ChBE NewsSchool of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering @ Georgia Tech

FALL/WINTER VOLUME 16 2009-2010

he Interconnect Focus Center (IFC) received $20 million infunding from the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC),the world's leading university‑based research consortium forsemiconductors and related technologies, and an additional $8

million in matching funds. The IFC develops new electrical, optical, andthermal interconnect solutions that meet or exceed projections of theInternational Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). Thesesolutions will enable hyper‑integration of heterogeneous componentsfor future terascale systems. Results from the research will reduce thefootprint of chips by a revolutionary factor of 10 while decreasingpower consumption and increasing performance.

Integrated circuits, which are the components that make electronicdevices work, are composed of transistors made on semiconductor sub‑strates with copper circuitry. Although the performance of the transistorimproves as the size shrinks, the performance of the copper wiring doesnot. At very small dimensions, below 50 nm, the performance decreaseof the copper wiring is exacerbated by scattering from the surface andgrain boundaries. Thus, the performance of the integrated circuit is lim‑ited by the wiring and not by the transistors themselves.

The Centerʼs research is aimed at creating new technologies forconnecting the billions of transistors on a chip, improving the chip‑to‑chip communication with better electronic packages, creating newways to stack chips in a three‑dimensional package, developing newways for wireless devices to operate, and producing new ways to trans‑fer heat from integrated circuits using advanced cooling methods. TheIFC capitalizes on the enormous amount of research being conducted innanoscience and nanotechnology to develop novel high‑conductanceelectrical interconnects to replace copper. For example, optical signalsare being explored as a means to communicate across chips and fromchip‑to‑chip rather than electrical signals. Optical signals, like thoseused in fiber optic cables, do not suffer from the same interference anddelays as electrical signals, and many optical signals can be simultane‑ously transmitted in a waveguide.

Dr. Paul Kohl, Regentsʼ Professor, Institute Fellow, and Hercules,Inc./Thomas L. Gossage Chair in the School of Chemical & BiomolecularEngineering, is the director of the IFC. “Transistors have made enormousprogress in speed, performance, and miniaturization, which places

greater demandon the electricalconnections be‑tween transis‑tors andbetween indi‑vidual chips. Theinterconnectand packagingchallenges aregreater todaythan ever,” saysDr. Kohl. “Geor‑gia Tech hasbeen a leader increating new in‑terconnect andpackaging tech‑nologies for in‑tegratedcircuits, andweʼre verypleased to part‑ner with SRC in launching the IFC.”

Two new areas of research are increasingly important in the IFC.First, the chip‑to‑chip connections can be shortened by stacking multi‑ple chips to form a 3‑D network. This improves the electrical connectiv‑ity but creates significant challenges in fabricating vertical connectionsand in cooling the inner layers. Second, small wireless devices, espe‑cially sensors, will soon become ubiquitous in our lives. Thus, it is essen‑tial to find new power sources and ways to communicate that conserveenergy and maximize functionality.

The IFC is based in the Nanoelectronics Research Center located inthe Pettit Microelectronics Research Center (MiRC) building at GeorgiaTech. There are 13 collaborating universities, including Stanford, MIT,and the University at Albany, which is part of the State University ofNew York (SUNY) network.

Semiconductor Research Corporation Funds$28M Interconnect Focus Center Collaboration

TChBE professor Paul Kohl leads joint research effort for interconnect and packaging to slash chipfootprint by 10x while decreasing power consumption and increasing performance.

Dr. Paul Kohl (right) working in the lab with PhD studentNathan Fritz.

Photo by Rob Felt

Christopher W. JonesDr. Jonesʼs research group works at the in‑terface of chemistry and chemical engi‑neering, emphasizing the design, synthesis,and application of new materials applied tocatalysis, reaction engineering, and separa‑tions. The group is composed of predomi‑nantly chemical engineering students andpostdoctoral researchers but also includes

physical, organic, and inorganic chemistry students and postdocs. Forthe last several years, a growing component of the groupʼs research hasbeen the development of new materials for chemical separations. A par‑ticular emphasis has been placed on carbon dioxide capture from dilutegas streams, especially power plant flue gas. Recently, Jason Hicks, PhDChE ʻ07 and Jeffrey Drese from the group have designed new CO2‑ad‑sorbing aminosilica materials with large, tunable CO2 capacities. Today,the group is studying the synthesis‑structure‑property relationships as‑sociated with the new adsorbent materials: the overall goal is to developa rational framework for the synthesis of adsorbents with precise controlof important kinetic and thermodynamic properties such as the rates ofadsorption and desorption, the CO2 capacity, the heat of adsorption, andso on. In parallel, Dr. Jones works closely with the Koros group on the in‑corporation of the new adsorbent materials into novel separation plat‑forms that may ultimately lead to more efficient, lower‑cost capture ofCO2 from dilute gas streams.

Dr. Jones, together with Dr. Sunho Choi, the Dreyfus PostdoctoralFellow in Environmental Chemistry, also leads the campus‑wide “Forumon Energy and the Environment,” which brings together researchersfrom an array of disciplines to discuss the related issues of CO2‑inducedclimate change, fossil energy production, renewable fuels, and the pub‑lic policy, ethical, and societal issues associated with the modern fossil‑energy‑powered world.

William J. KorosEnergy consumption, CO2 emissions, andclimate are all indirectly linked since tradi‑tional separation processes use thermaldriving forces derived from combustion ofhydrocarbons. Dr. Koros focuses on effi‑cient large‑scale separation and purifica‑tion processes. His non‑traditionalapproach relies upon membranes andsorption separators that can reduce both

energy consumption and CO2 emissions by as much as a full factor of tenfor each unit of product produced.

Membranes able to remove contaminants such as CO2 and H2Sfrom natural gas are particularly interesting to Dr. Korosʼs group, sincetypical feeds may comprise hundreds of millions of cubic feet per day.The membranes developed by Dr. Korosʼs group are hollow fibers withoutside diameters not much larger than a human hair. Separating layerson the outer fiber surface may be less than 100 nm–almost 1000 timesthinner than a piece of standard typing paper. The fibers are bundled to‑gether into modules with as much as 10,000 square meters per cubicmeter of volume. This would be equivalent to placing two football fieldsʼworth of area in a volume not much larger than a standard size officedesk. Besides membranes, Dr. Korosʼs group has recently begun makingfibers for sorbents to capture CO2 from massive flue gas streams.

Both the membrane and sorbent research requires integration ofmaterials science with the core chemical engineering topics of thermody‑namics, reaction engineering, and transport phenomena. Much of Dr.Korosʼs work is done collaboratively with industry and with other facultyin ChBE. His direct collaborators include Drs. Chris Jones, Ronald Chance,Carson Meredith, Sankar Nair, Victor Breedveld, and Ronald Rousseau, aswell as others through the Center for Specialty Separations led by Dr.Charles Eckert.

