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Lei Ling Dissertation Defense, Thursday, November 13th at 1:30PM in FRNY 3062A
by Maus, Amy M 11 Nov '14

11 Nov '14

This e-mail is to announce that Lei Ling will be defending his dissertation, Design of Liquid Chromatography Systems for Capture and Purification, on Thursday, November 13th at 1:30PM in FRNY 3062A. The dissertation is being directed by Dr. Wang, and the abstract is attached. All are welcome to attend. Kind Regards, Amy Maus Graduate Program Secretary School of Chemical Engineering Purdue University 480 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2100 Phone: 765-494-7343 Email: amaus(a)purdue.edu<mailto:amaus@purdue.edu>

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Haiyu Fang Dissertation Defense, Thursday, November 13th, at 1:30p.m. in FRNY 3062B
by Maus, Amy M 10 Nov '14

10 Nov '14

This e-mail is to announce that Haiyu Fang will be defending his dissertation, Synthesis and Characterization of Nanostructured Materials for Thermoelectric Energy Conversion, on Thursday, November 13th at 1:30PM in FRNY 3062B. The dissertation is being co-directed by Dr. Morgan, and the abstract is below. All are welcome to attend. Abstract: The rapid development of thermoelectric materials in the past decade has raised new hopes for the possibility of directly converting waste thermal energy back to electricity. However, the large scale deployment of thermoelectric devices is still limited by the mediocre conversion efficiency. Nanostructured materials have been proved to be able to significantly improve conversion efficiency. My research is devoted to developing efficient solution phase reactions to synthesize nanostructured thermoelectric materials in an economical and scalable way. Meanwhile, we also aim at exploring the unique applications of solution synthesized nanostructured materials, e.g. developing nanocrystal ink to coat on flexible substrates for applications in wearable thermoelectric devices. In this study, we developed a general method to synthesize a variety of telluride nanowires and binary phase heterostructures with solution phase reaction. To demonstrate the scalability of our solution phase synthesis, a 1 liter reactor is used to synthesize over 17 gram of Bi2Te3 nanowires at a yield of 94% with low reaction temperature of 120 °C and short reaction time of 70 minutes. Furthermore, we have taken advantage of the flexibility of our method and successfully synthesized different heterostructures with two tellurides in a single nanowire, e.g. Te-Bi2Te3, PbTe-Bi2Te3 and Ag2Te-Bi2Te3, which provide great platforms to study the electron and phonon transport through interfaces. Meanwhile, to investigate the applications of nanoparticles in flexible thermoelectrics, we also developed a method to synthesize extremely stable nanocrystal ink for coating on various substrates. In order to demonstrate the benefits of solution synthesized nanoparticles for thermoelectric applications, we applied hot press to consolidate the nanowires and heterostructures into nanocomposites which possess extremely low thermal conductivity, leading to enhanced ZT. Especially, the binary phase nanocomposites made from heterostructures show much lower thermal conductivity than single phase bulk and even nanocomposite. To further improve the thermoelectric performance, we also applied doping to tune the carrier concentration of our materials to gain more thermoelectric performance enhancement. For example, Se was used to dope Bi2Te3 nanocomposites, which leads to 60% of power factor enhancement. In addition to hot press, we also coated solution synthesized nanoparticles on different substrates, even flexible ones, to fabricate thin films. Particularly, the effects of size and iodine doping concentration on the thermoelectric properties on the PbTe nanocrystal thin films are investigated to enhance the understanding of using nanocrystal thin film for flexible thermoelectric applications. Kind Regards, Amy Maus Graduate Program Secretary School of Chemical Engineering Purdue University 480 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2100 Phone: 765-494-7343 Email: amaus(a)purdue.edu<mailto:amaus@purdue.edu>

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Scott Finefrock Dissertation Defense, Thursday, November 13th, at 10:00am in FRNY 2124
by Maus, Amy M 10 Nov '14

