Fall 2020 UF Department of Chemical Engineering Magazine

FA LL 2020

DEPARTMENT OF

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING NEWS

IN THIS ISSUE:

The Department Responds to COVID-19 Faculty Create Unit Ops Lab Kits PAGE 8 Developing a nextgeneration Coronavirus test for home use PAGE 14

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UF IS NUMBER 6 AMONG PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT

2020

Faculty Achievements PAGES 5-7 Student Success PAGES 17-20 Alumni Spotlight PAGE 26

CHAIR’S MESSAGE Dear alumni, friends, and members of the UF ChE community, As we navigate through the uncertainties that this year has brought us, we are happy to share another edition of our newsletter and celebrate the hard-fought departmental wins.

We are astounded at the resilience and innovation of our faculty, students and staff. They have risen to the challenge of providing the highest quality chemical engineering education to our students and committed to solving the world’s most challenging problems.

Carlos Rinaldi, Ph.D. Department Chair & Dean’s Leadership Professor

Over the past several months, our faculty came together to create mobile experiential learning kits for our students in the Unit Operations Lab. We’ve miniaturized the experience our students would receive in the lab, for them to perform at home. This innovation will open the door for so many more experiential learning opportunities throughout these students’ educational trajectory. You can read more about this innovation on page 8.

In addition, some of our faculty and graduate students have pivoted to work helping combat the global pandemic. Piyush Jain, Ph.D., is using CRISPR technology to make COVID-19 home-based saliva tests. His research was recently featured in Nature Communications. You can read more about his exciting research on page 14.

Our faculty ranks and peer recognition continue to grow. We welcome two new assistant professors starting in January 2021. Read more about Henry C. W. Chu, Ph.D., and Janani Sampath, Ph.D., and our 2021 U.S. News and World Report Graduate ranking on page 4.

Our faculty continue to receive awards and recognitions. David Hibbitts, Ph.D., an assistant professor in our department, received a National Science Foundation CAREER award. Richard Dickinson, Ph.D., was elected as an American Institute of Chemical Engineers Fellow. You can read more about our faculty awards and recognitions, on page 9.

Our students continue to make us proud, winning awards and competitions. Samuel J. Berens, a Ph.D. candidate, was named as a finalist in the highly competitive U.S. Presidential Management Fellows Program. Victor Rivera-Llabres, a Ph.D. student, was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

Our alumni also continue to receive accolades and recognition. Scott Pressly, the chairman of Tropical Smoothie Café and alumnus of our department, was awarded the S. Clark Butler Pinnacle Award at the Gator100 awards ceremony in February, in recognition of his sustained excellence and leadership in business. You can read more about his career on page 26.

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Carlos Rinaldi, Ph.D.

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UF | DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

INSIDE THIS EDITION

FALL 2020

Cammy R. Abernathy, Ph.D. DEAN, HERBERT WERTHEIM COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Carlos Rinaldi, Ph.D. DEPARTMENT CHAIR AND DEAN’S LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR

New Faculty | Page 4

Advisory Board Members Achievements | Page 5-7

Zoe M. Baringara Christopher J. Birdsall Eric Bretschneider Raymond Anthony Cocco Jaime Anita Flaherty

Faculty News | Pages 8-11

Mary Beth Jakab Wayne J. Johnson Steven Wayne Johnston

AIChE Success | Pages 12-13

William K. “Billy” McGrane Alex Moreno Jennifer Schutte Featured Research | Pages 14-15

Michelle K. Runyon Marketing & Communications

College Awards | Page 16

Specialist and Editor

The photos in this magazine were taken prior to the global pandemic and are not reflective of the University’s current safety measures.

Student News | Pages 17-20

Department News | Pages 21-23

Alumni News | Pages 24-27 CHE.UFL.EDU 3

NEW FACULTY AND GRADUATE PROGRAM RANKING

ChE Welcome s Two New Assistant Professors EXPERIENCES ENERGETIC GROWTH WITH 11 NEW FACULTY HIRED SINCE FALL 2018 Henry C. W. Chu, Ph.D.

Janani Sampath, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor Ph.D., Cornell University

Assistant Professor Ph.D., The Ohio State University

Dr. Chu’s research covers transport phenomena, colloid and interface science, electrokinetics, and rheology.

His research develops multiscale 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 was 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.

Dr. 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 was 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.

Graduate Program R i ses to No. 14 Among Publ ic Institutions The UF Department of Chemical Engineering’s graduate program rose to No. 14 among public institutions, from its previous No. 19, according to the 2021 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools Ranking.

“We are grateful that our peers recognize the efforts of our faculty and students, and for the tremendous support we’ve received in recent years from the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering,” said Carlos Rinaldi, Ph.D., Department of Chemical Engineering chair and Dean’s Leadership Professor.

U.S. News & World Report weighs factors such as reputation, research activity and student selectivity to rank the top 4

UF | DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

graduate engineering schools.

“I look forward to working with our faculty, staff, students, and alumni to continue to grow and transform our department to better train chemical engineers to serve the needs of Florida, the U.S., and the world,” Dr. Rinaldi said.

The University of Florida is one of America’s leading public research universities. The state’s oldest and most comprehensive university, UF is a land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant institution that is Florida’s only member of the Association of American Universities, the higher-education organization comprising the top 62 public and private institutions in North America.

FACULTY AWARDS

Hagelin-Weaver Receives Grant to Improve Catalysts for Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Helena Hagelin-Weaver, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, is leading a three-year, $633,000 grant from the National Science Foundation titled: Rational Design of Atomically Precise Catalysts for Parahydrogen Enhanced Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy.

Dr. Hagelin-Weaver will collaborate with Clifford Bowers, Ph.D., a professor in the UF Department of Chemistry, to design catalysts that can add spin-labeled hydrogen molecules used as contrast agents to improve magnetic resonance imaging signals.

Improving the sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance will enable new imaging modalities in biomedicine for drug-discovery, protein interactions, magnetic resonance angiography, identification and monitoring of metabolic dysfunction for tumor detection, and brain perfusion.

“We expect that this research will further the atomic-level understanding of interactions between the various catalyst components such as support oxide and active metal, and how they influence the interactions with reactant molecules,”

said Dr. Hagelin-Weaver. “This research can result in an efficient and inexpensive way to produce pure — without toxic impurities — spin-labeled biomarkers, which in turn can be used in medical applications to enhance MRI signals by several orders of magnitude.”

“I enjoy showcasing all that UF ChE has to offer, and interacting with prospective graduate students at AIChE events and during recruitment weekends. This also allows me the opportunity to get to know all of the Ph.D. students entering our program,” said Dr. Hagelin-Weaver.

This advance will represent a transformative development in the field of biomedical imaging and new understanding of catalyst structureactivity relationships.

Dr. Hagelin-Weaver also serves as a faculty advisor and role model for the UF Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the chair of the Women Mentoring Committee in Chemical Engineering, and regularly participates in their events.

Dr. Hagelin-Weaver directs the HagelinWeaver Research Group, which works on heterogeneous catalyst development and fundamental understanding of these catalysts at the atomic level.

She is very involved in service within the department and college. For the last three years, she has served as the Ph.D. Recruiting Coordinator and Chair of the graduate recruiting committee. In this role she coordinates all Ph.D. recruiting efforts, which includes everything from designing advertisement materials, reviewing student applications, organizing recruiting efforts at AIChE, planning visiting weekends for prospective students, and coordinating communications with admitted students

“I realized during my postdoctoral years how fortunate I had been to have female role models during my Ph.D., so I wanted to make sure that female students have access to female faculty mentors or role models. Therefore, I initiated an informal mentoring program for our female Ph.D. students in Chemical Engineering when I joined the research faculty at the University of Florida almost 20 years ago,” said Dr. Hagelin-Weaver. “This initiative has since then grown into a formal mentoring program with several female faculty mentors.”

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FACULTY AWARDS

Hibbitts Makes Waves w it h Re search and Profe ssional Awards David Hibbitts, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, was awarded three significant NSF grants and awarded the UF Provost’s Excellence Award for Assistant Professors.

