models
in different scales ranging from kilometers including the climate conditions up
to micrometers describing and quantifying the degradation and performance
mechanisms of corrosion of buried metallic pipelines. The models will build algorithms and describe mechanisms to quantify corrosion phenomena and suggest control actions. The new International grant create an
opportunity for International collaboration with National Science Agencies, the highly competitive award includes the
participation of International entities targeting different strategic areas open for participation, such as advanced materials, energy, biotechnology, among other. The grant includes different review panels from academia, department
of Energy and oil and
gas industry experts. CONACyT is the National Science and
Technology council in Mexico which web link is: http://
www.conacyt.mx/en/Pages/default.aspx
Louscher honored for contributions
to e-learning corrosion website
Susan Louscher, executive director of strategic partnerships and
government programs at UA, received a Materials Performance
Magazine Readers' Choice Corrosion Innovation of the Year Award
for CorrConnect.org. The e-learning corrosion website combines
corrosion courseware, videos and interactive simulators to provide
an online resource center.
Ten Innovation Awards were presented March 12 at CORROSION 2012 — NACE International's annual corrosion conference and exposition in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“Our goal with this awards program is to provide a forum where anyone developing new and unique
corrosion control technology can be showcased and recognized,” says Bob Chalker, NACE International executive director. “We received an impressive array of entries demonstrating important advances in the industry.”
News from the research lab for Surface Modification and
Materials: Submitted by Dr. Newby
Mr. Hua Wang won the poster competition during the “Sink or Swim
2011” 54th Annual Technical Coatings Symposium (May 2011). The
title of the presentation is “Developing slow flow systems for monitoring initial stages of biofilm formation on microbiologically induced corrosion”. Congratulations Hua!
The research team led by Dr. Zhang Newby has been awarded a 18
months continuation funding from DOD on their microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) project. The project is to start in Fall of 2011.
Dr. Pamela Pasetto, a Fulbright Scholar and an assistant professor from the University of Maine (Le Mans,
France), visited us from July 15 to September 17, 2011 with the support from her Fulbright grant. She
was investigating, using our flow chamber systems, the antifouling performance of functionalized isoprene
oligomers derived from waste natural rubber (e.g. old tires).
Ms. Suchata Kirdponpattara joined the group on September 12, 2011 as a visiting scholar under the support of The Royal Golden Jubilee of the Thai Government. She will be visiting us for one year to work on
modifying the bacterial cellulose-alginate (BCA) composites for enhanced production of ethanol utilizing
yeast cells immobilized in BCA. Welcome Suchata!
The first refereed journal article by Mr. Hua Wang (first author) after he joined the group (in Fall 2009) is
to appear in Colloid. Surf. B: Biointerfaces, on October 15th, 2011. Hua is also the first author for a refereed paper presented in the DOD Corrosion Conference (Palm Springs, CA, 2011). In addition, he is the
presenter and first author for several conference presentations (241st ACS meeting – March 2011, NACE –
March 2011, “Sink or Swim 2011” 54th Annual Technical Coatings Symposium – May 2011, DOD Corrosion
Conference – August 2011) during Spring/summer of 2011. Keep up the good work.
Class Notes From Project Management and Teamwork (PMT): Submitted by Professor Evans
This past fall we completed our tenth Vertically Integrated Team Design Project which is now implemented as a separate class called Project Management and Teamwork. Fifteen teams of fifteen students developed prototype carbon dioxide
adsorbers based on solid sorbent technology and evaluated the cost effectiveness of this technology; the
solid sorbent technology used was developed in Professor Steven Chuang’s lab. The teams also surveyed
the public about energy perceptions and use.
We continue to emphasize leadership and structured management by bringing in experts on these topics
and having the students use project management software to help them keep track of progress and report
on resource allocation. Each team was mentored by a practicing chemical engineer. Some alumni who
helped us in the mentoring role include: Danielle Cummings (’05), John Heaton (’92), Bryan Howdyshell
(’82), Jeff Kasper (’92), and Gabe Rhoads (’05). The students really like to interact with alumni mentors
and the mentors get a chance to share their experience and advice with the students. If you would like to
get more information about this course or to participate as a team mentor (either in person or over a video
connection) please let us know.
