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Access to Labs and Offices After Hours - action needed
by Farmus, Cristina D 01 May '13

01 May '13

It has been reported that the janitorial staff receive frequent requests to open research labs and sometimes faculty offices after hours, with various explanations from forgotten key to the need to pick up something for a professor. The janitors have no way of knowing who is allowed to enter a specific lab or office. During the faculty meeting on 4/25, we discussed the best practices for allowing access to research labs after hours and this is what was decided. Each lab and graduate office should have a list with the people who have access to the lab posted on the door from the inside, but visible from the outside. The list can include graduates, undergraduates, post-docs, research staff or visiting scholars and should be signed by the professor who is in charge of the lab. When a person forgets their key and requests to enter a lab or graduate office, they should show their Purdue ID to the janitor and if their name is on the list, they will be allowed to enter the lab/grad office. Faculty or staff offices will never be opened by janitors to anyone except the occupant. It is the responsibility of each professor to compile, post and update the list of persons who have access to the labs, and the responsibility of graduate students to post a list for their graduate offices. I attach a template that can be used. To maintain high safety standards, the janitors will report to me when they have to open a lab or graduate office and the name of the person who was allowed to enter. I will monitor for repeat behaviors. This practice will become part of the standard safety process for our building. Let me know if you have any questions. Cristina Cristina Farmus Administrative Director Chemical Engineering Purdue University 765 494 0027 cfarmus(a)purdue.edu<mailto:cfarmus@purdue.edu>

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Invitation to the Spring Recognition Reception May 2, 2013
by Mamph, Jennifer A 01 May '13

01 May '13

[Text Box: SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING Faculty, Staff & Graduate Student Spring Recognition Reception Thursday, May 2, 2013 3:30-4:30 p.m. Henson Atrium]

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Kristi Anseth elected to the NAS
by Varma, Arvind 30 Apr '13

30 Apr '13

Dear Colleagues, You will be pleased to know that Kristi Anseth (BSChE '92) has been elected to the NAS - pl visit: http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/2013_04_30_NAS_Election.h… . At age 44 (perhaps the youngest ever?), she is now a member of all 3 National Academies: NAE, IOM and NAS. We rejoice in the achievements of our School's distinguished alumna! Arvind Arvind Varma R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld Head of Chemical Engineering Purdue University

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Safety Update #18 - UCLA felony trial update
by Gabriela Nagy 29 Apr '13

29 Apr '13

Dear ChE Faculty, Staff, Research Associates and Graduate Students, Please find attached an article that provides an update to the trial regarding the fatal safety incident at UCLA back in December 2008 (please see Safety Update #7 and Safety Update #9 at https://engineering.purdue.edu/ChE/AboutUs/Safety.html) The article was published in "Los Angeles Times" on April 26, 2013; please follow the link below to access the original article. http://articles.latimes.com/print/2013/apr/26/local/la-me-ucla-prof-20130427 I would like to take this opportunity and remind everyone that all people working in a research lab in our School is required to have safety training tailored to the specific work performed in that lab. This should be in addition to the Safety Awareness Training that each employee undertakes at the start of their appointment with our School. If needed, specialized safety training is offered by REM (Radiological and Environmental Management) at Purdue. The Principal Investigator is responsible for ensuring that everyone working in his/her lab has appropriate chemical safety training. All employees must follow the safety rules at all times and wear the PPE identified as necessary for the activities performed in the lab. It is recommended that the additional safety training is recorded and the records kept on file with the Faculty responsible for that lab. Thank you to Adam Krajicek from REM for sharing this article. Gabriela -- Gabriela Nagy, PhD Industrial Education Director ChE Safety Committee Chair School of Chemical Engineering Purdue University Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering, Room G051 480 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette, IN 47 907 Tel: (765) 496-1710; Fax: (765) 494-0805 E-mail: nagyg(a)purdue.edu

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Concur- Travel Go-Live for ChE Monday, April 29th
by Toro, Heather D 25 Apr '13

25 Apr '13

All, It is finally here, the long anticipated travel go-live for date ChE is Monday, April 29th. Effective Friday, May 17th we will no longer accept form 17s for Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Students (Employed by Purdue). Here are a couple items to note: * If you started a trip on a Form 17, you can be reimbursed on a Form 25 or via Concur. * The Business Office will notify you when your credit card is ready for pick-up. o The Business Office will no longer prepay expenses for anyone that is eligible for a credit card. o The Business Office can prepay expenses for undergraduates and Graduate Students not employed by Purdue. * Before booking any trips, users need to complete their profiles. I have added a QRC (Quick Reference Card) to this email to help you with this. o Please note that your name in your profile needs to match your Government issued ID, because this is the name that will be used on your airline tickets. o Please turn on e-receipts (in your Profile) if you are using the Purdue Visa Travel Card. * Remember that the Business Office is no longer approving prior to booking, so you are responsible for knowing that you have funding in your accounts and the charges are allowable. o Remember to only use an US Air Carrier on any Federal funded grants. Your account manager will notify you of accounts with travel restrictions. * Please follow the College of Engineering naming convention for trips: Department_First Initial Last Name_Destination_First Date of Travel (i.e. ChE_HToro_Chicago_4/29/13). * If your delegate enters your booking, you only have 24 hours to hit submit otherwise you will lose the reserved airfare. * You only have 60 days from the return date of the trip to submit an expense report, otherwise this will become taxable income to you. Please let me know if you have any questions. Sincerely, Heather ____________________________ Heather Toro Business Manager School of Chemical Engineering 765-494-4071 htoro(a)purdue.edu<mailto:htoro@purdue.edu> [Description: Description: W:\PU_signature_white_bg_215x80.png] www.purdue.edu<http://www.purdue.edu/> We are Purdue. What we make moves the world forward.