National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program Award This prestigious award will allow Hibbitts’ research group to explore reaction mechanisms of zeolite-catalyzed methanolto-hydrocarbons reactions in order to improve how we convert natural gas, shale gas, and biomass resources to liquid transportation fuels and chemicals via methanol. The computational methods developed during this project will be released to the public providing researchers around the globe access to the protocols.

This award will also support the development of a three-week, oncampus internship for secondary school science teachers, where they will learn to implement computational science-based lesson plans in their classes. The project will also provide opportunities for high school (grades 9-12) and undergraduate students to participate in computational catalysis research.

CAREER awards are the NSF’s most prestigious award for junior faculty and are designed to help provide a foundation for a lifetime of scientific leadership. These awards are given to outstanding early career scientists who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research, education, and the integration of education and research.

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UF | DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Critical Aspects of Sustainability Collaborative Research Grant Dr. Hibbitts is leading a three-year, $672,000 grant from the NSF Chemistry Division titled: Separating Electronic and Geometric Effects in Compound Catalysts: Examining Unique Selectivities for Hydrogenolysis on Transition Metal Phosphides.

In this project, Dr. Hibbitts will collaborate with David Flaherty, Ph.D., (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), and Craig Plaisance, Ph.D., (Louisiana State University) to understand the fundamental behavior of metal compound catalysts with an initial focus on metal phosphide materials.

“The conversion of biomass, shale, and petroleum feedstocks into value-added fuels and chemicals currently requires costly and rare metal catalysts to speed up the chemical reactions,” Dr. Hibbitts said. “Combining rare metals with less expensive and more earth abundant catalysts is a major challenge to materials chemists and engineers.”

This project will focus on understanding how these inexpensive elements alter the behavior of rare precious metal catalysts, using a combination of quantum chemistry calculations and spectroscopic techniques.

FACULTY AWARDS

Members of the Hibbitts Catalysis Lab: Abdulrahman Almithn, Alex Hoffman, Paul Kravchenko, Dr. David Hibbitts, Mykela DeLuca, and Steven Nystrom

Exploring the Role of Water in Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis Catalysts Hibbitts was awarded a $450,000 grant from the NSF to explore the role of water in Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) catalysis, a chemical reaction that converts carbon monoxide and hydrogen into water and hydrocarbons, and how to use those discoveries to create new materials that can lead to more efficient and selective FTS catalysts.

FTS is critical and applicable to the commercial process of upgrading feedstocks such as natural gas, coal, or biomass into useful chemicals and fuels.

“A product of the FTS reaction is water, and we are trying to understand how the presence and concentration of water alters the rate and selectivity of the chemical reaction,” Dr. Hibbitts said.

Dr. Hibbitts noted the discovery that water is condensed within the pores of FTS catalysts at industrially-relevant conditions would provide a shift in our understanding of FTS and would have the potential to create new strategies for improving FTS catalyst reactivity, selectivity, and stability, and lead to improvements in converting natural gas, coal, and biomass into liquid fuels and chemicals.

The three-year grant will support collaborative work between Dr. Hibbitts and Dr. Nicholas A. Brunelli (The Ohio State University).

This project will leverage programs at both universities to support the development of a three-week, on-campus internship for secondary school science teachers, where they will learn to apply computational science-based lesson plans in their classes. The project also provides opportunities for high school and undergraduate students to participate in computational catalysis research.

UF Provost’s Excellence Award for Assistant Professors Dr. Hibbitts received the University of Florida Provost’s Excellence Award for Assistant Professors for 2020. The awards are focused on junior faculty and recognize excellence in research.

Dr. Hibbitts leads the Hibbitts Catalysis Lab, which is focused on understanding catalysts at the molecular level by combining kinetic and isotopic experiments with computational chemistry. The lab develops atomic-level understanding of heterogeneous catalysts using experiments and density functional theory calculations to develop structure-function relationships critical to the development of new catalysts and chemical processes.

Recent Publications In September 2019, Hibbitts Catalysis lab published a paper in the Journal of the America Chemical Society (JACS). In July 2019, their paper was featured as the main cover article of ACS Catalysis. They published three other papers in ACS Catalysis, and one in J. Catalysis this academic year.

CHE.UFL.EDU 7

FACULTY NEWS

Faculty Create Unit Ops Lab Kits in Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic As the world was closing down because of the global pandemic, the faculty at the UF Department of Chemical Engineering was coming up with new ways to continue delivering the same high-quality education while remaining physically distant.

As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention.

The challenge: juniors and seniors in chemical engineering take the Unit Operations Lab in person, on very large and complex equipment, similar to that used in industry. However, due to the limited space, it would be impossible to remain physically distant and have every student access the lab.

Enter the UF Unit Ops Lab Kit. The low-cost, 3D printed kits were provided to each student to perform their own guided lab experiments at home using heated and cooled water and food safe dyes. The kits include miniaturized versions of the equipment that they would utilize in the lab. Students would now be able to run their own guided experiments, analyze their own findings, and remain physically distant.

“The Spring semester was overwhelming for students due to the sudden and unexpected migration to an online platform.

They expressed how challenging it was for them to analyze raw data from experiments conducted in previous semester by others,” said Fernando Merida, Ph.D., lecturer and contributor to the kits. “After hearing about the kits, students have emailed me asking for more details on the class, more pictures, or expressing enthusiasm about working with these kits.”

The UF Unit Ops Lab Kit is the first of its kind and created a buzz in the chemical engineering community when Carlos Rinaldi, Ph.D., department chair, and contributor to the kits shared the progress on Twitter.

“These kits were inspired by the process control kits successfully developed and implemented by our colleague Dr. Spyros Svoronos over the past several years. Spyros is an 8

UF | DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

inspiration to us all and it was a real pleasure working with him and the rest of the team to turn this idea into reality in a few short months,” said Rinaldi.

Beyond addressing a pressing need during the pandemic, these kits will benefit chemical engineering education at UF. “I envision these kits as only the beginning. Advances in rapid prototyping, microprocessor technologies, and sensors and actuators have created the real possibility that students could gain hands-on experience throughout the chemical engineering curriculum, without relying on the traditional unit operations laboratory,” said Rinaldi.

Going forward, students will receive these kits earlier in their undergraduate studies so that they can be used as an experiential component in other classes, gaining valuable exposure to these methods earlier in their course of study, without replacing the traditional unit operations laboratory experience. Use of the kits also exposes students to rapid prototyping, coding, microcontrollers and the maker movement. Eventually, the department envisions that students will use the 3D printers in the department to make their own devices and parts as part of courses.

“Conceptualizing, designing, testing, and preparing these kits has involved a significant amount of time and dedication, but it was possible thanks to the efforts and individual contributions of all faculty members on the team, and the support of staff personnel as well. We believe this will be a great experience for our students and we look forward to disseminating our efforts and results of the incorporation of this new platform, so other universities can also implement it in the near future,” said Merida.

Contributors on this project were LiLu Funkenbusch, Ph.D., Fernando Merida, Ph.D., Sindia Rivera-Jimenez, Ph.D., Spyros A. Svoronos, Ph.D., and Carlos Rinaldi, Ph.D.

FACULTY NEWS

Dickinson Elected American Institute of Chemical Engineers Fellow Chemical Engineering professor, Richard B. Dickinson, Ph.D., was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). This honor is the organization’s highest grade of membership and is awarded to members in recognition of significant professional accomplishments and contributions in chemical engineering.

Dr. Dickinson’s research applies engineering principles to study the behavior of living cells or other small-scale biological systems. He uses a combination of engineering modeling, analysis, quantitative experimentation, and the

tools of molecular cell biology to better understand the relationship between cell function and the physical and molecular properties of cells and their environment.

Fellow is achieved by recommendation of the AIChE Admissions Committee and through election by the AIChE board of directors. Fellows are an important resource for AIChE in providing experience-based guidance to leadership and members, as well as contributing to the activities of many AIChE entities.

Dr. Dickinson is currently serving as the National Science Foundation (NSF) division director of the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) and served as the chair of the University of Florida Department of Chemical Engineering for eight years.