10 Nov '14

This e-mail is to announce that Scott Finefrock will be defending his dissertation, Solution Synthesized Nanostructured Thermoelectric Materials, on Thursday, November 13th at 10:00AM in FRNY 2124. The dissertation is being co-directed by Dr. Morgan, and the abstract is attached. All are welcome to attend. Kind Regards, Amy Maus Graduate Program Secretary School of Chemical Engineering Purdue University 480 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2100 Phone: 765-494-7343 Email: amaus(a)purdue.edu<mailto:amaus@purdue.edu>

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FW: America Recycles Day - Donate Unused Clothes
by Farmus, Cristina D 10 Nov '14

10 Nov '14

Please see the email below regarding an activity organized by the Sustainability Subcommittee of the Graduate Student Organization. Regards, Cristina ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Gautham MR <gmadenoo(a)purdue.edu<mailto:gmadenoo@purdue.edu>> Date: Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 4:30 PM Subject: America Recycles Day - Donate Unused Clothes To: chmegrad(a)ecn.purdue.edu<mailto:chmegrad@ecn.purdue.edu> Dear All, Did you know that approximately 20 billion lbs of clothing are thrown away in the US every year? These clothes make their way to the landfill where they decompose to release harmful greenhouse gases. Here is a great opportunity for you to donate unused clothing for a good cause (and declutter your closet!). November 15th is observed annually in the US as America Recycles Day. You can find the Presidential Proclamation for the Years 2012 & 2013 here, inviting your participation (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/11/15/presidential-proclama… ;and; http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/11/14/presidential-proclama…) The Proclamation for this year should be out soon. In the spirit of this day, GSO is organizing a cloth collection drive on Friday, November 14th, between 12pm and 2.30pm in front of G124. You can drop off the following: Clothing (Men, Women & Children), Blankets, Drapes/Curtains, Pillows, Sleeping Bags, Shoes, Purses, Hats & Jewellery. Anything else will not be accepted. The collected items will be distributed to The Purple Heart, The City Mission ,and Goodwill organizations. Please come forward and contribute. Thanks, Gautham

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Dr. Christopher Rao - Announcement
by Waibel, Lucinda M 10 Nov '14

10 Nov '14

Purdue University School of Chemical Engineering Graduate seminar series Prof. Christopher Rao Associate Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Robert W. Schaefer Professorial Scholar University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "Design and Diversity in Bacterial Signaling Networks" November 11, 2014 9:00-10:15 a.m. FRNY G140 Reception at 10:15-10:45 a.m. in Henson Atrium Abstract: Evolution has solved many of the problems faced by control engineers, though the solutions in natural systems are most often quite different than those seen in engineered systems. Specifically, natural control systems often employ interlocking positive and negative feedback loops with no clear decoupling between them. In this talk, I will discuss some of our work investigating the multi-loop control strategies that bacterial employ for transcriptional regulation. I will conclude by identifying some common properties of these systems and discuss their differences to engineered controlled systems. Bio: Christopher Rao is an Associate Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Robert W. Schaefer Professorial Scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a program leader within the Energy Biosciences Institute. He received his B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, both in Chemical Engineering. Prior to beginning his independent career at Illinois in 2005, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He received the NSF CAREER Award in 2007, W. David Smith Jr. Graduate Student Paper Award from AIChE in 2007, the High Impact Paper Award from IFAC in 2010, and the Outstanding Young Research Award from the Computing and Systems Technology Division of AIChE in 2012. His research interests are in the areas of systems and synthetic biology, with a specific interest in understanding how cells employ feedback control in decision-making processes. Sincerely, Cindy Waibel Secretary ~ Rm 1144 Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering Purdue University 480 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette, IN 47907-2100 765-494-4069 Fax: 765-494-0805 leiklebe(a)purdue.edu<mailto:leiklebe@purdue.edu> [PurdueEngineeringLogosmall]

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Kim See
by Murray, Chris L 07 Nov '14

07 Nov '14

I am sorry to announce that Kim See will be leaving ChE. She has accepted a position in the Animal Sciences Dept. in the School of Ag as an account clerk where she can use her recently obtained accounting degree. Kim's last day with us will be Friday, November 21. Please join me in congratulating Kim on this new opportunity. Thanks, Chris Chris Murray Academic Administrator School of Chemical Engineering Purdue University 480 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette, IN 47907 765-494-4075