Sankar NairA significant component of Dr. Nairʼs re‑search addresses problems in environmen‑tally benign processing and utilization ofmaterials, chemical feedstocks, and fuels.This research involves the engineering ofadvanced materials and membranes, aswell as fundamental studies of structure‑property relationships in these (usually

nanostructured) materials and membranes. Some prominent applica‑tions include the removal of greenhouse gases and acidic or toxic impu‑rities from gaseous fuels, economical separation of biofuels such asethanol from aqueous feed streams, development of better membranesfor potential use in fuel cell devices, and environmentally benign pro‑cessing of new functional materials to be incorporated in nanocompos‑ite films and membranes for a variety of technological applications. Acommon scientific theme uniting these research problems is the chal‑lenge of tailoring and functionalizing the structure, shape, composition,and architecture of materials and membranes in a rational manner toachieve high performance in the desired applications. This research pro‑

2

ChBE professors address the growing concerns over carbon cycle issues andclimate trends through the development and deployment of new technologiesin carbon management. They are investigating whether greenhouse warmingis causing a global increase in hurricane intensity, analyzing ocean‑atmosphereinteractions, modeling the carbon cycle, and determining climate trends. Othertechnology focus areas include carbon capture and sequestration related topower generation. These professors also conduct research to discover andrefine new processes for eliminating the threat of climate change from carbondioxide emissions.

Environmental Climate ResearchPh

oto

by C

arol

ine

Joe

Phot

o by

Car

olin

e Jo

e

Phot

o by

Car

olin

e Jo

e

gram enjoys substantial collaborations with the research groups of Drs.Chris Jones, William Koros, and David Sholl. Several aspects of this pro‑gram involve a unique synergy of experimental and computational re‑search in order to create a strong scientific foundation for the pursuit oftechnological advances. It also benefits from the support and collabora‑tion of industrial, federal, and other organizations. The results of this re‑search program have led to several recent patent applications andpublications. Approximately a dozen PhD‑track, MS‑track, and postdoc‑toral researchers are pursuing this work. A number of ChBE undergradu‑ate students, as well as high school teachers in the Atlanta area, havealso taken advantage of the substantial research and hands‑on educa‑tional opportunities created by this program.

Athanasios NenesDr. Nenesʼs research focuses on atmos‑pheric particles and understanding theirimpacts on air quality, clouds, radiation,and climate. His research is driven by theneed to obtain predictive understanding ofthe impacts humans have on the environ‑ment. The research group is engaged in adiverse set of multiscale modeling and ex‑

perimental efforts. One such effort focuses on developing computation‑ally efficient and comprehensive aerosol thermodynamic models(ISORROPIA, ISORROPIA‑II) for use in regional and global atmosphericmodels such as the EPA Community Model for Air Quality and the Har‑vard GEOS‑CHEM. His group is also involved in developing and commer‑cializing instrumentation for fast and highly accurate measurements ofthe cloud‑droplet‑nucleating characteristics of atmospheric particles, aswell as devising simple techniques for characterizing organic‑water inter‑actions, hygroscopicity, and cloud‑droplet‑nucleating characteristics ofatmospheric particulate matter. Another aspect of Dr. Nenesʼs researchinvolves laboratory studies and ground‑based and airborne field studieson cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity and aerosol‑cloud interac‑tions. Locations studied include the continental US, the Arctic, LatinAmerica, and the Eastern Mediterranean. His group is also engaged inthe modeling of these aerosol‑cloud‑climate interactions and is workingon developing and evaluating cloud microphysical parameterizations foruse in regional and global climate models (e.g., global models developedby the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the Max Planck Insti‑tute ECHAM‑5, and the UK GLOMAP). Finally, Dr. Nenesʼs group is study‑ing the impacts of marine ecosystem productivity on clouds and climate,as well as the effects of air pollution on oceanic iron bioavailability.

David S. ShollDeveloping new technologies for economi‑cally feasible large‑scale carbon capturewill require breakthroughs in materials andprocesses, not just incremental advanceson existing technologies. The risk in devel‑oping any new class of materials is high, sothe ability to make useful predictions aboutmaterials properties without undertaking

time‑consuming experimental studies can be crucial in jump‑startingwork in a new area. Dr. Shollʼs group uses detailed computational mod‑eling methods to accelerate the search for new materials in applicationswhere the number of possible materials is too large to be considered bytraditional experimental testing. Many of the applications his group fo‑cuses on are directly driven by the development of carbon capture tech‑nologies or emission‑reduction processes. For example, they are usingefficient computational methods to examine nanoporous zeolites andmetal‑organic frameworks for use as membranes for carbon dioxide sep‑arations. The models, which begin with atomically detailed structures for

each material, allow researchers to consider hundreds of candidate ma‑terials and refine this diverse group to a small number of the most prom‑ising candidates. In another example, Dr. Shollʼs group is using similarapproaches to develop metal alloy films that can economically produceultra‑high‑purity hydrogen from the high‑temperature syngas mixturesthat are relevant in gasification processes. This purification process, if im‑plemented on large scales, could play a key role in using existing hydro‑carbon resources in a carbon‑neutral way. In all of the work conductedby Dr. Sholl and members of his group, the computational efforts arecoupled with experiments being performed either by Georgia Tech col‑leagues or external collaborators.

Krista S. WaltonThe selective removal of CO2 from nitro‑gen‑containing streams such as flue gas ormethane‑containing streams such as natu‑ral gas is one of the grand challenges forseparations science. Conventional porousmaterials such as zeolites and activated car‑bons often have low selectivities and aredifficult to regenerate, which leads to sig‑

nificant expense. Metal‑organic frameworks (MOFs) represent a new di‑rection in porous materials research that could lead to the creation ofdesigner‑specific multifunctional materials. The rich field of coordinationchemistry provides a versatile platform from which these materials maybe assembled from an almost infinite set of building blocks. In contrastto conventional microporous materials, these hybrids are formedthrough interconnection of metal clusters and organic ligands. Theyhave demonstrated interesting adsorption properties and have a clearpotential for impacting a wide range of adsorption‑based technologies.Metal sites can be coordinatively unsaturated and exposed on the inte‑rior surfaces of the material where they are open to direct approach bysorbate molecules. The organic ligand used to construct the materialcan be functionalized in a variety of ways. Thus, a material may be syn‑thesized with open metal centers and pore walls decorated with variousfunctional groups to provide molecule‑specific binding sites. The goal ofDr. Waltonʼs work is to manipulate MOF chemistry to create novel metal‑organic structures with regenerable CO2‑specific adsorption sites. Hergroupʼs strategy focuses on developing methods to synthesize MOFsthrough assembly of the paddle‑wheel structure using copper atomsand by functionalizing the organic ligand with amine groups. This re‑search has the potential to open a completely untapped class of materi‑als to the development of new and improved adsorbents for selectiveand efficient CO2 capture.

Phot

o by

Josie

GIle

sPh

oto

by C

arol

ine

Joe

Phot

o by

Josie

Gile

s

ENVIRONMENTAL CLIMATE FACTS

►Average global temperatures increased by about 1 degreeFahrenheit over the 20th century.

►The U.S. contains only 5 percent of the worldʼs population but contributes 22 percent of the worldʼs carbon emissions.

►Between 20 and 25 percent of carbon emissions comes fromdeforestation and land use change.

►Personal cars and trucks emit 20 percent of the carbon emissions in the U.S.

►Air conditioning and heating account for almost half of electricity use in the average American home.

3

1960sThomas J. Pierce, Jr., ChE ʼ61, of Bermuda Run,N.C., has been elected chairman, board of direc‑tors, of Hickory Springs Manufacturing Companyheadquartered in Hickory, N.C. The company isone of the largest manufacturers in the furnitureand bedding industries.