//////////////////////////////////////// Hages Awarded Faculty Fellowship Program in Israel Charles Hages, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering embarked on an academic exchange and exploration of Israel through the Winter Faculty Fellowship Program from Dec. 26, 2019 through Jan. 8, 2020.

“Professionally this has been a really great experience,” said Dr. Hages. “I have been able to start several new projects with some collaborators across Israel. We are able to contribute simulations we’ve developed and complimentary experimental

work to some cutting-edge nanoscale materials being fabricated in Israel. I also found great mentors and advice in other members of the fellowship program.”

Participants had unique access to many leaders, institutes, and venues that wouldn’t have been possible without going through the program.

“An excellent effort was made to expose us to the various cultures and minority groups across Israel,” said Dr. Hages.

Dr. Hages was one of 25 professors from universities and colleges throughout the United States selected for the competitive program offered by the Jewish National Fund.

/////////////////////////////////////////// Rinaldi Elected to the AIMBE College of Fellows Carlos Rinaldi, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Dean’s Leadership Professor, was elected to The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows on March 24, 2020.

Rinaldi was recognized for his outstanding contributions to applications of magnetic nanoparticles and broadening participation of women and minorities in medical and biological engineering. Rinaldi’s research

is focused on advancing the understanding and biomedical applications of suspensions of magnetic nanoparticles.

Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to a medical and biological engineer. The College of Fellows is comprised of the top 2% of medical and biological engineers.

AIMBE is a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., representing the most accomplished individuals in the fields of medical and biological engineering. AIMBE represents academic institutions, private industry, and professional engineering societies.

CHE.UFL.EDU 9

FACULTY NEWS

Kopelevich Awarded Grant from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Dmitry Kopelevich, Ph.D., associate professor in the University of Florida Department of Chemical Engineering (UF CHE) is leading a grant from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund titled: Investigation of Mechanisms of Shear-Induced Diffusion in nonBrownian Suspensions.

Particle suspensions in liquids have a wide array of applications in oil exploration and production. When suspended particles are sufficiently large, thermal Brownian forces acting on them are negligible. Nevertheless, the particles are observed to undergo diffusive motion, which is qualitatively similar to the Brownian motion. Better understanding of fundamental properties of suspensions is

key for the development of efficient technologies in the oil industry.

Dr. Kopelevich is collaborating with Jason Butler, Ph.D., professor in UF CHE to apply tools of statistical mechanics to investigate fundamental mechanisms of diffusion in such nonBrownian suspensions.

“We aim to explain some counterintuitive experimental observations, for example, that increasing particle roughness leads to decrease of their diffusivity,” Dr. Kopelevich said.

Dr. Kopelevich directs the Kopelevich Research Laboratory, that focuses on theoretical and computational investigation of transport phenomena and non-equilibrium processes in nano- and microscale systems. They 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.

//////////////////////////////////////// Ziegler Awarded Grant to Measure the Surface Energy of Metals through Structure-Property Analysis of Electrodeposition Instabilities Kirk J. Ziegler, Ph.D., the Dow Chemical Company Foundation Professor and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies at the University of Florida Department of Chemical Engineering (UF CHE) is leading a $581,500 grant from the National Science Foundation titled: Measuring the Surface Energy of Metals through Structure-Property Analysis of Electrodeposition Instabilities.

“Surface energy is one of the most fundamental and important thermophysical properties of metal surfaces because it has a strong influence on the mechanical, electrical, catalytic, and morphological characteristics of the solid,” Dr. Ziegler said.

“Despite its importance, the ability to directly measure the surface energy of metals has eluded researchers for several decades. This physical property is important to understanding the interaction of molecules with these surfaces. Because the method can be applied to numerous metal surfaces, this work will have a positive impact on preventing the corrosion of metal piping, improving the performance of catalysts, controlling the size and shape of crystals, and developing new additive-manufacturing processes.”

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In this project Dr. Ziegler is collaborating with Ranga Narayanan, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor and William P. and Tracy Cirioli Term Professor in UF CHE to develop the structure-property relationships that enable the direct measurement of the surface energy of solid metals near ambient temperature. The approach is based on welldefined patterns that form on the cathode during the electrodeposition of metals in microfluidic channels.

The project also includes K-12 outreach with local schools, which incorporates in-class demonstrations, summer research programs, and engineering fairs.

Dr. Ziegler’s research group focuses on developing a fundamental understanding of interfaces in nanoscale systems, which can have far-reaching implications to various fields of nanotechnology. Their goal is to manipulate interfaces to dictate the nanostructures that are fabricated and to control reactions and transport at the surface of the nanostructures. Once the interfaces can be controlled and manipulated, it is possible to fabricate nanomaterials with novel functionality, improving their integration and performance in several applications.

FACULTY NEWS

Jiang Awarded a 2020 Space Research Institute Grant Peng Jiang, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Florida, was awarded a grant from the Space Research Initiative (SRI seed fund) to develop a colorimetric shear stress sensor for aerodynamic measurements.

“The advantages of this sensor would be that it is ultra-thin, inexpensive, and of a conformal nature that results in low disturbance to airflow,” Dr. Jiang said.

The Jiang Lab will design, produce, and test a color-changing stress sensor that provides easy measurements of friction

forces in an aerodynamic environment. Their current research is focused on self-assembled photonic and plasmonic crystals, biomimetic broadband antireflection coatings, novel stimuliresponse shape memory polymers, and smart window coatings for energy-efficient buildings.

“Dr. Jiang’s work with companies in Florida to develop novel chromogenic sensors for aerospace applications such as this one is an example of the contributions our faculty and students make to technology and the local economy,” Carlos Rinaldi, Ph.D., Dean’s Leadership Professor and Chair of the UF Department of Chemical Engineering said.

Dr. Jiang’s research laboratory develops novel chemical, physical, engineering, and biological applications utilizing nanostructured materials.

/////////////////////////////////////////// Yiider Tseng, Ph.D., Retires After 15 years of service, Dr. Yiider Tseng, retired on Aug. 14, 2020. Dr. Tseng joined the faculty on the Department of Chemical Engineering at UF in 2005, after obtaining a Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University in 1999.

His research interests focused on combining new engineering principles with advanced life science methods to develop a systematic, quantitative, and integrative way of understanding fundamental biological phenomena at the molecular and cellular levels.

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Orazem Writes New Book Mark E. Orazem, Ph.D., and Bernard Tribollet are writing a new book titled, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy: Solved Problems and Resources.

They have submitted a proposal to Wiley and to the Electrochemical Society. Once accepted, the publication is not expected to be printed for a few years. Drs. Orazem and Tribollet have also published an invited tutorial paper on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

Dr. Orazem also served as the guest editor for Current Opinion in Electrochemistry, and wrote an editorial opinion for the Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry.

Patents Awarded Fan Ren, Ph.D. “Self-Heating Semiconductor Transistors”, Ren, Pearton, US 10,504,811 (2019).

“Thermal stable ammonia gas sensor using ZnO-functinalized AlGaN/GaN heterostructure transistor, Jang, Ren, Pearton, US 10,488,364 (2019).

Piyush K. Jain, Ph.D. US Patent App. 16/099,147, 2017 “Methods and uses for remotely triggered protease activity measurements.” Bhatia SN, Kwong GA, Jain PK, Dudani JS and Schurle S. (16/099,147, CA3022928A1, WO2017193070A1, EP3452407A4) Licensed 2018, Granted Feb 22 2020.

“High electron mobility transistors with improved heat dissipation”, Ren, Pearton, Law, Hwang, US 10,312,358 (2019).

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AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS

Students and Faculty Enjoy a Successful AIChE Annual Meeting The department of Chemical Engineering made a strong showing at the 2019 AIChE Annual Meeting in Orlando on Nov. 8-15, 2019.

Sixteen undergraduates, 41 graduate students, and 16 faculty members connected with colleagues, participated in competitions, and showcased their research in 68 Oral and Poster contributions.