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Dr. Christopher Rao - Announcement
by Waibel, Lucinda M 06 Nov '14

06 Nov '14

Purdue University School of Chemical Engineering Graduate seminar series Prof. Christopher Rao Associate Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Robert W. Schaefer Professorial Scholar University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "Design and Diversity in Bacterial Signaling Networks" November 11, 2014 9:00-10:15 a.m. FRNY G140 Reception at 10:15-10:45 a.m. in Henson Atrium Abstract: Evolution has solved many of the problems faced by control engineers, though the solutions in natural systems are most often quite different than those seen in engineered systems. Specifically, natural control systems often employ interlocking positive and negative feedback loops with no clear decoupling between them. In this talk, I will discuss some of our work investigating the multi-loop control strategies that bacterial employ for transcriptional regulation. I will conclude by identifying some common properties of these systems and discuss their differences to engineered controlled systems. Bio: Christopher Rao is an Associate Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Robert W. Schaefer Professorial Scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a program leader within the Energy Biosciences Institute. He received his B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, both in Chemical Engineering. Prior to beginning his independent career at Illinois in 2005, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He received the NSF CAREER Award in 2007, W. David Smith Jr. Graduate Student Paper Award from AIChE in 2007, the High Impact Paper Award from IFAC in 2010, and the Outstanding Young Research Award from the Computing and Systems Technology Division of AIChE in 2012. His research interests are in the areas of systems and synthetic biology, with a specific interest in understanding how cells employ feedback control in decision-making processes. Sincerely, Cindy Waibel Secretary ~ Rm 1144 Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering Purdue University 480 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette, IN 47907-2100 765-494-4069 Fax: 765-494-0805 leiklebe(a)purdue.edu<mailto:leiklebe@purdue.edu> [PurdueEngineeringLogosmall]

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Dr. Horia Metiu - Seminar Reminder, Nov 4
by See, Kimberly S 03 Nov '14

03 Nov '14

Purdue University School of Chemical Engineering Graduate seminar series Prof. Horia Metiu University of California, Santa Barbara "Catalytic Alkane Activation: Theory and Experiments" November 4, 2014 9:00-10:15 a.m. FRNY G140 Reception at 10:15-10:45 a.m. in Henson Atrium Abstract: I will present our work on two topics: 1. The use of density functional computations to explore whether we can improve catalytic activity of oxides, for alkane activation, by various chemical modifications. 2. Experiments that study halogen mediated oxidative dehydrogenation of propane to produce propylene. Within the first topic we use as a guide the observation that when co-adsorbed a Lewis base and a Lewis acid interact strongly through the oxide. This allows us to predict qualitative trends regarding the ability of various kinds of doped oxide surfaces to break the carbon-hydrogen bond in alkanes. In the second topic I present experiments that show that iodine or bromine mediated oxidative dehydrogenation is very effective in converting propane to propylene. We show that this takes place when the gaseous halogen is introduced in a mixture of propane and oxygen or when it is produced by the action of oxygen on molten LiI or LiBr. Bio: M.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute Bucharest and PhD in theoretical chemical physics from MIT with John Ross and Robert Silbey. He was a postdoc at the University of Chicago with Karl Freed. He has been professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara since 1976. Worked in many areas of theoretical chemical physics: surface enhanced spectroscopy, time-domain theory of spectroscopy, theory of rate constants, femtochemistry, crystal growth and epitaxy, thermoelectrics, catalysis and surface science. From time to time he did experimental work in collaboration with colleagues. He developed metastable quenching spectroscopy of adsorbates (with Yates and Martin), worked on fuel cell membranes (with Buratto), thermoelectric materials (with Stucky), the surface science of mass selected supported oxide or metal clusters (with Bowers and Buratto) and catalysis (with McFarland and Gordon). Currently his focus is on computations and experiments on catalysis and he is writing (slowly) a book on quantum mechanics. Kim See Secretary ~ Rm 2144 Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering Purdue University 480 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette, IN 47907-2100 765-494-7134 see2(a)purdue.edu [http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~snpha/purdue_train3.gif]