1970s Scott Blackstock, ChE ʻ79, owner of Tidal WaveAuto Spa, was named the 2009 Small BusinessAdministrationʼs (SBA) Small Business Person ofthe Year for Georgia and is competing for the na‑tional title during the SBAʼs National Small Busi‑ness Week celebration in May 2010. Scott ispresident and owner of S.S. Blackstock, Inc.,which operates 10 Tidal Wave locations.

1990sGreg Willis, ChE ʻ94, has relocated to Singapore,where he is the merchandising director for theconsumer division in Dellʼs Asia‑Pacific region.Since joining Dell in 2000, Greg has worked in var‑ious marketing and sales management leadershiproles in the companyʼs U.S. consumer division.

Dr. Theodore F. (Ted) Wiesner, ChE PhD ʻ94, wasvoted the “Most Outstanding Professor” in theDepartment of Chemical Engineering by the classof 2009 at Texas Tech University. He also wasawarded $100,000 by the American Chemical So‑ciety‑Petroleum Research Fund for his researchentitled “Pyroelectrically Mediated Reduction–Oxidation Reactions.”

2000s Shannon Dobbins, ChE ʻ00, was hired as aprocess engineer/project engineer at the firm ofFord, Bacon & Davis in Greenville, S.C., in April.

Ramon Farach, ChE ʻ02, married Elena Wilson onJune 6 in Cumberland, Md. Ramon is a refineryhydrotreating engineer for LyondellBasell. Thecouple lives in Houston, Tex.

Katelyn E. Swindle, ChE ʻ04, married MatthewReilly on Jan. 17. The couple lives in St. Louis.

IN MEMORIAM

1930sJohn Hudson Holcomb, Jr., ChE ʻ35, of Birming‑ham, Ala., on Aug. 24. In 1948, he joined his fa‑ther in business at the Britling Cafeteria Co., forwhich he later served as president. An employeeof Merck and Co. earlier in his career, he wasmanager of the Merck Stonewell Plant in Elkton,Va., during World War II. A life deacon of his

church, he also was a recipient of the SalvationArmyʼs William Booth Award for outstandingservice to the community.

Samuel Malone Troutman, ChE ʻ37, of Birming‑ham, Ala., on Sept. 23. He worked for U.S. Steelfor 41 years and was a member of the WoodlawnUnited Methodist Church, where he sang in thechoir and was involved in maintaining thechurch. He was a member of the Amateur RadioClub and the American Theatre Organ Society‑Alabama Chapter.

1940sBenjamin Willingham Carmichael, Sr., ChE ʻ41, ofAtlanta, on Sept. 17. He served as an officer in theNavy during WW II. His engineering career in‑cluded working for the Georgia Tech EngineeringExperiment Station, Georgia Department of In‑dustry & Trade, and the Georgia EnvironmentalProtection Division. Benjamin was a member ofNorth Avenue Presbyterian Church, serving as adeacon and a life elder.

Robert A. Schulze, ChE ʻ41, of Columbia, S.C., onAug.12. Robert retired from DuPont as a chemicalengineer after a 41‑year career with the com‑pany. He was a hospice volunteer and wrote abook outlining safety practices in chemical engi‑neering. Following graduation from GeorgiaTech, he worked on the Manhattan Project.

Dan Pierce Pulley, ChE ʼ43, of Henrico, Va. onJune 28. He worked most of his life and traveledthe globe for Virginia‑Carolina Chemical Co., ac‑quired by Mobil, where he retired in 1987 as amanaging engineer.

Julius Aldrich “Andy”Anderson, ChE ʻ48, of Mon‑roe Township, N.J., on April12. In 1983, he retired fromPPG Industries after work‑ing in market develop‑ment and sales for 35 yearsand receiving a distin‑guished service award.Andy earned a bachelorʼsdegree in chemistry fromthe University of SouthCarolina in 1939 and en‑listed in the Navy in 1940,serving as a gunnery offi‑cer aboard the USS Jarvis.He was discharged withthe rank of lieutenantcommander in 1945.

Toy F. Reid, MS ChE ʼ49, of Kingsport, Tenn., onJuly 26. Toy retired as an executive vice presidentof Eastman Kodak Co. and general manager ofEastman Chemical in 1989 after 41 years with thecompany. He directed the pioneering of polyeth‑ylene terephthalate (PET) in beverage and foodcontainers. In 1994, Toy was inducted into theGeorgia Tech College of Engineeringʼs Academyof Distinguished Alumni. He served on theboards of directors for Eastman Kodak, the Ten‑nessee State Board of Education, Junior Achieve‑ment of Kingsport, and United Way of GreaterKingsport. He was an Army Air Forces captainduring WW II.

1950sMelbourne Warren Croft, ChE ʻ55, of Lynchburg,Va., on June 9. Melbourne retired from Babcock‑Wilcox as a nuclear engineer after 35 years withthe company. He served as a first lieutenant inthe Army.

1970sRobert John McCann, ChE ʼ78, of Atlanta on July24. He had been working for the EnvironmentalProtection Agency in Atlanta since 1982. Earlier,he was a chemical engineer with Goodyear inAkron, Ohio. A deacon and board member at hischurch, he also was a volunteer with OutreachMinistry, Habitat for Humanity, and the Bill GlassPrison Ministry.

2000sBenjamin Bedell Koomen, ChE ʻ04, of Washing‑ton, D.C., formerly of Nashville, on Aug. 9. He wasa clinical laboratory manager at GeneDx inGaithersburg, Md.

ChBE Class News

On October 1, the Shell Oil Company presented a $121,500 gift tosupport various programs at Georgia Tech. Of that amount, ChBE re‑ceived a $40K contribution, with $30K allocated to fund the Unit Op‑erations Lab and the remaining designated as unrestricted funds.School Chair Ronald Rousseau and Associate Chair for UndergraduateStudies Pradeep Agrawal received the check on behalf of ChBE.

ChBE Receives Gift from Shell

4

External Advisory Board (EAB) ProfileFoundation for Success Kellye P. Hafner, PhD ChE ʻ96, knows that a strong family foundation is the secretto enduring success.

ellye P. Hafner, PhD ChEʼ96, is someone whose passion and determination have madeher successful. Having gone from being a remarkable student to a valued employee,and now a dedicated mother, Kellye focuses her energy on the most important thingsin her life and manages them all remarkably well. Kellye credits her parents with provid‑

ing the foundation that has led to her success. She says, “My mother and father are my greatestinspiration because no matter what the circumstances, they have always provided me with in‑credible love, support, encouragement, and guidance. Theyʼve greatly influenced me in myroles as friend, wife, mother, co‑worker, and leader.”

Her parents supported Kellyeʼs decision to explore chemical engineering as a career. Whenshe was a senior in high school, they arranged for her to visit the University of South CarolinaʼsDepartment of Chemical Engineering. Kellye completed her first of four co‑op assignments afterher freshman year and found that she not only enjoyed her classes but also thrived in the work‑ing environment of chemical engineering. One of her favorite undergraduate professors, Dr. VanBrunt, encouraged her to pursue a graduate degree after receiving her B.S. in 1991.

