faculty
Primary Faculty / Affiliate Faculty / Emeritus and retired Faculty
Primary Faculty
My group studies the fabrication of semiconductor devices. We study the relationship between material properties and electrical behavior to solve problems associated with doping, contacts, defects, and interfaces. We also develop novel process steps to understand and mitigate performance-limiting issues such as thermal management and reliability in order to advance the next generation of semiconductors to realize the full potential promised by the advanced material properties.…
Complex fluids, or soft matter systems, encompass suspensions of particulates, polymeric solutions and melts, emulsions, and more. Such materials are used in a wide range of industries and products, and are also of importance to many applications in biotechnology, nanotechnology, and materials science. In most cases, the ability to predict the dynamics of these material are extremely limited, which hinders the rational design of new and efficient processes.…
My research group focuses on rational design and engineering of next generation electrochemical systems for human convenience, energy, environment, and sustainability. We seek to address key questions related to the electrochemical systems by leveraging electrochemistry, materials chemistry, and device engineering. Our interests include (1) synthesis of new materials for electrochemical devices, (2) combining electroanalytical chemistry (i.e.…
My research is in the area of molecular and cellular bioengineering. We apply our expertise in cellular and protein engineering to develop novel strategies to diagnose, target and fight disease.
“DESIGNER” PROTEIN-MODIFYING ENZYMES FOR BIOMEDICINE, BIOTECHNOLOGY AND SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
Enzymes that catalyze site-specific protein modifications play vital roles in regulating cellular processes. Understanding their substrate specificity not only provides insight into their physiological mechanisms but also enables their selective targeting to remediate disease states.…
OUR RESEARCH IS IN THE AREA OF MOLECULAR/CELLULAR bioengineering. We apply engineering principles to study the behavior of living cells or other small-scale biological systems. Using a combination of engineering modeling/analysis, quantitative experimentation, together with the tools of molecular cell biology, we seek to better understand the relationship between cell function and the physical and molecular properties of cells and their environment.…
Dr. LiLu T. Funkenbusch received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester in 2012. She then received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University in 2017 under the guidance of Dr. Michael E. Mullins. She continued as an instructor in the same department for a year. Her work focused on improving biorefinery designs by creating process-level reactor models to provide accurate estimates of energy and resource requirements, greenhouse gas production, and product compositions and yields.…
WE WORK ON HETEROGENEOUS CATALYST DEVELOPMENT in my laboratory and our ultimate goal is to obtain a fundamental understanding of these catalysts at the atomic level. Our approach is to synthesize well-defined heterogeneous catalysts using nanoparticle oxides with various shapes and sizes as supports and carefully control the deposition of active metal onto these supports using atomic layer deposition (ALD), or other more conventional catalyst synthesis methods, such as precipitation-deposition or incipient wetness impregnation.…
MY RESEARCH GROUP IS GENERATING INSIGHTS AND SOLUTIONS TO problems with genome engineering, specifically CRISPR/Cas systems. Over the past few years, the slow-progressing field of genome engineering has been transformed by the breakthrough of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) with astronomical applications in science, medicine, agriculture, biotechnology, and biomanufacturing. Originally derived from the bacterial immune system, the CRISPR/Cas9 technology works by introducing two components inside cells, a Cas9 nuclease that acts like molecular scissors and a guide RNA (sgRNA) that binds with Cas9 and directs the complex to the target DNA to create double-stranded cuts in the DNA.…
MY RESEARCH GROUP SEEKS TO PROVIDE INSIGHTS AND SOLUTIONS IN THE FIELD OF SUPRAMOLECULAR BIOMATERIALS. We are aiming at engineering structural and functional properties of supramolecular biomaterials for target applications including smart capsules, micro-reactors, antibacterial and/or drug release coatings. The vision of our lab is to utilize soft matter assembly and recombinant technology for the creation of advanced biomaterials.…
WE ARE BROADLY INTERESTED IN DEVELOPING new chemical, physical, engineering, and biological applications related to self-assembled nanostructured materials. Our current research is focused on the following four topics:
SELF-ASSEMBLED PHOTONIC & PLASMONIC CRYSTALS Photonic crystals and plasmonic crystals offer unprecedented opportunities for the realization of all-optical integrated circuits and high-speed optical computation. Our group is developing a number of scalable colloidal self-assembly technologies to control, manipulate, and amplify light on the sub-wavelength scale.…
OUR RESEARCH FOCUSES ON THEORETICAL & COMPUTATIONAL investigation of transport phenomena and non-equilibrium processes in nano- and microscale systems. We apply various simulation methods, such as molecular and Brownian dynamics, as well as theoretical tools to various systems whose understanding is of significant scientific and technological importance.
