Bio & Current Position:
Current Position:
Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Chemistry, January 2000 – present
Research Interests:
I am the principal investigator of a multidisciplinary research group exploring the molecular design, synthesis, and characterization of functional materials consisting of organic-inorganic active-site assemblies – an area in which we lead the world, and the application of these materials in chemical reactors and adsorption colums. My curiosity is driven by a need to understand the coalescence of different length scales ranging from molecular interactions and chemical reactivity on surfaces, and how phenomena on this microscopic length scale influence the design of process equipment on macroscopic length scales. My goal is to molecularly engineer active sites for a variety of applications, including specific adsorption, separations, and catalysis (including supported molecular catalysis and antioxidant catalysis), as well as those that involve adaptive control of surface chemistry for colloidal materials, as tools in accomplishing the design of advanced functional materials for the future of chemical engineering. Much of my research group’s approach consists of synthesizing controlled organic-inorganic interfaces, in order to elucidate synthesis – function relationships. Among my research group discoveries are: (i) grafted calixarenes on oxide support materials, which my research group owns composition of matter rights for; (ii) calixarene-bound metal clusters, as a means to stabilizing open coordinatively unsaturated sites and tuning reactivity in supported metal catalysts; (iii) delaminated zeolites synthesized at mild pH that avoid amorphization, including synthesis of grafted Ti-based epoxidation catalysts that exhibit deactivation resistance, high activity, and selectivity; (iv) perfect separations of aromatics from aqueous mixtures involving sugar, and specific adsorption involving lanthanide and actinide cations from aqueous solution, and (v) dynamic surface-modified oxides that exhibit wettability reversal. My research has been featured in Science Concentrates in C&E News on numerous occasions, as well as in News and Views in Nature Chemistry and Nature Nanotechnology. My teaching interests include reactor design/kinetics (graduate and undergraduate); mass transport/separations; unit operations; process design; and catalysis elective.
Education:
Université Louis Pasteur, Institut Le Bel, Strasbourg, France
NSF International Awards Postdoctoral Fellow
California Institute of Technology
Fannie & John Hertz Foundation Fellow
Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering
1994 University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
M.S. in Chemical Engineering
1992 University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Bachelor of Chemical Engineering, Cum Laude
Awards and Honors:
Excellence in Catalysis Award from the Metropolitan Catalysis Society of New York (2020)
Newman Entrepreneurial Initiative Award (2018)
Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award for Excellence in Teaching, Tau Beta Pi California Alpha Chapter (UC Berkeley) (2014)
Best Research Poster Award at the ISHHC-16 Conference, Sapporo, Japan (Michael Nigra – 2013)
Best Research Poster Award at the EBI Retreat (Alexandre Charmot and Cedric Chung – 2011)
Visiting Professor, Wolfson Department of Chemical Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel (2008-2009).
Fulbright Fellowship (2008-2009).
Lead PI Recipient of Inaugural Instrumentation Grant Award from Micromeritics Corporation to Berkeley Catalysis Center (2007)
3M Untenured Faculty Award (2003-2005).
Council of International Association of Catalysis Societies (IACS) Young Scientist Prize (2004).
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Teaching Award (2004, 2011, 2013).
Berkeley AIChE Student Chapter Teacher of the Year Award (2004).
Hellman Family Faculty Fund Award (2003).
NSF International Awards Postdoctoral Fellowship (1998-1999).
Hertz Foundation Graduate Fellowship (1994-1998).
University of Minnesota Regents Scholarship (1993).
Institute of Technology Merit Scholarship (1992).
3M Departmental Chemical Engineering Award (1992).
Member of Tau Beta Pi, Golden Key, Phi Kappa Phi (1992).