For Kellye, Georgia Tech offered everything that she wanted in a graduate school. “GT was abig name school with a variety of research opportunities in chemical engineering,” she says. At‑lanta also offered a multitude of recreational and cultural activities and placed her within drivingdistance of her hometown of Gilbert, S.C. “Family is very important to me, so being able to easily

make a weekend trip home was vital,” says Kellye. Although she originally intended to pursue a masterʼs degree, her graduate advisor, Dr.Charles Eckert, and others, encouraged her to focus on a Ph.D. Kellye has fond memories of her experience at GT and says that “Dr. Eckert was avery supportive, encouraging, and creative thesis advisor.”

Upon graduation in 1996, Kellye joined MeadWestvacoʼs (MWV) Charleston Research Center as a research chemical engineer in the acti‑vated carbon research group. She was a member of the team that started the companyʼs $100+ million state‑of‑the‑art activated carbon plantin Wickliffe, Ky. in 1997, and then worked on several post‑startup projects to further enhance plant performance. Kellye led several new productdevelopment projects and became team leader for carbon research in 2002. In 2004, she was promoted to research director for the SpecialtyChemicals Division. This position evolved into a business development role within MWV Specialty Chemicals.

A business unit within MeadWestvaco, MWV Specialty Chemicals is the worldʼs leading supplier of activated carbons for automotive emis‑sion controls and a leading supplier of asphalt emulsifiers and printing ink resins. Products are based on sustainable resources of sawdust andpine chemicals. For the past two years, Kellye has focused on activated carbon for drinking water applications. She works closely with businessmanagers, sales teams, and technical groups. Her training as a chemical engineer allows her to provide the technical expertise necessary to con‑nect the performance of activated carbon to industry applications.

During her tenure at MWV, Kellye has coordinated a variety of hands‑on, science‑based activities for middle school students visiting theMWV facility in North Charleston. She also partnered with the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) in Chemical Engineering programat the University of South Carolina for ten years by coordinating a day visit to MWV that included lab demonstrations, a chemical plant tour, andteamwork‑building skills.

In addition to her leadership involvement at MWV, Kellye serves in numerous roles in her community. She has been a member of the ChBEEAB at Georgia Tech since 2002. Kellye enjoys her responsibilities and says that “Participation on the advisory board offers a ʻreal worldʼ perspec‑tive that can be used to shape undergraduate and graduate programs and impact the next wave of scientists, engineers, and business leaders.”She also finds that serving on the EAB of her alma mater is a great way to stay connected with the ever‑changing and growing School of Chemi‑cal & Biomolecular Engineering. “The EAB is given a unique perspective of student feedback, curriculum, new faculty strengths, and researchprograms and resources; the EAB takes this information and identifies focus areas for continuous improvement and holds the school leadershipaccountable,” she says.

No matter how hectic her schedule, Kellye always makes time for her family. She and her husband Mark live on Daniel Island, S.C. with theirnine‑year‑old daughter Annalise and their soon to be four‑year‑old son Justin. Kellyeʼs free time is spent with her husband and children, so sheis often attending Annaliseʼs swim meets or reading and playing games with Justin. She signed on for a second year as a Girl Scout junior troopleader working with 4th and 5th graders and also volunteers with her daughter at Seacoast Church in the four‑year‑old classroom. Whenevershe can squeeze it into her schedule, Kellye exercises by running and doing aerobics. She admits that “Trying to stay fit and healthy while bal‑ancing work and family time is not easy!”

5

K

ccasionally you meet someone who appears to be a natural‑born star, someone whose talent abounds and whose successis admirable. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, ChE ʼ79, is one ofthose people. Her unusual resume includes physician, chemi‑

cal engineer, baton twirler, Miss Georgia 1976, and youngest (former)president of the American College of Physicians. She is a board certifieddoctor of internal medicine in Atlanta, and a clinical associate professorof medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, and she serves onthe staff at Piedmont Hospital. Her clinical expertise has been recognizedboth nationally and internationally with the titles of Master of the Ameri‑can College of Physicians (MACP) and Fellow of the Royal College ofPhysicians (FRCP).

In addition to drawing on her natural talent, Dr. Fryhoferʼs diverseachievements have been accomplished with hard work, dedication, andperseverance. She also possesses a tremendous passion for helping oth‑ers, which translates into a commitment to her patients, both those whovisit her internal medicine practice and those who watch her videoblogand podcast series on the Internet.

For Dr. Fryhofer, the desire to help others was realized at an earlyage. When she was only five, she knew that she wanted to be a doctor.Realizing she had to make good grades, she hit the books and becamean excellent student. Although a career in medicine was her ultimategoal, Dr. Fryhofer was also practical.

“I knew I wanted to attend medical school. With chemical engineer‑ing, I took pre‑med requirements as electives and finished with a degreethat had job security. Medicine, just like chemical engineering, is aboutsolving problems, and the engineering mindset has given me an edge inmy career.”

Dr. Fryhofer selected Georgia Tech because of its “great engineer‑ing department and great reputation.”Her acceptance into the Institute her‑alded the beginning of many accom‑plishments because in those days atGeorgia Tech, only one female was ad‑mitted for every nine males. She ex‑celled in the classroom and also on thefootball field as the featured batontwirler for the Yellow Jackets. Her rou‑tine on the field was as impressive asher academic performance. Dr. Fryhofergraduated with high honors in 1979and then received her M.D. degree andinternal medicine residency trainingfrom Emory University School of Medi‑cine, where she is a member of theAlpha Omega Alpha honor society.

During what would have been hersophomore year, Dr. Fryhofer took abreak from Georgia Tech. Her decision

had nothing to do with needing time away from her studies: she was ful‑filling her role as Miss Georgia by making public appearances. She repre‑sented Georgia in the national pageant and tap‑danced for her talent.She didn't make the finals, but she walked away with scholarships thatpaid her way through college and medical school.

Dr. Fryhofer was only the second Miss America contestant to go onto become a doctor. She still recalls an interview with a pageant judgewho asked her, “What makes you think you could be a doctor?” It was1976, and back then the judge didnʼt think twice about the implications.Dr. Fryhofer remembers being surprised by the question. She had a 3.7GPA in chemical engineering, and it had never occurred to her that shecould not be a doctor.

Believing in herself is one of the qualities that has made Dr. Fryhoferso successful in all her endeavors. She still draws on her experience as apublic persona by using her competency in front of the camera, com‑bined with her exceptional knowledge of medicine, to educate millionsof people through a variety of media sources. Today, Dr. Fryhoferʼs inter‑nal medicine practice centers largely, but not exclusively, on female pa‑tients. Her interest in womenʼs health stems from personal experienceswith patients and from the early days of her practice, which coincidedwith a growing national movement to improve health care for women.

For more than twenty years, Dr. Fryhofer has maintained her clinicaloffice while serving the community through public appearances, broad‑casts, and web‑based videos. “I am very interested in using media andthe Internet to facilitate patient and physician education,” she says.

Dr. Fryhofer was a medical correspondent for CNN Headline Newsfrom 2001 to 2005, reporting on important medical issues on air and inprint in her weekly CNN web column “Vital Signs by Dr. Sandy.” In addi‑tion, she has appeared on NBCʼs “Today Show,” CNN, CNN Streetsweep,

FeatureMaking a DifferenceDr. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, ChE ʻ79, uses media and the Internet to facilitatepatient and physician education.

6

O

CNN Talk Back Live, FOX News Network, NBC Nightly News, ABC WorldNews Tonight, and ABC News NOW.