SELF-ASSEMBLED SURFACTANT SYSTEMS
Surfactants (or amphiphiles) are molecules that contain both hydrophobic and hydrophilic segments.…
OUR RESEARCH FOCUSES ON DYNAMICS at scales that are small macroscopically (μm to mm), but are large compared to molecular sizes. The research combines statistical mechanics and fluid dynamics with advanced computing to elucidate the key physical processes that underlie laboratory observations and measurements. Current applications include:
REACTIVE TRANSPORT IN POROUS MEDIA Flow and transport in porous media are usually modeled at the Darcy scale, where the system is described locally by average properties, such as porosity, permeability, dispersion coefficients, and reactive surface area.…
Mérida’s teaching interests include Unit Operations, Bioprocess Engineering, and nanoparticle-based Drug Delivery. Mérida’s research interests focus on the incorporation of educational models and optimized platforms for traditional and complementary unit operations, fermentation kinetics & modeling, and nanotechnology for fermentation and biomedical applications.
Education
Ph.D., 2018, Chemical Engineering, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
M.S., 2010, Chemical Engineering, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
B.S., 2007, Chemical Engineering, University of San Carlos, Guatemala
Research Areas
Engineering Education
Underrepresented minorities
Unit Operations
Bioprocess/Biochemical Engineering
Engineering communication skills
Biomedical Engineering
Nanomedicine
Awards & Distinctions
- NSF-Engineering Research Centers – Cell Manufacturing Technologies (ERC-CMaT) Research Fellowship (Feb.
…
Our group focuses on designing advanced polymer materials for clean energy, clean water, and environmental sustainability. We combine modular polymer synthesis with experimental tools that probe both molecular-scale and macroscopic transport in polymers with the goal of informing predictive design of the next generation of materials for membrane-driven separations.
A few areas of interest to our group are:
Predicting gas separation membrane performance in realistic environments
Polymer membranes offer a competitive option for energy-efficient carbon capture and hydrocarbon purification; however, many promising materials developed in the lab fail to perform as well in the field. …
TRANSPORT OF HEAT, MASS, AND MOMENTUM ARE OFTEN accompanied by spatial and temporal pattern formation. Understanding the cause of pattern formation is pivotal as this research has application to the processing of materials on earth and under microgravity conditions. Such processes include additive manufacturing of metals, bulk crystal growth of semiconductors, thin film growth during evaporation, and electroplating.…
ELECTROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING The research performed in this group represents applications of electrochemical engineering to systems of practical importance. In recent work, electrokinetic phenomena were exploited to enhance continuous separation of water from dilute suspensions of clay associated with phosphate mining operations. The technology developed in this project is intended to greatly reduce the environmental impact of mining operations.…
Patankar’s teaching interests include semi-conductor processing, and design and analysis of experiments.
Education
Ph.D., 2016, Chemical Engineering, The Ohio State University
B.S., Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai, India
Research Areas
Supercritical fluids, Adsorption, Nano-porous solids, Neutron Scattering, Photolithography and Design of Experiments.