UF AIChE chapter members participated in the new K-12 Outreach Competition, the Chem-E-Car Competition, which placed 11 out of 44 teams from around the world, and the Undergraduate Student Poster Competition. Samantha Angelina

and Carter Boelke, placed first in Samantha Angelina Carter Boelke Materials and Engineering XII, and second in Catalysis and Reaction Engineering, respectively. Our chapter members heartily accepted the Outstanding Student Chapter award for the third year in a row!

Students and faculty met over 80 potential graduate students at the Recruitment Fair, and discussed our degree programs.

Rinaldi Delivers IACCHE’S James Y. Oldshue Lecture Carlos Rinaldi, Ph.D., was awarded the IACChE James Y. Oldshue Distinguished Lecturer for the 2019 AIChE Annual Meeting. He delivered his lecture, Response of Magnetic Nanoparticles to Time Varying Magnetic Fields: Ferrohydrodynamics, Nanoscale Thermal Therapy, and Magnetic Particle Imaging on Nov. 12, 2019.

“I am honored and grateful for this recognition, especially because it comes from both the American Institute of Chemical Engineering and the Interamerican Confederation of Chemical Engineering, representing collaboration between Chemical Engineers in the USA and the rest of the Americas,” said Rinaldi.

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AICHE SUCCESS

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FEATURED RESEARCH

Developing A Next - G enerat ion Coronavir u s Test For Home Use Piyush Jain, Ph.D., was headed home from another late night in his University of Florida lab when he got the word from his grad student — the rapid test they had been trying to develop for the novel coronavirus worked.

While not yet approved for commercial use, the test uses a strip comparable to a pregnancy test to give a quick visual indicator of the presence of the coronavirus in the body.

“The idea is to have a paper-based system where people can just look at it and say, yes, you have it, or not,” he said.

Jain, a chemical engineering professor in UF’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering whose background is in pharmaceutical sciences and biomolecular engineering, has been working on improving CRISPR-based testing and applying it to a range of diseases. Long Nguyen, a doctoral student in Jain’s lab, had developed this platform for detecting prostate cancer, HIV and hepatitis C. “As soon as the novel coronavirus emerged, I saw an application of this technology and immediately jumped right into it,” Nguyen said. “I was super excited not only that the test worked, but 14 UF | DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

also that it showed significantly higher sensitivity compared to other CRISPRbased detection technologies.”

Although it has not yet been tested in humans, the goal is a test that can be administered at home in less than 30 minutes, eliminating the need for a trip to a health care facility. And because it identifies the virus itself, not its antibodies, Jain says the test can aid in early detection for patients with an active infection, which would help people know to self-isolate. The disadvantage of antibody testing, Jain explains, is that it can’t distinguish if the patient had a past infection or is currently infected.

The next step is testing on human samples, then clinical trials, which Jain, who is also a member of the UF Health Cancer Center, hopes will be conducted at UF. “We have all the necessary resources and support to do things here,” said Jain, who came to UF from the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology in 2018.

The breakthrough is similar to a CRISPR test in development at the University of California San Francisco, but with modifications to the CRISPR system that make the test more sensitive, allowing it to work faster.

“We’re not developing a totally new system,” Jain said. “The best analogy is we’re making a better engine for a car that other people are building,” he said.

“When we have a better engine, we can go faster.”

Since the preprint of the study published on April 14, Jain has fielded requests to collaborate from around campus, including a potential effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine.

“I’m really proud of UF after seeing this response — not just for me, but for COVID-19 in general,” he said. “It’s wonderful.”

by Alisson Clark

FEATURED RESEARCH

Jain’s lab is developing a sixstep procedure for home-based testing for saliva along with the nasal swabs. Here is how it works with saliva.

1

Doctoral student Long Nguyen and Piyush Jain, Ph.D., in the Jain Research Laboratory.

Spit into a sample collection tube that contains dry chemical reagents that will begin to react with your saliva when you drop the closed tube into the warm water for 30 minutes.

2

The heat helps the chemicals break up the virus particle and expose the virus’s genetic material – RNA. The RT-PCR reagents basically multiply the viral RNA creating billions of copies, which are more easily detected.

3

After 30 minutes, transfer the contents of the collection tube to a second tube containing dried CRISPR components and leave it at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.

4

Only if CRISPR/Cas finds the specific coronavirus RNA, will it become active and chop up the synthetic reporter molecules that are engineered and added to this second tube. This part happens in just six minutes.

5

We then drop a paper strip into the second tube.

Within 30 seconds one or two purple bands reveal the results.

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The health care provider can then direct the individual to either quarantine, isolate and/or recommend further testing such as antibodybased tests.

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COLLEGE AWARDS

Faculty and Students Recognized at Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering Virtual Awards Ceremony Two faculty members and two students at the Department of Chemical Engineering received annual awards of the highest honor at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering virtual awards ceremony on Thursday, May 14, 2020.

Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/Mentor Award Peng Jiang, Ph.D., professor, was selected as a 2020 Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/ Mentoring Awardee.

“I am honored to be recognized by this award which I believe is one of the highest awards for a Ph.D. advisor,” Dr. Jiang said. “I deeply care about and do my best to help all my students, not only their academic development, but also many other aspects of their lives.”

Jiang noted that one of his most important mentoring goals for his Ph.D. students is to train them how to independently conduct innovative research.

The Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/ Mentoring Award recognizes excellence, innovation and effectiveness in doctoral student advising and mentoring.

University of Florida Provost’s Excellence Award for Assistant Professors David Hibbitts, Ph.D., assistant professor, has received the University of Florida Provost’s Excellence Award for Assistant 16 UF | DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Professors for 2020. The awards are focused on junior faculty and recognize excellence in research.

Dr. Hibbitts’ research interests include the exploration of reaction mechanisms and structure-function relationships for the conversion of biomass- and fossil-derived feedstocks into fuels and chemicals through heterogeneous catalysts.

Over the past few years, he has received over $1 million in research funds supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Attributes of a Gator Engineer Award Considered the greatest distinction of any student award given by the college, the Gator Engineering Attribute Awards are intended to provide an ideal guide for all members of the Gator Engineering community. They honor five undergraduate and five Ph.D. students who strongly model one of the five Gator Engineering Attributes: Creativity, Leadership, Integrity, Professional Excellence, and Service to the Global Community.

Julie F. Jameson, a Ph.D. candidate, was awarded the Attributes of a Gator Engineer Award for Leadership.

Jameson is a member of the Stoppel Lab, which is directed by Whitney Stoppel, Ph.D., an assistant professor.

“Julie has demonstrated that she is an exceptional graduate student,” Dr. Stoppel said. “Her positive attitude, resiliency, and willingness to try new, difficult things speaks to her current and future successes as a leader in STEM.” Jameson served as the 2019-2020 Chair of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering Graduate Student Council

(EGSC), where she helped organize and execute the college’s graduate student programing. She was voted by her peers to address prospective Ph.D. students during the spring 2020 Ph.D. recruiting weekend, where the best and the brightest students are encouraged to attend UF engineering Ph.D. programs in the fall. Jameson has also served in many mentoring roles through leadership in Tau Beta Pi’s GatorTrax program, the NSF MRET K-12 teacher training program, the college’s Summer Undergraduate Research at Florida (SURF) program, and many EGSC events. Through many avenues, she continues to contribute to advancing STEM diversity and inclusion efforts within the College, UF, and across the Gainesville community.

Calen Leverant, a Ph.D. candidate, was awarded the Attributes of a Gator Engineer Award for Integrity.

Leverant is advised by professor Peng Jiang, Ph.D. “Calen is honest, ethical, intellectually curious, hardworking, persistent, wellmannered, and has been an exceptional student and a role model in my research group,” Dr. Jiang said.

Dr. Jiang credits Leverant for his contributions to innovative scientific research, including having coauthored many peer-reviewed papers and U.S. patent applications.

Leverant has several professional honors including the best presentation award in Photonics at the NanoFlorida Conference.

He has trained many junior graduate and undergraduate students in Dr. Jiang’s research group and has served as both the chair of the department’s student safety council, and as the research group’s safety manager.

STUDENT NEWS

Rivera-Llabres Awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Victor Rivera-Llabres, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has been awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Rivera-Llabres’ research uses magnetic nanoparticles and magnetic fields to introduce anisotropic microstructures and microporosity to hydrogel scaffolds to enhance nerve regeneration.