Dr. Fryhofer has served on various committees and panels for theCDC, Institute of Medicine (IOM), and other organizations, addressingtopics such as breast and cervical cancer screening, STD guidelines, folicacid, racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare, challenges facing theuninsured, womenʼs health issues, and obesity. She is a member of theACP Adult Immunization Advisory Board and has testified and lecturedabout vaccines, including the new cervical cancer vaccine, the new shin‑gles vaccine, as well as flu vaccine concerns. She has been a member ofthe Womanʼs Day Magazine Health and Fitness Advisory Board since1998 and wrote a weekly health blog for Womanʼs Day website called“ON CALL with Dr. Sandy” from June 2007 to March 2009. She currentlyhas videoblog and podcast series featured on WebMDʼs Medscape called“Medicine Matters.”

One of Dr. Fryhoferʼs most impressive achievements is her 2000 to2001 tenure as president of the American College of Physicians, the na‑tionʼs largest medical specialty society. She was only the second womanto be elected president and was the youngest president, male or female,in the collegeʼs 85‑year history. During her tenure on the ACP Board ofRegents, she chaired the Committee on Womenʼs Health and was an ac‑tive member of the Education Committee. She was national spokesper‑son for the Doctors for Adults Public Education Campaign. Additionally,

she is a current member of the ACP Delegation to the American MedicalAssociation and serves on the AMA Council on Science and Public Health.

To Dr. Fryhofer, her professional and community commitments aresimply of an extension of what it means to be a doctor. A simple state‑ment on her web site characterizes her philosophy best: “Our medicalpractice is all about you and your well‑being. . .because your health mat‑ters.” She says that her patient practice focuses on prevention. “I encour‑age healthy lifestyles and I personally practice what I preach. My childrenhave followed my example. Their strong athletic interests are proof oftheir interest in exercise.”

Throughout her remarkable career, Dr. Fryhofer has also been astar in the role of wife and mother. She and her husband GeorgeWilliam Fryhofer III, who is an attorney, met while she was in her secondyear of medical school. The couple married eleven months later, and theyare the parents of boy/girl twins. Both children were varsity athletes inhigh school and are now college athletes. Daughter Sandra Lynne is thestarting middle blocker on the Harvard Volleyball team, and son Georgerowed in the top freshmen lightweight 8‑man boat at Harvard.

Living by example and believing in herself are mantras that Dr. Fry‑hofer has embraced since she first dreamed of being a physician. Over‑coming obstacles both imagined and real have made her an inspirationalleader in the medical community and to the countless people she hasreached through public engagements, television, and the Internet.

7

ost children have dreamed of traveling into outer space. Adults and children alike tour NASA every year, and thousands of enthusiasts gatherto watch shuttle launches. Although everyone is familiar with the space program, many do not realize the additional areas in which NASA con‑ducts research. One of those areas includes collecting data on Earth's oceans, climate, and other features. As part of NASAʼs Earth science re‑search division, NASA sponsors the Student Airborne Research Program designed to immerse students in NASA's Earth science research

through the use of ground measurements, aircraft, and satellite‑data collection. Kate Cerully, a second‑year PhD student, had the opportunity of a lifetime this past summer when

she was selected as one of 29 participants in the 2009 program. Kate is working towards a doctoral de‑gree in chemical engineering with a minor in earth and atmospheric sciences (EAS), so her researchmeshes perfectly with the program. Her advisor is professor Athanasios Nenes, who shares a joint ap‑pointment in ChBE and EAS.

The program began with lectures at the University of California, Irvine, given by university facultymembers, research institutions, and NASA scientists. Among those who spoke was Sherwood Rowlandof the University of California, Irvine, a Nobel Laureate in chemistry and a long‑time user of NASAʼs DC‑8 airborne laboratoryʼs capabilities for his research on atmospheric chemistry.

Using the DC‑8 flying laboratory based at NASAʼs Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale,Calif., Kate, along with the other undergraduate and graduate students, received a rare behind‑the‑scene look at instrument integration, flight planning, and payload testing that is the basis of every suc‑cessful Earth science airborne campaign carried out by NASA. These airborne research campaigns playa pivotal role in the calibration and validation of NASAʼs space‑borne Earth observations, remote sens‑ing measurements, and high‑resolution imagery for Earth system science.

Kate, who grew up in Altoona, Pennsylvania, received her undergraduate degree in chemical en‑gineering from the University of Pittsburgh. She selected Georgia Tech primarily for the variety of re‑search conducted in ChBE. She has a strong interest in sustainability and is concerned about “making apositive impact on the way we deal with the natural elements around us.” When she found Dr. Nenes, she knew that his research program “fit her to a T.”Kateʼs research focuses on investigating and characterizing the link between aerosol volatility, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity, and dropletgrowth kinetics. Her research will provide much‑needed constraints for global modeling studies of aerosol‑cloud interactions, which is necessary to betterunderstand the indirect effects of aerosols on climate change.

The program is one of NASAʼs tools that can assist with the development and testing of new instruments and future satellite mission concepts. Theprogramʼs goal is to stimulate interest in NASAʼs Earth science research and aid in recruitment of the next generation of engineers and scientists. The Student Airborne Research Program is managed through the National Suborbital Education and Research Center (NSERC) at the University of NorthDakota, with funding and support from NASAʼs Airborne Science Program. The NSERC was established through a cooperative agreement between the Uni‑versity of North Dakota and NASA.

MPhD Student Kate Cerully Selected for NASASummer Program in Airborne Science

Kate Cerully taking samples aboard the DC‑8, NASAʼs“Flying Laboratory.”

8

Great ExpectationsMelissa McCoy is one of ChBEʼs rising stars. With a 4.0 GPA, numerous leadershiproles, and several internships already completed, she is bound for a brilliant career.

elissa McCoy is the type of student who stands out from the mo‑ment you meet her. She arrived on the Georgia Tech campus in fall2008, fresh from high school, with the expected enthusiasm of ateenager excited to be in college. Yet she was quite different than a

typical first‑year student. Melissa brought with her 39 advanced placementcredits, qualifying her for classification as a sophomore. She tackled her fresh‑man year with gusto and quickly declared her major as chemical and biomolec‑ular engineering.

“I have no doubt that ChBE is the major that is right for me,” says Melissa.The National Merit Scholar traveled from her hometown of Dallas, Texas, duringher senior year of high school to meet with Dr. Pradeep Agrawal, ChBEʼs Associ‑ate Chair for Undergraduate Studies. She already knew that she wanted tomajor in ChBE; the only remaining decision was selecting the right school. Aftervisiting the campus and discovering all of the benefits offered by Georgia Techand Atlanta, Melissa made her decision and registered for classes.

As the daughter of two chemical engineers, Melissa comes by her proclivityfor the discipline naturally. However, although her academic interests may havebeen influenced by her parentʼs career choices, Melissa has already carved her

own niche in the academic world. As a Presidentʼs Scholar, she completed her first year in May 2009, earning a 4.0 while successfully juggling severalleadership roles.