HEALTH SENSORS
We aim to develop a highly sensitive and low-cost heart attack sensor technology, which can be implemented in a wireless-capable, real-time and handheld sensor for personal and medical usages. Acute myocardial infraction (AMI) causes one of the highest mortality rates worldwide. The existing methods employed by first responders, hospitals and clinics are time consuming and require trained personnel to perform tests.…
In my group, we leverage our expertise in optimization and multhyphysics simulations to formulate mathematical models enabling the identification of new, sustainable, and innovative processes, and materials. We are motivated by the grand-challenges in sustainability: (1) the need to develop carbon-neutral processes to produce energy and chemicals, (2) the need to minimize waste generation, and (3) the urgency to find mitigation strategies to alleviate the damage already done.…
MY GROUP STUDIES THE BEHAVIOR AND BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS OF MAGNETIC NANOPARTICLES. We combine expertise in synthesis and surface modification of magnetic nanoparticles, physical, chemical, and magnetic characterization, and modelling to understand the colloidal behavior of magnetic nanoparticles, their interaction with biological entities, and to advance their biomedical applications. We are actively investigating novel methods of synthesizing nanoparticles with tailored magnetic properties, evaluating nanoparticle stability and mobility in biological environments, and advancing applications of magnetic nanoparticles in cancer therapy and magnetic particle imaging.…
WE STUDY POLYMERS, PROTEINS, AND THEIR HYBRIDS TO DESIGN THE NEXT GENERATION OF SOFT MATERIALS using molecular dynamics simulations, high throughout computations, and enhanced sampling methods. To sustain materials discovery in the future given the limited resources at our disposal, predictive engineering techniques must be employed to allow for efficient design and optimization of materials.…
Our research team is focused on the design and optimization of natural biomaterials for a variety of clinical applications. Experimental research explores the mechanical and transport properties of elastic and viscoelastic materials, aiming to determine a predictive set of material characteristics that have a known function in the body. We aim to harness the power of the immune system in tissue regeneration to alter the way that these materials integrate following implantation, providing a new strategy for optimizing materials for clinical applications.…
Current research, in collaboration with Professor Pratap Pullammanappallil of the UF Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department, focuses on the modeling and optimization of bioprocesses for the production of biofuels and other useful products of bioprocesses. Of particular interest is a remarkable cyanobacterium, isolated by Professor Edward J. Phlips of the UF School of Forest Resources and Conservation, that with CO2-enriched air produces high concentration of cells and of an extracellular polysaccharide without needing fresh water or external addition of nitrogenous nutrients. …
Dr. Vincent Tocco, Jr., is a recent graduate of the UF Chemical Engineering Ph.D. program. His passion for teaching and mentoring led him to excel as a teaching assistant, and mentor to undergraduates, high school students, and teachers in research, and to develop a one-semester weekly seminar aimed at new Ph.D. students. He was twice recognized with the Ray W.…
MY RESEARCH PROGRAM FOCUSES ON DEVELOPING FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF TRANSPORT of molecules and ions in membranes, sorbents, catalysts and related materials on a broad range of microscopic length scales between around 100 nm and tens of microns. Such materials usually exhibit complex and, in some cases, even hierarchical structure that results in different transport properties on different microscopic length scales.…
OUR RESEARCH FOCUSES ON ADVANCING THE MOLECULAR-LEVEL understanding of surface chemical reactions that are important in applications of heterogeneous catalysis. My students and I investigate chemical reactions on solid surfaces using a wide array of analysis methods based on ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) surface chemistry and physics, including methods that provide information about surface reaction kinetics, adsorbed intermediates, atomic scale surface structure and the chemical states of adsorbed molecules and atoms of the solid.…
NEARLY ALL NANOMATERIAL APPLICATIONS REQUIRE an interface with other materials, including, for example, polymers in composites, electrodes in devices, pharmaceuticals in drug delivery, body fluids and cells in bioimaging and biosensors, or analytes in chemical sensors. Our group focuses on developing a fundamental understanding of interfaces in nanoscale systems, which can have far-reaching implications to various fields of nanotechnology.…
Affiliate Faculty
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Emeritus and Retired Faculty
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