“The fellowship is renowned among the scientific community, and I am extremely grateful of being chosen as a recipient,” Rivera-Llabres said. “Just the process of applying and completing the application is a growing experience, so I am extremely happy about this recognition and proactively working to fulfill my goals at hand.”

Rivera-Llabres obtained his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, and joined the lab of Carlos Rinaldi, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Dean’s Leadership Professor, in the fall of 2019.

“The fellowship brings many resources to my current research and places me in a position in which I can more meaningfully address questions in the scientific community and my field,” Rivera-Llabres said. “I am confident that this fellowship will give me the opportunity to contribute to the academic advancement of science, engineering and humanity. I am very excited about what the future holds.”

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited institutions nationwide.

Rivera-Llabres was also selected to attend the 2019 Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) Institute on Teaching and Mentoring in Atlanta on Oct. 24-27, 2019.

The Institute has become the largest gathering of minority doctoral scholars in the country. It gives the issue of faculty diversity a national focus, provides minority scholars with the strategies necessary to survive the rigors of graduate school, earn the doctoral degree, and succeed as members of the professoriate.

Berens Named U.S. Presidential Management Fellow Finalist Samuel J. Berens, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has been named a finalist in the highly competitive U.S. Presidential Management Fellows Program (PMF).

The Presidential Management Fellows Program is administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and has existed for more than 30 years for the purpose of developing potential leaders in the U.S. government. This year, over 4,900 applications were received and 402 applicants were selected as finalists.

The 2020 finalists’ pool represents approximately 61 different disciplines, 125 academic institutions, and 13% are veterans.

“Samuel is a hardworking and a very talented student,” said his faculty advisor, Sergey Vasenkov, Ph.D. Beren’s research achievements have been recognized with awards and honors including two publications as first author, being the lead Ph.D. student on a project selected as “Science Highlight” in 2019 by the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, and receiving the Best Poster Award at the 48th

Southeast Magnetic Resonance Conference.

“I’ve had the opportunity in Dr. Sergey Vasenkov’s lab to work on many different projects related to separations.

By working on several collaborative projects with outside researchers, I’ve become knowledgeable about a breadth of materials and processes. I think that this combination of scientific knowledge alongside collaboration and organization experience has given me the tools to succeed as a PMF,” Berens said.

As a finalist, Berens, is eligible for a fast-track appointment to government occupations and has access to a job portal for the full 2020 year where he can apply to positions that interest him. The program is reserved for individuals across the nation with advanced degrees who have gone through a rigorous selection process to become finalists.

“I am excited to be selected, especially since I think engineers and scientists are underrepresented in the program. I am most enthusiastic by roles which are relevant to my background such as those within the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, or Department of Defense,” Berens said.

CHE.UFL.EDU 17

STUDENT NEWS

Carey Wins Competitive CS MANTECH 2019 Best Student Paper Award Patrick H. Carey, IV, a Ph.D. candidate, received the 2019 Best Student Paper Award for his paper and presentation “Extreme Temperature Operation of Ultra-Wide Bandgap AlGaN High Electron Mobility Transistors” at the 2019 International Conference on Compound Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (CS MANTECH) in Minneapolis, MN. Carey and coauthors, Drs. Fan Ren and Stephen Pearton of UF, and Drs. Albert Baca, Brianna Klein, Andrew Allerman, Andrew Armstrong, Erica Douglas, Robert Kaplar, and Paul Kotula of Sandia National Laboratories detailed the forward push for high quality transistors which can operate at high environmental temperatures (500°C).

Their collaboration continues for further advancements within the field of ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors with additional projects looking at other device architectures and materials.

Students Present to Peers at 21st Annual GRACE Research Symposium The 21st Annual Graduate Association of Chemical Engineers (GRACE) Symposium was held at the Reitz Union on Friday, Nov. 1, 2019.

The symposium is a one-day research showcase where chemical engineering Ph.D., M.S., and undergraduate students have the opportunity to present their research in a conference style format (presentation or poster) to their peers and a panel of judges.

Thomas Angelini, Ph.D., an Associate Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Ayseul Gunduz, Ph.D.,

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an Associate Professor in the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, delivered the keynote presentations.

GRACE appreciates the efforts and dedication of all the participants and extends congratulations to the winners.

Session 1: Chaker Fares (Dr. Fan Ren Lab) and Patrick Carey (Dr. Fan Ren Lab) Session 2: Mykela Deluca (Dr. David Hibbitts Lab) and Nevin Brosius (Dr. Ranga Narayanan Lab) Poster session: Aditya Katiyar (Dr. Tanmay Lele Lab) and Carter Boelke (Dr. Long Qi Lab) GRACE is a graduate student group that fosters relationships between the student body and department. They host several events throughout the school year, such as a trip to the springs, research socials, tailgates, and celebrations.

GRACE Research Symposium photos taken on Nov. 1, 2019

STUDENT NEWS

Students Engage with Industry Partners at ChemE Day Students participated in a round-table career discussion, networked with industry partners, and refined their resumes at ChemE Day on Jan. 21, 2020. The department’s annual career and resume workshop connected 90 students with four industry partners.

“We had an enthusiastic group of students attend this year,” said Cynthia Sain, Chemical Engineering undergraduate advisor.

Student interest encouraged industry partners to continue mentoring well past the event’s end.

“It is really a pleasure to work with chemical engineering

students and help them with their resumes,” said Myron Barnett, human resources manager at WestRock.

This is the second year that Barnett has attended ChemE Day. He said he looks forward to this event because it is well organized, and he gets to meet students who will participate in internships at his company’s paper mill.

Thank you to our industry partners who attended, CDM Smith, Coca Cola, ExxonMobil, and Westrock; to our Chemical Engineering Peer Advisors (ChEPAs) and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) volunteers; and to all of the students who made it to this year’s event.

Your participation helped to make ChemE Day a success!

ChemE Day photos taken on Jan. 21, 2020

Kulkarni Selected to Attend National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering Aniruddha Kulkarni, a Ph.D. student, was one of 60 students selected to attend the National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering (NX School) hosted jointly by Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory on June 15-26, 2020.

“I am thrilled to have this opportunity to learn from the experts in the field from some of the leading facilities in the world,” Kulkarni said. “I hope to learn how to utilize these incredibly complex experimental techniques in my research projects.”

Kulkarni’s research focuses on the understanding and modification of nanoscale interfaces for biomedical applications. He is supervised by Kirk Ziegler, Ph.D., a ChE professor.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NX School has converted to a virtual format.

“This training involves a combined lecture and experimental approach which will educate me to effectively carry out experiments in the future and to collaborate with scientists at these facilities,” Kulkarni said.

CHE.UFL.EDU 19

STUDENT NEWS

Undergraduate Student Achievements Undergraduate student, Lauren Kilburn, was admitted to a highly selective SURF/REU program at Purdue University, and recently submitted her first publication, in which she is the lead author. She is a member of Hibbitts Catalysis Lab.

William Watson (BSChE 2020), under the supervision of Mark E. Orazem, Ph.D., wrote a program for error structure analysis and regression of impedance data titled, A Pythonbased Measurement Model Toolbox for Impedance Spectroscopy.

“This is a big deal for our research group and for the electrochemical research community at large,” Dr. Orazem said. “William’s program allows application of our measurement model ideas for

identification of error structure and regression of processspecific models.”

The program is newly released under the open source license GNU GPL Version 3, which limits commercial use.

The new program is based on a program and guide developed in the Orazem Research group in the 1990s.

Work on the original measurement model began in 1989 and culminated in a graphical user interface written primarily in Matlab that interfaced with Fortran executables.

The original measurement model program was not made generally available because each new version of Matlab broke a part of the program. The new code was written from the ground up in Python.

Watson graduated in May 2020. In July, he started as a Python programmer at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. Watson writes programs that use artificial intelligence to automatically interpret chemical spectroscopies.