Melissa served on the Freshman Activities Board her first year, is the vice president of Lambda Sigma, an honorary organization for sophomoresdedicated to leadership and service, and is a member of the President's Council Governing Board. Most notably, however, she serves as the vice presi‑dent of campus relations for Georgia Techʼs chapter of AIESEC, the worldʼs largest student‑based organization spanning more than 100 countries andmore than 1100 universities. (The acronym AIESEC is no longer expanded–at one point, it expanded to a French phrase that meant International Asso‑ciation of Students in Economics and Commerce.) AIESEC is dedicated to building international understanding and cooperation by providing youngpeople with the tools and opportunities to become globally minded, responsible leaders and connecting them to organizations worldwide for inter‑national internship experiences. As vice president, Melissa organizes campus events, including the Global Village, which is held in conjunction withthe Georgia Tech Culture Fest. The Global Village promotes cultural understanding through visual presentations, food, music, dances, and traditionalgarments. Additionally, Melissa led the most successful AIESEC recruitment drive on campus to date, which firmly established the groupʼs presence atGeorgia Tech. With a pool of 120 applicants from which to choose, AIESEC accepted 46 new members in 2009. Melissa also coordinated AIESECʼs part‑nership with the International Rescue Committee in Atlanta to provide tutoring for international refugee students at Georgia Perimeter College. OnNovember 6, AIESEC capped off the year by hosting the AIESEC International Autumn Ball, where John Brock, ChE ʻ70, MS ChE ʻ71, the president andCEO of Coca‑Cola Enterprises, served as keynote speaker.

Melissa has completed internships at Raytheon Company and Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., and participated in a shadow program at Frito‑Lay, where she joined Malina Janakat, PhD ChE ʻ06, for two days to learn what life is like for a research and development engineer. Melissa assisted in apilot‑scale lab and in a diagnostic‑panel taste test. She met with people from all stages of product development–from concept to commercialization–and spent time in the packaging room learning about innovations in compostable packaging film. She also attended a cross‑functional meeting tosee how R&D works with other departments, such as marketing, finance, product supply, and purchasing, to launch a product on time and flawlessly.While at Frito‑Lay, Melissa had lunch with Georgia Tech alumni, including EAB Board Member, Carlos Barroso, ChE ʻ80, who is the former senior vicepresident of research and development for PepsiCo. (Frito‑Lay is a wholly‑owned subsidiary of PespiCo.)

Next summer, Melissa plans to intern at BP in Alaska. Each of her internship experiences has offered an introduction into a different area of chem‑ical engineering. Her work at Raytheon and Air Products focused primarily on systems and supply, software design, and advanced separations. At BP,she will have the opportunity to conduct field experimentation, as well as work in onsite labs. “I enjoy exploring what the world has to offer and beinggiven the opportunity to chart my own course through it. Hopefully, my experiences at Georgia Tech and in the working world will allow me to findthe role I wish to play in my career and my life,” she says.

Although her parents often wonder when she finds time to sleep, Melissa promises that she does make time to relax and have fun. When she isnot studying or organizing events for AIESEC and Lambda Sigma, she often watches movies or plays tennis. She is a member of Alpha Chi Omega, asocial sorority, and enjoys spending time with her sisters.

M

Student Profile

Photo by Malina Janakat

lumni and Friends ofthe School:

Before addressing activities inthe School, I hope you wonʼtmind if I take this opportunityto reflect on the importance ofeducation to the well‑being ofour nation. As is my custom,this past Sunday I watched atrio of interview programs cov‑ering the issues considered im‑portant by the nationaltelevision news media. I do thisin the midst of stretching, liftingweights, and taking a long walk

on the treadmill. This week was different because NBCʼs Meet the Press ad‑dressed education. David Gregory had as guests on Meet the Press Secre‑tary of Education Arne Duncan, former Speaker of the House NewtGingrich, and Reverend Al Sharpton. While there were minor (!) elementsof differences within the group, each spoke about the role teachers havein challenging students to meet their full capabilities; the key point was toget students to expect more from themselves, not as a right but in orderto meet their own potential. Why in the world would these three politi‑cally focused men come together on this issue? The answer is in what I seeevery day among our most successful students: namely, the futures of in‑dividuals and of society depend upon an educated citizenry. What kind ofworld would we have if we did not transfer our knowledge and skills tosubsequent generations? We want you to know that we take that respon‑sibility seriously and are committed to providing graduates from our pro‑grams with what they need to be successful. It is such a treat to see others,such as Messieurs Duncan, Gingrich, and Sharpton, helping to elevate thediscussion to the level its importance deserves.

Fall is the time those of us in academia welcome new students intoour programs. This year we note a substantial rise in undergraduate enroll‑ments in ChBE to near 700. The numbers reflect an increasing number oftransfers from other engineering programs and the growing recognitionof opportunities available to our graduates. We also welcomed more than60 new graduate students into the School, clearly the largest incomingclass in our history.

The annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineerstook place November 8 through 13 in Nashville, Tennessee. I am happy toreport that there were 110 presentations given by a faculty member orgraduate student from Georgia Tech, and there were 23 technical sessionschaired by Georgia Tech faculty members. Such a prolific output is indica‑tive of the vitality and timeliness of the research going on in the School.

You may recall that in the last newsletter I remarked on my service asinterim director of the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) atGeorgia Tech. I am happy to report that Norman Marsolan has been ap‑pointed director. Norman brings with him twenty years of experience atthe International Paper Company (IPC). As the director of research and de‑velopment at IPC, he led the global paper and packaging research and de‑velopment program, delivering product and manufacturing processinnovations. Norman will also hold an appointment as professor of thepractice in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering.

The ChBE faculty continues to address our four strategic researchthrusts in energy, materials, systems, and biotechnology. As one feature of

that effort, I participated in a Georgia Tech roundtable entitled “Cancer Re‑search: The Intersection of Health, Medicine, Engineering and Comput‑ing.” The event was co‑hosted by ChE alumnus John Brock, ChE ʻ70, MSChE ʻ71, and Kathy Betty (who lost her husband, alumnus Garry Betty, ChEʻ79, to cancer in 2007). Preparing to describe the cancer research of eightof my ChBE colleagues at the roundtable was quite a challenge. Neverthe‑less, the exercise left me even more impressed with the capabilities in bio‑molecular engineering developing in the School. The work I describedincluded that of Julie Champion, Rachel Chen, Michelle Dawson, Hang Lu,Carson Meredith, Mark Prausnitz, Mark Styczynski, and Lakeshia Taite. Itranged from drug delivery, to cancer detection, to therapies addressingthe disease itself. I hope you will let me know if you would like more infor‑mation on this aspect of our program, as it is impossible to do it justicewith a few sentences.

In my column last fall, I gave some of my observations related to theundergraduate design presentations and the graduate student Fourth‑Year Colloquium. Here I would like to reflect on the 21st Annual GraduateStudent Symposium held this past summer. This is an event, organized byour graduate students under the auspices of the Association of ChemicalEngineering Graduate Students (AChEGS), that brings several industrialvisitors to hear presentations and view posters describing the outstandingwork of our graduate students. This was an especially challenging year be‑cause of travel restrictions imposed by many of the companies that nor‑mally participate, which led the students to move the Symposium from itsusual time in the spring. Nevertheless, there was good corporate participa‑tion to hear more than 20 oral presentations and to discuss a like numberof posters. The Symposium chairs were Dhaval Patel and Jan Krajniak .Plans are under way for the 22nd Symposium, and we urge our industrialcolleagues to plan on attending.