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Sang Kim receives South Korea's highest research honor!
by Varma, Arvind 24 Apr '13

24 Apr '13

Dear Colleagues, I am absolutely delighted to inform that Sang Kim, currently on leave at the Univ of Wisconsin-Madison, has received the 2013 Ho-Am Engineering Prize from South Korea - it is that country's highest engineering research award. The award includes a prize of about $265,000, a gold medal and a laureate diploma, and is issued in five categories: science, engineering, medicine, the arts and community service. The details are available at: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q2/purdue-professor-receives-k… Pl join me in congratulating Sang for this tremendous honor, which brings recognition to him and to Purdue. We keenly await Sang's return to Purdue this fall, to continue his brilliant research, inspiring teaching and impactful entrepreneurship activities! Best, Arvind Arvind Varma R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld Head of Chemical Engineering Purdue University

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Seminar Announcement - Dow Chemical April 25th
by Mamph, Jennifer A 23 Apr '13

23 Apr '13

School of Chemical Engineering James Ringer, Dan Hickman, Eric Stangland Dow Chemical "Catalyst Development and Reactor Scale-up for Fluidized Bed Conversion of Ethane to Vinyl Chloride" April 25, 2013 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. FRNY 3059 Technical Seminar Abstract: Novel LaOCl/LaCl3 catalysts have been discovered that enable the production of vinyl chloride monomer from ethane. This ethane-based process results in both capital savings and raw materials savings when compared to the current most effective vinyl technology. These materials are unique in the world of chlorination/oxychlorination as the mechanism for chlorination over LaOCl/LaCl3 occurs on a catalyst without a redox metal center, unlike the conventional CuCl2 catalysts used for oxychlorination, where the Cu species are reducible. Catalyst characterization using unsteady-state reactivity studies, Raman, XPS, and EXAFS demonstrate that LaOCl/LaCl3 catalysts have complex and rich surface compositions that are not represented by their bulk stoichiometry. Even after extensive activation in HCl or Cl2, the catalyst surface contains a variety of chlorine, oxide, and hydroxide species. Hydrocarbon chlorination occurs through lattice chlorine, as only gas-phase oxygen, and therefore oxygen reduction on the time-scale of chlorination, is necessary for activity. The presence of gas-phase HCl or Cl2 is not required but serves to rechlorinate the catalyst surface, completing the catalytic cycle. Density functional theory calculations are consistent with this plausible mechanism directly related to reactivity of surface chlorine species and not gas-phase chlorine free-radicals. Selectivities and activities for various chlorinated hydrocarbons and COx change with surface chlorination levels, with the highest chlorination rates and selectivities observed on fully-chlorided catalysts. The work to date shows that maintaining the catalyst surface in an optimal state of chlorination appears vital to achieve high rates and selectivities. In addition to reviewing the catalytic features of this system, this presentation will review the engineering approaches taken and the challenges encountered in the scale-up of a fluidized bed reactor based on this catalyst technology. This presentation will highlight the application of chemical reaction engineering and catalysis principles to a real industrial reactor scale-up, with special attention given to the unexpected and atypical challenges encountered in this development effort.

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Graduate Seminar Announcement - Dr Julie Renner
by Ewing, Virginia G 22 Apr '13