Camacho-Alanis, F., Castaneda, H. , Zangari, G., Swami, N.S. (2011) Electrochemical impedance study of GaAs surface charge modulation through the deprotonation of carboxylic acid monolayers. Langmiur, 27(18), 11273-11277.
Castaneda, H. (2012) Galicia, M. PROPOSED MODEL FOR QUANTIFICATION OF DISSOLUTION --AND EVOLUTION OF A
STEEL-CO2 SOLUTION INTERFACE BY THE TRANSMISSION LINE APPROACH, Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry.
Tobin, JS.; Turinske, AJ.; Stojilovic, N.; Lotus, AF.; Chase, GG. (2012) Temperature-induced changes in morphology and
structure of TiO2-Al2O3 fibers. CURRENT APPLIED PHYSICS, 12(3), 919-923.
Viswanadam, G.; Chase, GG.(2012) Contact angles of drops on curved superhydrophobic surfaces. JOURNAL OF
COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE, 367, 472-477.
PS Kulkarni, SU Patel, GG Chase.(2012) The effect of surface energy of woven drainage channels in coalescing filters.
Sep Pur Tech, 87, 54-61.
PS Kulkarni, SU Patel, GG Chase.(2012) Layered hydrophilic/hydrophobic fiber media for water-in-oil coalescence, Sep
Pur Tech, 85, 157-164.
Hassan, AM.; Vu, DT.; Bernard-Brunel, DA.; Elliott, JR.; Miller, DJ.; Lira, CT.(2012) Application of the Step Potential for
Equilibria and Dynamics (SPEAD) Method to Bioderived Esters and Acetals. INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
RESEARCH, 51(8),3209-3214.
Ghobadi, AF.; Taghikhani, V.; Elliottt, JR.(2011) Investigation on the Solubility of SO2 and CO2 in Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids Using NPT Monte Carlo Simulation. JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B, 115(46), 13599-13607.
McCormick, AM.; Leipzig, ND. (2012) Neural Regenerative Strategies Incorporating Biomolecular Axon Guidance Signals. ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, 40(3),578-597.
AE Wilkinson, AM McCormick, ND Leipzig. “Central Nervous System Tissue Engineering: Current Considerations and
Strategies.” Synthesis Lectures on Tissue Engineering. KA Athanasiou and JK Leach Eds., Morgan & Claypool Publishers.
1-120, 2011.
Zhang, B.; Lalani, R.; Cheng, F.; Liu, QS.; Liu, LY.(2011) Dual-functional electrospun poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate).
JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL MATERIALS RESEARCH PART A, 99A (3), 455-466.
Lalani, R.; Liu, LY.(2011) Synthesis, characterization, and electrospinning of zwitterionic poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate). POLYMER, 52(23), 5344-5354.
Liu, QS.; Singh, A.; Lalani, R.; Liu, LY. (2012) Ultralow fouling polyacrylamide grafted on gold via surface-initiated atomtransfer radical polymerization. BIOMACROMOLECULES, In press.
Spagnuolo, M.; Liu, LY. (2012), Fabrication and degradation of electrospun scaffolds from L-tyrosine based polyurethane blends for tissue engineering applications, ISRN NANOTECHNOLOGY, Article ID 627420, 1-11.
Wang, H.; Sodagari, M.; Chen, YJ.; He, X.; Newby, BMZ.; Ju, LK.(2011) Initial bacterial attachment in slow flowing systems: Effects of cell and substrate surface properties. COLLOIDS AND SURFACES B-BIOINTERFACES, 87(2), 415-422.
J. Ram, S. Purohit.;Newby BMZ.; T. Cutright.(2012) Evaluation of the natural product antifoulant, zosteric acid, for preventing the attachment of quagga mussels – A preliminary study. Natural Product Research, 26(6), 580-584.
Rosenthal, EQ.; Puskas, JE.; Wesdemiotis, C.(2012) Green Polymer Chemistry: Living Dithiol Polymerization via Cyclic
Intermediates. BIOMACROMOLECULES, 13(1), 154-164.
Ouardad, S.; Kostjuk, SV.; Ganachaud, F.; Puskas, JE.; Deffieux, A.; Peruch, F.(2011) Cationation of Dimethylallyl Alcohols by B(C(6)F
(5))(3) as Models of the (Re)initiation Reaction in the Bio-Inspired Cationic Polymerization of Isoprene. JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE PART A-POLYMER CHEMISTRY, 49 (23), 4948-4954.
