Chemical Engineering (ChE) continues its steady growth by welcoming two new faculty members. Henry Chu, Ph.D., and Janani Sampath, Ph.D., will start January 2021.
Henry Chu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. 2017, Cornell University
Henry Chu’s research covers transport phenomena, colloid and interface science, electrokinetics, and rheology. His research develops multi-scale computational tools and fundamental theory to address emerging challenges in these research areas, emphasizing on close collaboration with experimental groups to translate knowledge into applications. Apart from classroom teaching, he enjoys interacting with students in mentoring and educational outreach programs.
Dr. Chu is a postdoctoral fellow of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, working with Aditya Khair, Ph.D.; Robert Tilton, Ph.D.; and Stephen Garoff, Ph.D. He obtained a M.Phil. in mechanical engineering from The University of Hong Kong (HKU) in 2012. He earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, with minors in chemical engineering and applied mathematics, from Cornell University in 2017 under the supervision of Roseanna Zia, Ph.D.
Janani Sampath, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. 2018, The Ohio State University
Janani Sampath’s research is motivated by the need to predictively design soft materials for clean energy and health. She utilizes molecular simulations and data science techniques to engineer and characterize novel polymer protein systems.
Dr. Sampath is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, supervised by Jim Pfaendtner, Ph.D., and Chris Mundy, Ph.D. She received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from The Ohio State University in 2018 under the mentorship of Lisa Hall, Ph.D., where she studied mechanical and interfacial structure – property relationships in ion containing polymers using coarse-grained models. Prior to this, she worked as a Research Engineer in Unilever R&D, where she synthesized and characterized ultrafiltration membranes for water purification. She obtained her B.E. in chemical engineering in 2010 from R.V. College of Engineering, India.