////////////////////////////////////////////////// Students Honored with End of Year Department Awards In response to the precautionary measures taken by the University of Florida to minimize the spread of COVID-19, the department postponed the annual Spring Banquet. Students were recognized for their achievements in June.

Undergraduate Awards John C. Biery Scholarship Samantha Angelina Boyington/Chapnerkar Legacy Scholarship in Chemical Engineering Karen Stauffer and Jenna Stephany Cirioli/Exxon Mobil Friends Scholarship Kayla Buch and Nicolas Roberto Marzolini Fahien Endowed Teaching Scholarship Caroline Hamric and Emerick Gilliams

Proctor and Gamble Chemical Engineering Scholarship Lauren Kilburn, Cole Korsog, and Dustin McDougald Shroff Family Endowed Scholarship in Chemical Engineering Jose Chang, Sotonye Eretoru, Nathan P. Garcia, Luis Perez Gonzalez, Yongyin Huang, Akira Kuroiwa, Aaron Lacambra, Chengbo Liang, Nhi Nguyen, and Joshua L. Pinto Howard W. and Norma J. Smoyer Scholarship/Fellowship in Chemical Engineering Samuel Keiffer and Jisung Seo

Kydonieus Fellowship/Scholarship John Carter Boelke and Tipton Lichtenstein

Excellence Awards

John P. O’Connell Scholarship Fund Jonathan Medina, Christian Ore, and Shivani Shrivastava

Research Achievement Caroline Hamrick, Lauren Kilburn, and Whitney Schramm

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Professional Achievement Christian Ore Leadership and Service to the Profession Emerick Gilliams, Cole Korsog, and Jonathan Medina Service to the Community Mary Lopez, Dustin McDougald, and Shivani Shrivastava

Graduate Awards Arnold J. “Red” Morway Memorial Graduate Fellowships Aayush Mittal, Tilakapriya Ganesh, and Mohammed Shariff

SEMINARHIGHLIGHTS SPEAKERS STUDENT

ChE Hosts Outstanding Invited Seminar Speakers Lynden Archer Distinguished Professor Cornell University

Steven R. Little Department Chair and Professor University of Pittsburgh

Fall 2019

Fall 2019

Matthew Cooper Associate Professor North Carolina State University

A.J. Medford Assistant Professor Georgia Institute of Technology

Fall 2019

Fall 2019

Susan Daniels Professor Cornell University

Lilo D. Pozzo Weyerhaeuser Endowed Professor of Chemical Engineering University of Washington

Fall 2019

Spring 2020

William S. Epling Professor University of Virginia Fall 2019

William F. Schneider Dorini Family Chair of Energy Studies and Department Chair University of Notre Dame Fall 2019

Ashlee N. Ford Versypt Assistant Professor Oklahoma State University Fall 2019

Daniel Shantz Professor and The Entergy Chair in Clean Energy Engineering Tulane University Fall 2019

Gary Koenig Associate Professor University of Virginia

John Wilson Assistant Professor Carnegie Mellon University

Fall 2019

Fall 2019

Brian A. Korgel Professor University of Texas, Austin Fall 2019

With increasing concerns about the spread of coronavirus, the department postponed visits with several invited speakers scheduled in the spring. The department’s own professors stepped up to share their expertise in virtual seminars.

Tanmay Lele Charles A. Stokes Professor “The SIR model for spread of communicable disease”

Carlos Rinaldi Department Chair and Dean’s Leadership Professor “Diffusion of Nanoparticles in Polymer Solutions and Biological Fluids”

Ranga Narayanan Distinguished Professor and William P. and Tracy Cirioli Term Professor “Instability at the Interface – Patterns by Competition and Patterns by Resonance”

Fan Ren Distinguished Professor “Device Processing and Junction Formation Needs for Ultra-High Power Ga2O3 Electronics”

Sergey Vasenkov Professor “The Role of Structural Flexibility of Zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) Crystals in Intracrystalline Diffusion by High Field NMR”

Jason Weaver ExxonMobil Gator Alumni Faculty Endowed Professor “Alkane activation on late transition-metal oxides” CHE.UFL.EDU 21

ALUMNI UPDATE Dizon and Orazem Publish Invited Perspective on Electrokinetic Dewatering

from design to workforce training to supply chain and more.

Arthur Dizon, (Ph.D., 2018), and Mark E. Orazem, Ph.D., published an invited perspective on electrokinetic dewatering on March 13, 2020. Their paper titled, Advances and challenges of electrokinetic dewatering of clays and soils, reviews the origins, important contributions, and recent work on the topic.

The recipients represent a comprehensive cross section of experts in digital manufacturing, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing, the Internet of Things, predictive analytics and cybersecurity.

Fielding, a member of SME since 2014, believes that men as well as women have an important role in furthering the careers of women in aerospace and defense smart manufacturing.

“The struggles that women may face throughout their careers should not be theirs alone to try to solve,” she said. “Everyone has a role in creating a more diverse and inclusive aerospace and defense industry.”

Levy Selected as an AAAS Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellow Max G. Levy, Ph.D., (BSChE 2009) was one of 28 scientists selected by The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for its 2020 Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellowship. The program places scientists in newsrooms around the country for ten weeks of hands-on science reporting. Levy worked at the Los Angeles times.

VanReken Appointed Acting Deputy Division Director for the Division of Human Resources Development at the National Science Foundation Timothy M. VanReken, Ph.D. (BSChE 1997), was named as Acting Deputy Division Director for Human Resources Development (HRD) in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) on June 24, 2019.

Levy graduated from UF ChE with honors. His research focused on renewable biodiesel production, and designing anti-reflective coatings for solar panels.

Levy recently obtained his Ph.D. in chemical & biological engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. He worked on designing nanoparticles to kill drug resistant bacteria.

Currently based in California, Levy is a freelance journalist writing stories about science.

Fielding Receives Special Recognition from Society of Manufacturing Engineers Jennifer Fielding, Ph.D. (BSChE 1998), Section Chief of Composite Performance and Applications at the Air Force Research Laboratory, was one of 20 women who received special recognition from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) for making their mark in aerospace and defense smart manufacturing. Smart manufacturing uses computer technology to assist in most if not all aspects of manufacturing,

VanReken served as program director in the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), Office of Integrative Activities (OIA) since June 2016. Prior to joining NSF he was an associate professor in the Laboratory for Atmospheric Research within the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Washington State University in Pullman.

Dr. VanReken started his NSF career as an IPA appointee in June 2014. As program director in EPSCoR he managed a diverse portfolio of interdisciplinary awards within NSF’s jurisdiction-based research-capacity development program. He currently serves as program lead for two of EPSCoR’s Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) activities, and he also oversees several of its major projects across the country.

Share your news with us!

Email updates and a photo to communications@che.ufl.edu

///////////////////////////////////////////////// The Department Welcomes Three New Staff Members Dana Harpe Research Administrator II

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Emily Lopez Chair’s Administrative Support Assistant

David Sante Engineering Technician II

DEPARTMENT SUPPORT

Gifts to the Department We are thankful to all of our donors in 2019-20. Every gift, large or small, makes a difference and helps advance and improve student experiences at ChE. Your gifts to the Chemical Engineering Excellence Fund support scholarships, fellowships, faculty, and unrestricted support for the department.

We would especially like to recognize our major donors (gifts at $500+) this year: James H. Allen, Jr. and Susan D. Johnson Gary Louis and Janet Schultz Allen Douglas Alan Asbury Jody Alan and Pamela S. Beasley Ram Nath Bhatia and Charleen Ann White Bremen University Robert J. and Elizabeth Ayer Brugman Arthur A. and Martha E. Camero Chevron Corp.