Faculty Publications Continued
Puskas, JE.; Burchard, W.; Heidenreich, AJ.; Dos Santos, L.(2012) Analysis of Branched Polymers by High Resolution Multidetector Size Exclusion Chromatography: Separation of the Effects of Branching and Molecular Weight Distribution.
JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE PART A-POLYMER CHEMISTRY, 50(1), 70-79.
Rosenthal, EQ.; Puskas, JE.(2011) Light Scattering for the Masses Green Polymer Chemistry: Efficient Synthesis of Disulfide
Polymers and Networks. LC GC EUROPE, SI, 30-30.
Heidenreich, A.J.; Puskas, J.E.; Sappacher, M.; Ibarboure,E.; Deffieux, A.(2012) Visualization of Arborescent Architecture
of Polystyrenes Prepared by RAFT-based Inimer Polymerization Using Atomic Force Microscopy. J. Polym. Sci. Chem., 50
(6), 1238-1247.
Rosenthal, E.Q.; Puskas, J.E.; Wesdemiotis, C.(2012) Green Polymer Chemistry: New Living Dithiol Polymerization Via Cyclic
Intermediates. Biomacromolecules, 13(1), 154-164.
Puskas, J.E.; Burchard, W.; Heidenreich, A.J.; Dos Santos, L. (2012) Analysis of Branched Polymers by High Resolution Multidetector Size Exclusion Chromatography: Separation of the Effects of Branching and Molecular Weight Distribution. J.
Polym. Sci. Chem., 50, 70-79.
Puskas, J.E.; Luebbers, M.(2012) Breast Implants: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. WIRE Interdisciplinary Reviews, 4(2), 153
-168.
Kostjuk, S.V., Ouardad, S.; Peruch,F.; Deffieux, A.; Absalon, C.; Puskas, J.E.; Ganachaud, F.(2011) Carbocationic Polymerization of Isoprene Co-initiated by B(C6F5)3:2 An Alternative Route toward Natural Rubber Polymer Analogues? Macromolecules, 44, 1372-1384.
Zhao, J.; Wang, Q.; Liang, G.; Zheng, J.(2011) Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Low-Ordered Alzheimer beta-Amyloid
Oligomers from Dimer to Hexamer on Self-Assembled Monolayers. LANGMUIR, 27(24),14876-14887.
Yu, Xiang; Wang, Qiuming; Lin, Yinan; Zhao, Jun; Zhao, Chao; Zheng, Jie, "Structure, Orientation, and Surface Interaction
of Alzheimer Amyloid-ß Peptides on the Graphite", Langmuir (Accepted)
Zhao, C.; Zheng, J.(2011) Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(N-hydroxyethylacrylamide) for Long-Term Antifouling
Ability. BIOMACROMOLECULES, 12(11), 4071-4079.
X. Yu, Y. Luo, P. Dinkel, J. Zheng, G. Wei, M. Margittai, R. Nussinov, and B. Ma.(2012) Cross-seeding and conformational
selection between three- and four-repeat human tau proteins. J. Biological Chemistry, (in press)
C. Zhao, L. Li, M. Guo, and J. Zheng(2012). Functional polymer thin films designed for antifouling materials and biosensors.
Chemical Papers, (in press) (invited review).
X. Yu.; J. Zheng(2012) Cholesterol promotes the interaction of Alzheimer β-amyloid monomer with lipid bilayer. J. Molecular Biology, (in press) (invited research article on a special issue: Amyloid Structure, Function, and Molecular Mechanisms)
J. Yang, C. Zhao, I. Hsieh, S. Subramanian, L. Liu, G. Cheng, L. Li, S.Z.D. Cheng, and J. Zheng. (2012) Strong resistance of
PEG-based L-tyrosine polyurethanes to protein adsorption and cell adhesion. Polymer International, 61: 616.
Enjoy the rest of the spring semester!
Send this newsletter to others who would be interested in seeing
more about our department.
It is always wonderful to hear from you. Please keep us up to date
with news that you may want to share for inclusion in the fall issue!
Please send your information to Marcia D. Main at
[email protected]