Finally, I can tell you that the School is remarkably strong. While weare dealing constructively with challenges resulting from the economic re‑cession, I have the utmost confidence that the ChBE faculty members aredelivering outstanding education and training to our students. We aregrateful for the support from alumni, friends, and corporate supporters,which is vital to our continuing ability to perform at the level expected ofGeorgia Tech.

Associate professor Victor Breedveld (left) speaks with a potential stu‑dent at the graduate school fair held on November 8 during the 2009AIChE Annual Meeting in Nashville.

Phot

o by

Lak

eshi

a Ta

ite

9

Letter from the ChairA

he last issue of ChBE News introduced the faculty members whojoined the School in spring 2009. This issue spotlights the four assis‑tant professors who began their appointments at Georgia Tech thisfall. The ChBE faculty now comprises more than 40 members, includ‑

ing nine women and eleven who have been hired within the past two years.Julie Champion received her BSE in chemical engineering from the Uni‑

versity of Michigan in 2001, and her PhD in chemical engineering from theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara in 2007. She credits her summer intern‑ships at General Motors R&D with motivating her to go to graduate school. AtUCSB, Julie discovered the role that chemical engineers can play in improvinghuman health. She won a National Science Foundation (NSF) graduate fel‑lowship and created polymer particles with unique morphologies to demon‑strate the effect of shape on drug delivery properties. In graduate school, sherealized her passion was to teach and work with students to make an impacton human illness. To prepare for this career, Julie completed training at Cal‑tech as a National Institute of Health (NIH) postdoctoral fellow. There shebroadened her materials skills from polymers to proteins, including proteindesign and incorporation of “non‑natural” amino acids.

Currently, Julieʼs research interests focus on the design and creation oftherapeutic biomaterials for the treatment of diseases such as breast cancerand chronic inflammation as well as spinal cord and combat injuries. Shesays, “As chemical engineers, our training allows us to operate at the inter‑face of engineering, materials science, and medicine. We can fill that criticalgap between biological discoveries and treatment of real people.” Her lab isworking on engineering protein‑based materials that will alter the behaviorof errant cells by combining “host‑control” methods of pathogens with drugdelivery strategies.

Julie met her husband, Kevin Boulware, also a chemical engineer, ingraduate school. Although they do talk science sometimes, they really enjoycooking, wine, and playing outside.

Carsten Sievers received his Diplom degree in chemistry from the Tech‑nical University of Munich, Germany in 2003, and a Doctor of natural sciencecum laude from the same institution in 2006. His graduate research in Dr. Jo‑hannes A. Lercherʼs group was focused on heterogeneous catalysis for petro‑leum refining processes and the development of novel catalytic materials.This work included multi‑technique characterization of solid catalysts, in‑situspectroscopy, and studies of reaction kinetics. His results were presented in17 peer‑reviewed journal articles and 27 conference presentations.

After arriving at Georgia Tech in 2007 as a postdoctoral researcher work‑ing on catalytic conversion of woody biomass in Dr. Chris Jonesʼs lab, Carstenbegan applying for faculty positions. ChBE recruited him as an assistant pro‑fessor, and for the past year he has held a transitional position in ChBE as a re‑search engineer.

Currently, Carstenʼs research aims at developing new catalytic processesfor producing fuels and chemicals from renewable resources. His researchprojects include studies on surface chemistry of biomass‑derived oxygenates,development of processes for an integrated biorefinery, and improving thestability of catalysts under typical conditions for biomass conversion.

Carsten is married to Laura Sievers, who was born and raised in Canada.The couple met at a student residence of the National University of Singaporewhen both were undergraduate exchange students.

Mark Styczynski received a BS in chemical engineering from the Univer‑sity of Notre Dame in 2002, and a PhD in chemical engineering from MIT in2007. His PhD research addressed the computational problem of discoveringpatterns in complex, high‑dimensional biological data. He completed a post‑doctoral fellowship at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in thefield of comparative functional genomics, where he measured high‑through‑put phenotypic (output) data from many closely related yeast species to un‑derstand the forces of evolution that guided these speciesʼ development andultimately control their metabolism. His postgraduate awards include an NSF

graduate fellow‑ship and an NIHpostdoctoral fel‑lowship.

Markʼs cur‑rent research in‑volves usingsystem‑widemeasurement ofsmall‑moleculemetabolism inter‑mediates(metabolomics) asa way to under‑stand and engi‑neer cellularmetabolism.While a significantportion of hiswork focuses onyeast as a model system, he is already establishing collaborations to directlystudy cancer metabolism and metabolism in some new model systems. In ad‑dition to metabolomics, his research interests include systems biology, bioin‑formatics, and metabolic engineering.

The cross‑cutting applications of his research excite Mark the most.Studying metabolites and metabolism allows immediate applications in fieldsranging from bioprocess engineering and biofuels to drug discovery and thedesign of disease diagnostic tools. He says that “getting to work with peoplefrom a variety of fields and provide a different perspective on their research isan amazing opportunity. It allows a young field like metabolomics to trulymake a difference in the world in so many ways.”

Mark and his wife Megan, also a PhD from MIT, are looking forward toexperiencing Atlanta and are particularly excited about exploring the northGeorgia mountains and the southern portion of the Appalachian Trail. Whiletheyʼll sorely miss the White Mountains in New Hampshire, they hope theycan find a second home for their outdoor adventures in Georgia.

Krista Walton received her BSE in chemical engineering from the Univer‑sity of Alabama in Huntsville in 2000. She completed her graduate work in ad‑sorption science and porous materials under the direction of Dr. Doug LeVanat Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and earned her PhD in chem‑ical engineering in 2005. She was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from theAmerican Chemical Society (ACS) Petroleum Research Fund in May 2005 forstudying hydrogen storage in metal‑organic frameworks. Krista completedher postdoctoral appointment under the direction of Dr. Randall Snurr inchemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University.

In October 2006, Krista began a faculty position at Kansas State Univer‑sity as the Tim and Sharon Taylor Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering.She received several research awards during her time at K‑State, including theArmy Research Office Young Investigator Award, the Presidential Early CareerAward for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), and the National Science Foun‑dation CAREER Award.

Kristaʼs current research focuses on various aspects of the design andsynthesis of functional porous materials for use in applications, including ad‑sorption separations, air purification, gas storage, chemical sensing, and catal‑ysis. Her group employs a combination of molecular modeling techniquesand experiments to develop a molecular‑level understanding of adsorptionand diffusion properties.

Krista is excited to be living in the southeast again and enjoys spendingtime with her family in north Alabama. She is also a lifelong Braves fan and islooking forward to attending some games in the upcoming season.

Back row from left: Mark Styczynski and Carsten Sievers;bottom row: Julie Champion and Krista Walton.

10

Photo by Josie Giles

TMeet ChBE’s Newest Faculty

Akua Asa‑Awuku, PhD ChE ʻ08, who recently joined the Bourns College ofEngineering at the University of California‑Riverside as an assistant pro‑fessor of chemical & environmental engineering, was selected to partici‑pate in the 2009 Atmospheric Chemistry Colloquium for Emerging SeniorScientists (ACCESS). ACCESS brings together young researchers for scien‑tific discussion and interaction with representatives of the principal fed‑eral government agencies that fund atmospheric chemistry research.These agencies include the DOE, EPA, NASA, NSF, and the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In conjunction with ACCESS,Akua also participated in the Atmospheric Chemistry Gordon Conference.