William Walter and Linda D. Collins Chand and Malini K. Deepak Kristina Marie Denoncourt L. Dianne and Robert J. Dlouhy Eli Lilly & Co. Foundation ExxonMobil Foundation Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation and Jatinder Jolly Robert L. and Michele M. Goodmark Thomas L. and Beth O. Harrell George J. and Celeste C. Hayden Robert Joseph Heinle David William Henn Jatinder and Shakun Jolly Nick S. and Helen Paulopolos Katzaras Kydonieus Family Samos Foundation, Dorothy Campbell, and Agis Kydonieus Nathan Christopher and Jennifer Harrigan Lee Pearl Leung William David Loehle, Jr. and Jennifer Carbary Loehle

Morgan Christine McGrath Thomas Michael and A. Yvonne Miller Thomas Wiggins and Sally P. Moore Albert M. and Dianne D. Moppert William Clark and Meredith Hope Morgan Becky Holloway and Robert Fred Mortlock William Pratt Mounfield, III Michelle Navar John P. and Verna H. O’Connell Daniel Gerard O’Neil Byron Joseph and Lori Catherine Palla PepsiCo Brent Michael and Kathleen Ann Peyton Charles R. Revette James John Sandy, III and Bobette B. Sandy Shell Oil Co. Foundation M. R. Shelton Yogini and Jayant R. Shroff Harry Z Silsby, II and Carol Carter Silsby The Dow Chemical Co. United Technologies Corp. and Craig James Yates Whittington Polk and Nancy B. Vara David H. Vicrey and Gary R. Ensana Kenneth Michael and Martha D. Wasko Douglas George and Edith Claire Wene WestRock Douglas C. and Carolynne M. White Craig James and Thea Marie Yates

Randall L. Ledkins, Director of Development Family. What does this word mean to you?

To me it’s those people and individuals, some blood related and some chosen, who are/were impactful in shaping our very being. As I take an introspective look at my life, I am keenly aware of the people who have made me the person I am today. This journey starts with my mother, father, brother and other relatives. Complimenting these are those people and friends who have been

a part of my life who have also made a difference. My education, instructors, and institution played pivotal roles in my development and created a life changing opportunity for which I will ever be grateful. Therefore, they are family as well.

As we all have had the opportunity to become closer with our spouses/ partners, children, and parents during this era of COVID-19, I hope you too have had the chance to look in retrospect as to the individuals, institutions, and opportunities which have evolved you

into the person you are today.

Let us start a conversation today on how you can make an impact in Chemical Engineering. In addition to a direct contribution either outright or through your estate, there are also options available, which could provide income benefits to you and your family and some, which could provide income and estate tax savings.

I hope you all are safe and well and look forward to seeing you back in Gainesville! rledkins@eng.ufl.edu 352.294.7579

YOU CAN HELP POWER THE NEW ENGINEER make an online gift today at www.che.ufl.edu

CHE.UFL.EDU 23

UNIVERSITY NEWS

U F ’s $ 7 0 M illion A rt i fic ial I ntelligence Part nership w it h N VIDIA

The University of Florida announced a public-private partnership with NVIDIA that will catapult UF’s research strength to address some of the world’s most formidable challenges, create unprecedented access to AI training and tools for underrepresented communities, and build momentum for transforming the future of the workforce.

The initiative is anchored by a $50 million gift -- $25 million from UF alumnus Chris Malachowsky and $25 million in hardware, software, training and services from NVIDIA, the Silicon Valleybased technology company he cofounded and a world leader in AI and accelerated computing.

Along with an additional $20 million investment from UF, the initiative will create an AI-centric data center that houses the world’s fastest AI supercomputer in higher education. Working closely with NVIDIA, UF will boost the capabilities of its existing supercomputer, HiPerGator, with the recently announced NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD™ architecture. This will give faculty and students within and beyond UF the tools to apply AI across a multitude of areas to improve lives, bolster industry, and create economic growth across the state.

“This incredible gift from Chris and NVIDIA will propel the state of Florida to new heights as it strives to be an economic powerhouse, an unrivaled leader in job creation and an international model of 21st-century know-how,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “Over the coming years, tens of thousands of University of Florida graduates with this unique AI-oriented background will create their futures and ours, transforming our workforce and virtually every field and every industry here in Florida and around the world.”

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UF’s National AI Leadership The partnership will be central to UF’s vision to be a national leader in the application of AI, including an expansive plan to elevate its reach and impact in research, teaching, and economic development. It provides a replicable framework for future publicprivate cooperation, and a model for addressing society’s grand challenges through interdisciplinary collaboration. By deploying AI across the curriculum, this powerful resource will address major challenges such as rising seas, aging populations, data security, personalized medicine, urban transportation and food insecurity.

“UF’s leadership has a bold vision for making artificial intelligence accessible across its campus,” said Malachowsky, who serves as an NVIDIA Fellow. “What really got NVIDIA and me excited was partnering with UF to go broader still, and make AI available to K-12 students, state and community colleges, and businesses. This will help address underrepresented communities and sectors across the region where the technology will have a profound positive effect.”

Extensive Collaboration with NVIDIA NVIDIA’s technology powers two-thirds of the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers, including eight of the top 10. The third-generation HiPerGator will have access to NVIDIA’s most advanced AI software and integrate 140 NVIDIA DGX™ A100 systems with 1,120 NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPUs and high-performance NVIDIA Mellanox HDR 200Gb/s InfiniBand networking to deliver 700 petaflops of AI performance.

“Artificial intelligence is the most powerful technology force of our time,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Fueled by data and machine learning, AI is advancing at an exponential pace,

UF PARTNERS WITH NVIDIA

Integrated AI Curriculum, Intelligent-Decision Support, Equitable Access As a comprehensive institution, UF has a goal of bringing together students and faculty from across campus—and across the state. It will be among the nation’s first to integrate AI across all disciplines and make it a ubiquitous part of its academic enterprise. It will offer certificates and degree programs in AI and data science, with curriculum modules for specific technical and industry-focused domains. The initiative includes a commitment from UF to hire 100 more faculty members focused on AI. They will join 500 new faculty recently added across disciplines -- many of whom will weave AI into their teaching and research.

Artist’s rendering of University of Florida’s new AI supercomputer based on NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD architecture.

impacting every industry from healthcare to transportation to the sciences. Through their generosity and vision, Chris and UF are providing a mighty foundation for students and faculty to harness this technology and drive discovery.”

UF is the first institution of higher learning in the U.S. to receive DGX A100 systems, which are designed to accelerate diverse workloads, including AI training, inference, and data analytics.

NVIDIA will also contribute its AI expertise to UF through ongoing support and collaboration across the following initiatives: The NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute will collaborate with UF on developing new curriculum and coursework for both students and the community, including programing tuned to address the needs of young adults and teens to encourage their interest in STEM and AI, better preparing them for future educational and employment opportunities.

UF will become the site of the latest NVIDIA AI Technology Center, where UF Graduate Fellows and NVIDIA employees will work together to advance AI. NVIDIA solution architects and product engineers will partner with UF on the installation, operation and optimization of the NVIDIA-based supercomputing resources on campus, including the latest AI software applications.

Establishing UF’s Equitable AI program, led by Dr. Juan Gilbert, Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering. The effort is convening faculty members across the university to create standards and certifications in developing tools and solutions that are cognizant of bias, unethical practice and legal and moral issues.

“More than ever before in my lifetime, people around the country and the globe are looking to universities to expand access to higher education and technology and to level the field of opportunity for all,” UF President Kent Fuchs said. “UF intends to meet that challenge, and this partnership will help us do it.”

Within UF Health, UF’s robust academic health center, AI systems are being deployed to monitor patient conditions in real time, making it the first health system to use deep-learning technology to generate patient viability data. Through a novel system known as DeepSOFA, Dr. Azra Bihorac and her team use AI systems to collect and organize a patient’s medical data so that doctors can make better-informed decisions. DeepSOFA is but one example of how AI technology will be put to use to bolster research and improve patient care at UF Health.

To ensure no community is left behind, UF plans to promote wide accessibility to these computing capabilities and work with other institutions to develop a talent pipeline able to harness the power of AI through several initiatives. These include: Creating partnerships with industry and other academic groups, such as the Inclusive Engineering Consortium, whose students will work with members to conduct research and recruitment to UF graduate programs. The effort is led by Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering faculty member Dr. Damon Woodard. UF will also partner with these institutions to provide training in AI. “This initiative will allow us to recruit and equip a diverse, talented cadre of faculty and students across multiple disciplines and bring them together with colleagues from government and the private sector to find solutions to our most important problems,” said Dr. Cammy Abernathy, dean of UF’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.