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Fwd: [ChE-Department-Chairs] Website with local information for AIChE Meeting attendees
by Varma, Arvind 02 Nov '14

02 Nov '14

FYI... Sent from my iPad Begin forwarded message: From: "Sholl, David" <david.sholl(a)chbe.gatech.edu<mailto:david.sholl@chbe.gatech.edu>> Date: November 1, 2014 at 3:57:46 PM EDT To: "che-department-chairs " <che-department-chairs(a)engr.uky.edu<mailto:che-department-chairs@engr.uky.edu>> Subject: [ChE-Department-Chairs] Website with local information for AIChE Meeting attendees Colleagues, to help everyone who is coming to Atlanta for the AIChE Meeting in two weeks, we have put together at Georgia Tech a website with information about local restaurants, transportation, and related information. You can find this information here: www.chbe.gatech.edu/aiche2014<http://www.chbe.gatech.edu/aiche2014> If you would be able to forward this information to faculty and students from your program who will be coming to Atlanta then I hope they will find it useful. Best regards, David Sholl Prof. David Sholl Chair, School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Michael Tennenbaum Family Chair and GRA Eminent Scholar in Energy Sustainability Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA, 30332-0100 Email: david.sholl(a)chbe.gatech.edu<mailto:david.sholl@chbe.gatech.edu> Phone: 404 894 2822 Local Information for AIChE 2014 in Atlanta: www.chbe.gatech.edu/aiche2014<http://www.chbe.gatech.edu/aiche2014> School Information: www.chbe.gatech.edu<http://www.chbe.gatech.edu> Research group: www.chbe.gatech.edu/sholl<http://www.chbe.gatech.edu/sholl> _______________________________________________ ChE-Department-Chairs mailing list ChE-Department-Chairs(a)engr.uky.edu<mailto:ChE-Department-Chairs@engr.uky.edu> http://lists.engr.uky.edu/mailman/listinfo/che-department-chairs

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Recent safety incidents in FRNY
by Nagy, Gabriela 31 Oct '14

31 Oct '14

Hello Everyone, In October 2014 we had two reported safety incidents in FRNY. No medical attention was necessary, as no one was injured. 1. October 6, 2014: This incident involved a researcher who attempted to transport a full LN2 tank from the Physics LN2 facility to FRNY, using a defective LN2 cart with known recurring flat tires problem. Even though when the cart was held in upright position the tires seemed to have the required pressure for proper functioning, as soon as the cart was tipped over for transportation, the tires began to vent violently on a bystander. The cart began to tip over due to loss in the cart's tire pressure. The cart was brought and held in upright position until a group member arrived to help. Action taken: the defective cart was decommissioned until fully repaired. Please remember to check any gas cylinder cart or LN2 cart for mechanical integrity before using it. 2. October 8, 2014: This incident was due to a catastrophic failure of a small centrifuge located in a glove box. While the centrifuge was in use, the rotor (made of plastic) exploded, the centrifuge lid was opened and the rotor parts were ejected into the glove box. There was no damage to the glove box and to the contents of it. After investigating the causes of this incident, the following measures were taken to prevent similar incidents: (i) replace the centrifuge rotor every year (the centrifuge was a few years old and the rotor was never changed); (ii) a new way to keep track of routine maintenance for common pieces of equipment was implemented, (iii) all pieces of common use equipment will be checked and serviced on a regular base. Please continue to report any safety incident, accident or near miss that you experience or witness. This will help improving our safety culture through valuable safety lessons and will help prevent similar situations from happening in the future. Sincerely, Gabriela On behalf of the ChE Safety Committee __________________ Gabriela Nagy, PhD Industrial Education Director ChE Safety Committee Chair School of Chemical Engineering Room FRNY G051 Purdue University Tel: (765)-496-1710 E-mail: nagyg(a)purdue.edu<mailto:nagyg@purdue.edu>

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