Graduate student Tae Hyun Bae, who works with Drs. Sankar Nair & ChrisJones, was named a recipient of the 2009 Doh Wonsuk Memorial Awardby the U.S. Chapter of Korean Institute of Chemical Engineering.

Rajeswari Chandrasekaran, who works with Dr. Tom Fuller, and Ven‑mathy Rajarathinam, who works with Dr. Paul Kohl, received AIChEWomenʼs Initiative Committee Travel Grant Awards for 2009. The awardsupports travel for female undergraduate students, graduate students,and postdoctoral associates to the AIChE Annual conference. Rajeswariand Venmathy were among the select group of twelve students chosenfor this award.

Civil and environmental engineering professor John Crittenden accepteda joint appointment in ChBE. Dr. Crittenden is the director of the BrookByers Institute for Sustainable Systems, the Hightower Chair in Environ‑mental Technologies, and a Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) EminentScholar in Sustainable Systems. Prior to coming to Georgia Tech, Dr. Crit‑tenden was the Richard Snell Presidential Professor in the Department ofCivil and Environmental Engineering at Arizona State University. He received his Bachelor's and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering at theUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Dr. Clifford Henderson was named a Fellow of the Society for Optics andPhotonics (SPIE).

Dr. Mike Filler won the 2009 Ziegler Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award.

Dr. Tom Fuller was named a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society and as‑sociate editor of the Journal of the Electrochemical Society.

Dr. Chris Jones was selected to receive the 2010 Ipatieff Prize by theAmerican Chemical Society (ACS). The award recognizes outstandingchemical experimental work in the field of catalysis or high pressure, car‑ried out by an individual who is not over 40 years of age. Dr. Jones will re‑ceive the award for his work on the elucidation of the nature of the trulycatalytic species in palladium‑catalyzed Heck and Suzuki coupling reac‑tions. The award will be presented at the 239th ACS national meeting inSan Francisco in the spring.

Dr. Yeuchun Kim, a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Mark Prausnitzʼs lab,received the second prize Edward Jenner Poster Award at the 3rdGlobal Vaccine Congress in Singapore. His poster was entitled “ImprovedIntradermal Immunization Using Microneedle Patches Coated withInfluenza VLPs.”

Dr. Hang Lu's research on automated high‑throughput cell microsurgeryon‑chip was featured in the Lab on a Chip journal.

On November 1, Dr. Norman Marsolan became the new director of the Insti‑tute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST). Dr. Marsolan has twenty yearsof experience at the International Paper Company (IPC). As director of re‑search and development at IPC, he led the global paper and packaging re‑

search and development program, delivering product and manufacturingprocess innovations. Prior to assuming his role at IPC, he held a tenure‑trackposition at Louisiana Tech University in chemical engineering. Dr. Marsolanearned his bachelorʼs, masterʼs, and PhD degrees in chemical engineeringfrom Louisiana State University. He is actively involved in the Technical Asso‑ciation of Pulp & Paper (TAPPI) and is currently serving as vice chair. He pre‑viously served on the IPST Board of Executives from 2006 to 2008. Dr.Marsolan will also hold the position of professor of the practice in ChBE.

Graduate student Rich Moore, who works with Dr. Athanasios Nenes, wonthe Best Student Poster Award at the 2009 annual conference of theAmerican Association for Aerosol Research in Minneapolis.

Dr. Athanasios Nenesʼs research group received the NASA Group Achieve‑ment Award this year for its participation in the 2008 Arctic Research ofthe Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS)field campaign. The ARCTAS mission studies the smoke plumes fromnorthern latitude forest fires and produces new data through a choreo‑graphed effort between modelers and experimenters.

Dr. Elsa Reichmanis was named a Fellow of the American Chemical Soci‑ety (ACS).

Georgina Schaefer, who works as an undergraduate researcher with Drs.Charles Eckert and Charles Liotta, spent ten weeks in a research‑intensiveprogram at RWTH University in Aachen, Germany. Georgina worked ona switchable solvents project that included a thorough review of acombination of reaction and separations.

The October issue of the AIChE Journal featured “Developing Chiral Sur‑faces for Enantioselective Chemical Processing” as its cover story. Co‑writ‑ten by Dr. David Sholl and Dr. Andy Gellman from Carnegie MellonUniversity, the article was also spotlighted in the October issue of Chemi‑cal Engineering Progress.

Ho Ming “Gabriel” Tong received a 2008‑2009 Outstanding Undergradu‑ate Researcher Award (UROP) from the Institute.

News Briefs

On November 6, representatives from the ExxonMobil Corporation, TrumanBell (left) and Charlie Dixon (right), presented School Chair RonaldRousseau with an unrestricted $19K gift to fund ChBE initiatives. Addition‑ally, the company presented ChBE with a $25K gift for its ongoing Exxon‑Mobil Success Program, which provides mentoring, study help, andprofessional development assistance to minority students, and also spon‑sors guest speakers from academia and business. ExxonMobil made an ad‑ditional gift of $26K to other Georgia Tech programs.

ChBE Receives Gift from ExxonMobil

11

epresentatives from ConocoPhillips Corporation joined theAIChE student chapter as the hosts of a fall picnic, which drewhundreds of ChBE students, faculty, and staff on October 16. In addition to providing unique ConocoPhillips giveaways, the

corporation organized a door prize raffle in which students receivedspecial prizes, including gift certificates for restaurants and i‑Tunes.

The picnic provided a forum for the corporate representatives tomeet with ChBE students one‑on‑one and share details about the nu‑merous opportunities for internships and permanent employment atlocations in more than 30 countries.

ConocoPhillips provides ongoing support for the annual Cono‑coPhillips/C.J. “Pete” Silas Program in Ethics and Leadership, studentscholarships for international study at the Imperial College London, theAIChE student chapter, as well as unrestricted support for other ChBEinitiatives. Additionally, Dr. Pradeep Agrawal, Associate Chair for Un‑dergraduate Studies, served as a 2008‑09 ConocoPhillips Faculty Fel‑low and received $50K in funding for undergraduate programs.

For the 2009‑10 academic year, ConocoPhillips has given $37K toGeorgia Tech, of which $12K has been designated to ChBE.

Back row from left: ConocoPhillips representatives Nikki Benson, BillBurns, Kingsley Ekworomadu, and Tim Langlais; AIChE student chapterleaders Josh Nagy and Melissa Marchbanks; front row: Katie Taylor, A. D. Barfield, and Kristen Brown.

Photo by Josie Giles

Non‑Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 3023

Atlanta, GAGeorgia Institute of TechnologySchool of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering311 Ferst Drive, N.W.Atlanta, GA 30332‑0100www.chbe.gatech.edu

ChBE News & Alumni NewsJosie Giles (404) 385‑2299Fax: (404) 385‑0185josie@gatech.edu

ChBE Development Melisa Baldwin (404) 894‑0987Fax: (404) 385‑0185melisa.baldwin@chbe.gatech.edu

ChBE Program InformationChBE Main Office (404) 894‑1838grad.info@chbe.gatech.eduugrad.info@chbe.gatech.edu

We Welcome YourQuestions, Comments,or News

Copy

right

200

9 • G

eorg

ia In

stitu

te o

f Tec

hnol

ogy

• Sch

ool o

f Che

mic

al &

Bio

mol

ecul

ar E

ngin

eerin

g

ConocoPhillips Sponsors Fall Picnic

R