University officials expect this announcement will spark additional excitement among others who have significant resources and abilities related to AI, and reaffirmed their commitment to serve as a catalyst for those who wish to step up and join in this amazing adventure.

CHE.UFL.EDU 25

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Finding That Perfect Blend

All photos courtesy of Scott Pressly Scott with daughters Carden and KJ at a Gator football game.

The chairman of Tropical Smoothie Café believes in balance – work, family, service, social life – and the power of free frappé to lift spirits.

This spring as the coronavirus tormented nations and stretched hospitals to their snapping points, Scott Pressly made smoothies. Dozens became hundreds. Each, to the health workers he gave them to, a moment of calm in the chaos. An act of thoughtfulness. A respite.

The free Bahama Mamas, Beach Bums and Mango Magics were gestures of gratitude to the women and men on the virus’ frontlines — and Pressly’s small way to pitch in during the pandemic.

“All of us need to do our part,” the chairman of Tropical Smoothie Café insists. “It’s unbelievable the environment that doctors and nurses work in every day. We like to make their day a little better by bringing them a smoothie.”

Simple as that.

And so he did. Over and over and over again. By April’s end, he and his family had personally churned and hand delivered some 700 smoothies to hospitals in Atlanta, where the Presslys live when not in Gainesville.

“We’ll show up with 50 or 60, and the health 26 UF | DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

care workers are ecstatic,” says Pressly (BSCHE ’90), whose sister is a nurse. “That’s the greatest thing.”

But he didn’t stop there.

Pressly and Tropical Smoothie Café CEO Charles Watson asked the franchise’s 840 stores to donate smoothies to first responders and hospital workers in communities across the country. Their plan was to give away 100,000. Within weeks — despite social distancing’s economic toll on their profit sheets — stores shot past that number and a new unofficial goal was set: 200,000.

“It gives us an opportunity to see what the health care workers are going through and to see smiles on their faces when we bring them smoothies,” Pressly says.

Which, really, sums up what Pressly himself is all about: compassion and empowerment — his response to COVID-19 the latest example.

“So many people are focused on their careers and think they’ll get to the other things that matter later in life,” Pressly explains. “It’s not all about one thing. You

Scott and Barbie Pressly and their children, Palmer, Carden and KJ.

Pressly and his best friends from college — Scott Blews (BA ’90, JD ’93), Brad Saviello (BSME ’90), Chris Winiewicz (BSISE ’91) and Mark Montgomery (BSAC ’89) — are still close, often vacationing together. The four are pictured here with Scott and his father, Herb.

don’t have to have all the answers. You just have to work hard.”

Life in the Balance Happiness, Pressly believes, is learning to juggle: career in one palm … family in the other … community service and relationships and spirituality and health all cycling through

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT in the rotation.

“Anybody can take anything to an extreme, whether it’s fitness or work or even family,” he reasons. “I like the idea of juggling all the pieces, making sure none of them gets too low or drops because that will put it all out of whack.”

Those might not be words up-andcoming entrepreneurs expect from a man who’s made a livelihood investing in new companies. But Pressly lives those sentiments.

“What I am most proud of in my life are not my business achievements,” he says, “but rather that I was able to coach 21 different sports seasons for my kids, travel with my family to more than 25 countries, be actively involved in ministries in Poland, central Europe and Atlanta, and, most importantly, to spend 27 incredible years with my wife.”

That groundedness is a gift from his parents.

Herbert Pressly (BCE ’58), his dad, worked for Florida’s Department of Transportation in Tallahassee from his college graduation to retirement. Mom Joyce Pressly was committed to social programs, especially for underprivileged children. On fall football weekends, it was all about cheering on the orange and blue.

That balance — job, service, fun, each other — stuck with Pressly. The “juggling” came naturally: Academics: no sweat. (Pressly graduated magna cum laude from UF with a chemical engineering degree and went on to earn an MBA from Harvard.)

Goodwill: nailed it. (A year in Poland as a volunteer with a $300-a-month stipend followed Harvard graduate school, and he’s still doing what he can to improve communities: now, among other things, lending his business expertise to the new Danny Wuerffel Foundation.)

Career: brilliant. (Engineer, executive, investor, entrepreneur — it’s one success after another.)

Friends: unbreakable. (Pressly vacations with old college buddies and hangs out with them at virtual happy hours each Thursday.)

Marriage and children: picture-perfect. (It was Basia, his wife, who suggested their move to Gainesville so he could be more involved with UF, and his children are partners in this spring’s COVID-19 smoothierelief project.)

While those things taken together make life whole, the most rewarding, for him, is coaching, Pressly says — whether it’s middle schoolers or aspiring business owners or people who need a caring hand.

“That’s fulfillment, when you can help somebody achieve their dreams or be better off,” he says. “Seeing someone reach their potential is what it’s all about.”

bringing home a national award.

Some of Pressly’s fondest memories are tied to the hours spent with friends in the engineering college. Years later, as his interests turned toward business, lessons learned with those friends and his engineering professors served him well, Pressly says.

“The skillset required for both [business and engineering] are amazingly similar,” he promises. “How do you break down large, complex problems into their fundamental components to assess trends and create hypotheses for a future state?”

The Gator Inside

Or, put another way: “There’s just something about building things that I enjoy.”

Pressly always knew he’d go to UF. Even growing up in Tallahassee — with Florida State University shading his childhood — he knew. The ache to be a Gator was too strong to ignore. So when time came to pick a college he didn’t bother applying anywhere else.

Now, with all the most important pieces of Pressly’s life circling in a smooth arc, he’s adding more: leadership at his alma mater.

He’s vice chair on UF’s Whitney Laboratory for Marine Science’s board of trustees and also a member of the engineering dean’s advisory board.

“There is a great sense of pride in belonging to the Gator Nation and I love being part of it,” he explains. “I can’t resist giving a ‘Go Gators’ nod to anyone wearing the orange and blue.

And he hopes to do more for the university.

For that, he credits his undergraduate mentor, professor Spyros Svoronos.

“It makes my family sort of nuts,” he adds, “but that greeting is always met with a welcome, knowing smile. The collective achievements of the university — its students, athletic teams and alumni — are somehow summed up in that simple, universal greeting.”

Chemical engineering, on the other hand, was less certain. Pressly majored in it out of high school because, frankly, he didn’t know what else to do.

“The reality is I didn’t even really know what a chemical engineer does,” he admits. “We put so much pressure on kids when they’re 18 to decide what they’ll do for the rest of their lives. I didn’t have any kind of a plan.”

That didn’t stop him from being good at it, however. Really good.

So much so that classmates voted him their Society of Chemical Engineers chapter president. That same year, UF ended up

“Dr. Svoronos was fantastic,” Pressly says.

“He was an unbelievable inspiration. He spent an incredible amount of time patiently teaching, mentoring and encouraging me. It is a privilege and, quite honestly a pleasure, to continue in his footsteps to assist the next generation of the Gator Nation.”

The question now, though, is where to focus.

But, Pressly says, that’s a good problem to have.

“There are so many exciting initiatives at the University of Florida it has been difficult to choose where best to offer my support,” he says. “Helping the next generation of students motivates me to give back.”

by David Finnerty Pressly was honored with the S. Clark Butler Pinnacle Award at the Gator100 awards ceremony on Feb. 28, 2020. The S. Clark Butler Pinnacle Award recognizes an established business leader who has demonstrated sustained excellence and leadership.

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P. O . B O X 1 1 6 0 0 5 GAINESVILLE, FL 32611 W W W.C H E .U F L . E D U

DINESH O. SHAH ANNUAL LECTURE IN SURFACE SCIENCE (VIRTUAL EVENT) SAMIR MITRAGOTRI, PH.D. Harvard University “Understanding and Overcoming Biological Barriers for Drug Delivery” Nov. 30, 2020

ENDOWED DISTINGUISHED LECTURE IN FLUID MECHANICS (VIRTUAL EVENT) JEFFREY F. MORRIS, PH.D. The City College of New York Talk Title TBA April 5, 2021