22 Apr '13

Reminder -- Purdue University School of Chemical Engineering Graduate seminar series Dr. Julie Renner "Modular Protein Matrices for Cartilage Repair" Tuesday, April 23, 2013 9:00-10:20 a.m. FRNY G140 Reception at 8:30 a.m. in Henson Atrium Abstract: Articular cartilage degradation (osteoarthritis) is a prevalent disease in the United States. Disadvantages of current treatments include poor mechanical integrity, degradation with time, and donor site morbidity. One tissue engineering approach combines artificial proteins with the use of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). This approach has potential to be minimally invasive, low-cost and long-lasting. In this work, modular proteins are designed as matrices for cartilage tissue engineering. The proteins feature mechanical domains derived from the rubber-like protein resilin and attempt to mimic the mechanical properties of natural cartilage. Bioactive domains are incorporated to interact with the MSCs. Bioactive domains derived from fibronectin are included in the resilin-based proteins, and other promising bioactive sequences are identified. Lysine residues serve as crosslinking sites. Here we report oscillatory rheology experiments where the proteins exhibit dual-phase behavior and form weak gels in response to temperature. This behavior may be useful in tissue engineering and drug-delivery applications. Crosslinking the modular proteins with tris(hydroxymethyl)phosphine results in viscoelastic hydrogels with an unconfined compressive modulus of 2400 ± 200 kPa, which is on the same order as human cartilage. A LIVE/DEAD assay demonstrates that the recombinant proteins are cytocompatible with human MSCs and a cell-spreading assay shows cells interact with the fibronectin-derived domain in a sequence-specific manner. We also investigate a short peptide derived from bone morphogenetic-2 and found that it directs proteoglycan (cartilage matrix) production in human MSCs without increasing undesired markers for bone. This suggests the peptide is a promising tool for cartilage tissue repair. Bio: Dr. Renner completed her thesis work as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at Purdue University in the summer of 2012. Her work focused on biomaterial design and characterization. She joined Proton Energy Systems in November 2012 as Small Business Postdoctoral Research Diversity Fellow supported by the National Science foundation under Grant# IIP-1059286 to the American Society for Engineering Education. She currently works on electrolysis technology as a membrane scientist.

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Severe weather conditions expected for Tippecanoe County
by Gabriela Nagy 18 Apr '13

18 Apr '13

Dear ChE Faculty, Staff, Research Fellows and Students, I just received information that Tippecanoe County is expecting severe weather today, including being under a severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch. Please be aware of outdoor conditions. There are many resources available; a short list includes weather web sites, local radio stations, the Purdue home page, and the Purdue Alert text messaging system. If you have not signed up for the Purdue ALERT messaging system yet, you are strongly encouraged to do so. To sign up for Purdue Alert, please go to http://www.purdue.edu/emergency_preparedness/ and click on the “Sign Up for Text Messaging” link on the left side of the page. If the outdoor sirens will be activated, please proceed calmly to our Shelter-in-place location, which is the basement of the new wing of Forney. The route to the shelter in place location is clearly signposted on each floor with the yellow sign (see picture attached) and arrows. The routes are: the staircase in the Atrium, the one adjacent to the entrance/exit facing Physics Building and the one adjacent to the entrance/exit facing Civil Engineering Building. Please review your closest route to our shelter in place location. Thank you, Gabriela -- Gabriela Nagy, PhD Industrial Education Director ChE Safety Committee Chair School of Chemical Engineering FRNY, Room G051 Tel: (765) 496-1710; Fax: (765) 494-0805 E-mail: nagyg(a)purdue.edu

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Graduate Seminar Announcement - Dr Julie Renner
by Ewing, Virginia G 17 Apr '13

17 Apr '13

Purdue University School of Chemical Engineering Graduate seminar series Dr. Julie Renner "Modular Protein Matrices for Cartilage Repair" Tuesday, April 23, 2013 9:00-10:20 a.m. FRNY G140 Reception at 8:30 a.m. in Henson Atrium Abstract: Articular cartilage degradation (osteoarthritis) is a prevalent disease in the United States. Disadvantages of current treatments include poor mechanical integrity, degradation with time, and donor site morbidity. One tissue engineering approach combines artificial proteins with the use of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). This approach has potential to be minimally invasive, low-cost and long-lasting. In this work, modular proteins are designed as matrices for cartilage tissue engineering. The proteins feature mechanical domains derived from the rubber-like protein resilin and attempt to mimic the mechanical properties of natural cartilage. Bioactive domains are incorporated to interact with the MSCs. Bioactive domains derived from fibronectin are included in the resilin-based proteins, and other promising bioactive sequences are identified. Lysine residues serve as crosslinking sites. Here we report oscillatory rheology experiments where the proteins exhibit dual-phase behavior and form weak gels in response to temperature. This behavior may be useful in tissue engineering and drug-delivery applications. Crosslinking the modular proteins with tris(hydroxymethyl)phosphine results in viscoelastic hydrogels with an unconfined compressive modulus of 2400 ± 200 kPa, which is on the same order as human cartilage. A LIVE/DEAD assay demonstrates that the recombinant proteins are cytocompatible with human MSCs and a cell-spreading assay shows cells interact with the fibronectin-derived domain in a sequence-specific manner. We also investigate a short peptide derived from bone morphogenetic-2 and found that it directs proteoglycan (cartilage matrix) production in human MSCs without increasing undesired markers for bone. This suggests the peptide is a promising tool for cartilage tissue repair. Bio: Dr. Renner completed her thesis work as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at Purdue University in the summer of 2012. Her work focused on biomaterial design and characterization. She joined Proton Energy Systems in November 2012 as Small Business Postdoctoral Research Diversity Fellow supported by the National Science foundation under Grant# IIP-1059286 to the American Society for Engineering Education. She currently works on electrolysis technology as a membrane scientist.

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