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Department News
Aditya Bhan wins DOE Early Career Award
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science announced that Professor Aditya Bhan is one of 68 scientists from across the nation to be selected for the Early Career Award. This five-year award supports the development of individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and stimulates research careers in the disciplines supported by the DOE Office of Science. Professor Bhan's proposal titled "One-pot Catalytic Conversion of Biomass and Alkanes: Kinetically Coupling Deoxygenation and Dehydrogenation Pathways" centers on the use of inorganic molecular sieve materials with sub-nanometer sized pores as catalysts for co-processing natural gas and biomass-derived oxygenates for the synthesis of hydrocarbon fuels.
Dan Frisbie Named Distinguished McKnight University Professor
CEMS Professor Dan Frisbie has received the University of Minnesota's highest award for mid-career faculty. He is one of only 5 to be awarded the Distinguished McKnight University Professorship for 2012. He leads a very active research group that focuses on the creation of new semiconductor materials and processes that result in flexible electronic circuits. He has received several Outstanding Professor Awards from the CSE Student Board, and has been the Director of Graduate Studies for the Materials Science & Engineering program since 2004.
MRSEC Outlines Future of Block Polymer Research
In a recent Science paper entitled "Multiblock polymers: Panacea or Pandora's Box?" polymer researchers from the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the University of Minnesota highlighted the seemingly unlimited potential for new methods in polymer synthesis to create multi block polymers with arbitrary numbers and types of unique sequences, as illustrated in the accompanying figure. While these synthesis strategies offer the potential for highly controllable soft materials, the number of possibilities introduces new engineering challenges to the field. The paper is a collaboration between the UMN MRSEC (Frank Bates, Marc Hillmyer and Tim Lodge), the UCSB MRSEC (Glenn Fredrickson and Kris Delaney) and UT-Austin (Chris Bates). The paper appeared in the April 26th issue of Science.
Dorfman Receives Borja Award
Associate Professor Kevin D. Dorfman received the Guillermo E. Borja Award from the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. The Borja Award recognizes exceptional research and scholarly accomplishments by a candidate for tenure during the probationary period in the college. The award is announced every other year, and Dorfman is the award winner for the 2011/2012 cohort of tenure cases.
CEMS Outstanding TAs
The Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science is happy to announce the winners of the 2011-2012 CEMS Outstanding TA Awards. These students were nominated by instructors for their excellent performance as a TA. Shown above with the Directors of Graduate Studies, Dan Frisbie and Yiannis Kaznessis are:
- Jillian Schmidt - MATS 4221: Materials Design and Performance - Fall 2011 (Instr: Gerberich)
- Karen Haman - CHEN 4502W: Chemical Engineering Process Design II - Spring 2012 (Instr: Aydil)
- W. Alex Marvin - CHEN 4501W: Chemical Engineering Process Design Engineering Lab - Fall 2011 (Instr: Tsapatsis)
- S. Matt Menke - MATS 4013: Electrical and Magnetic Properties of Materials - Fall 2011 (Instr. Holmes)
- Garrett Swindlehurst - CHEN 4704/8301: Advanced Undergraduate Physical Rate Processes I: Transport - Fall 2011 (Instr: Zasadzinski)
- Not shown: Michael Odlyzko - MATS 3012: Metals and Alloys - Fall 2011 (Instr: Mkhoyan)
The prize is $200 cash award, a U of M T-Shirt, and their names added to the Outstanding TA Awards Plaque displayed in 150 Amundson Hall. Congratulations to each of you!
Bates to give Institute Lecture at 2012 AIChE meeting
Regents Professor and Department Head Frank Bates will give the Institute Lecture at the 2012 AIChE Annual Meeting. This is the main plenary lecture of the annual meeting. Previous Institute Lecturers from the department include Neal Amundson (1958) and Rutherford Aris (1997). The AIChE annual meeting will be held in Pittsburgh from October 28-November 2nd and the Institute Lecture is scheduled for 11:15 am on Wednesday, October 31.
