• Republished with permission of emagination, a School of Engineering electronic publication

Five engineering doctoral students who aspire to careers in an academic setting have been selected to receive Koerner Family Fellowships, which confer $10,000 to each. The Koerner Family Fellowships are made possible thanks to the generosity of Professor Robert and Mrs. Paula Koerner and their children – Dr. Michael Koerner, Dr. George Koerner and Ms. Pauline Koerner.
The 2011-12 recipients were nominated by their departments and chosen by a School committee.  They are:

• Lance Fiondella, Computer Science & Engineering (advisor: Swapna Gokhale). Research interests: software reliability and performance, homeland security studies, and computer programming literacy.
• Kathryn Gosselin, Mechanical Engineering (advisor:  Michael Renfro).  Research interests:  ignition limits at atmospheric and low pressures, with applications in the operation of afterburners in military jet engines and other types of combustion engines.
• Chad Johnston, Civil & Environmental Engineering (advisor: Marisa Chrysochoou).  Research interests: contaminant mobility in soil and groundwater systems, for the development of remediation strategies and evaluating public health risks. Particular interest in chromate, a toxic metal and potential carcinogen.
• Vincent Palumbo, Chemical, Materials & Biomolecular Engineering (advisor: Bryan Huey).  Research interests:  methods of enhancing the blast and fire resistance of the nation’s infrastructure, including bridges, buildings, tunnels, and the like.
• Ernesto Suarez, Electrical & Computer Engineering (advisor: Faquir Jain). Research interests:  tunnel insulators for three-state logic field effect transistors (FETs) and nonvolatile memory devices, with a focus on radiation hardened devices.

Dean of Engineering Mun Y. Choi, said “Professor and Mrs. Koerner have been stalwart supporters of higher education for more than four decades.  Through their generous gift, a group of highly-talented Ph.D. students will pursue advanced studies in trans-disciplinary topics in engineering.”
Dr. Koerner is the H.L. Bowman Professor Emeritus of Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering at Drexel University and the Director of the Geosynthetic Research Institute.  Throughout his over 40-year career, Dr. Koerner has established a sterling reputation as a technological innovator, educator and engineering practitioner.  He has authored hundreds of journal papers and books on topics spanning soil deformation, waste containment facility construction, and the use of geosynthetics in erosion, filtration and drainage control.  In recognition of his accomplishments in the design and use of geosynthetic materials in the constructed environment, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 1998.

Join us as we set out to modernize the Chemical Engineering Senior Lab!
Do you remember working in the senior laboratory? Would it surprise you that many of the same experiments and equipment are still there? Help us change that! We need to update the lab with new experiments and renovate existing ones to better prepare the next generation of UConn Chemical Engineers. Do you have suggestions for experiments, or equipment that your company wants to donate? This is your chance to impact the future of the lab for decades to come!
Some improvements we need:

• A new computer control system for our pilot-scale distillation column.
• Revamping the double-effect evaporator for desalination experiments, tying in with faculty research on clean energy and water initiatives.
• New Plug Flow Reactor (PFR) and Continuous Stirred-Tank Reactor (CSTR) suites to tie in with our kinetics course.
• A bio-fermentation experiment.
• Computer control and data logging for all experiments.

We have 1100 ft² of renovated laboratory space in the United Technologies building that’s waiting to be filled! We’ve added new experiments representing the cutting edge of faculty research and new directions for chemical engineering, but we need YOUR help to continue.
To Our Business Friends: Do you want to help educate the next generation of chemical engineers you’ll hire? Are there skills you feel are important for graduates to have? If so, we’re eager to hear from you! We’re interested in partnering with companies to involve our students in real-world challenges relevant to you. Whether through financial support, equipment donation, or mentoring students, we want to talk to you about your ideas.
To donate today, please click here:
Have questions? Want to talk? Here’s how to reach us:
Daniel D. Burkey
Assistant Department Head and
Assistant Professor-in-Residence
Chemical, Materials, and
Biomolecular Engineering
860-486-3604
daniel@engr.uconn.edu
Donald Swinton
Development Officer
UConn School of Engineering
860-486-8923
dswinton@foundation.uconn.edu

• Republished with permission of emagination, a School of Engineering electronic publication

Dr. Jeffrey McCutcheon has been awarded two grants in support of his research program, which involves the use of forward osmosis and membrane filters to remove contaminants from water.  The Environmental Protection Agency, through its “Science to Achieve Results” (EPA STAR) Early Career program, which focuses on research aimed at advancing public health through improved water infrastructure, awarded him $300,000.  He received the second grant from 3M Corporation, which presented him a 3M Non-tenured Faculty Grant.

Dr. McCutcheon, an assistant professor with dual appointments in the Chemical, Materials & Biomolecular Engineering department and the Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering (CESE), joined UConn in 2008. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2007 and has conducted extensive research on forward osmosis (FO) processes, most notably for desalination, with his thesis advisor, Dr. Menachem Elimelech.

Dr. McCutcheon described forward osmosis as an osmotically driven membrane separation process based on the natural tendency of water to flow from a solution of low solute concentration to one of higher concentration.  In this process, a relatively dilute feed water – such as seawater, brackish water or wastewater – flows along one side of a membrane, while a more concentrated ‘draw’ solution or osmotic agent flows on the opposite side of the membrane.  Clean water permeates through the membrane from the feed water to the draw solution, leaving behind salts, contaminants and other feed solutes as a concentrated brine stream.

In contrast with reverse osmosis, the wastewater treatment standard, Dr. McCutcheon noted, the FO separation process requires no energy.  The draw solution can then be used or removed, recovered and recycled.  Some researchers estimate that in certain applications, this method could result in a 50% cost savings over reverse osmosis, while dramatically reducing the carbon footprint.  In previous research, Dr. McCutcheon has identified several viable draw solutions, so his focus now is on the design of a suitable membrane; this, he said, is the single largest obstacle to adoption of the FO separation technology.

For the EPA STAR project, “We will evaluate how well different membranes remove the contaminants found in wastewater in forward osmosis,” he said.  Municipal wastewater is commonly contaminated with bacteria, viruses and other microbes; toxins such as arsenic, chromium and lead; emergent contaminants from pharmaceutical drugs (such as hormones) and pesticides, which disrupt endocrine function in humans and other creatures; salts, and other contaminants.

A second facet, he explained, “will focus on examining fouling of the membrane, which can result from the accumulation and interaction of the contaminants on the wastewater side of the filter. These include fats, oils and other lipids that can create a film over the membrane, slowing the flow of water.”  Dr. McCutcheon will evaluate this emerging technology for the first time for the removal of these specific compounds.

This work will result in the evaluation of a new technology that may lead to more energy efficient, cost effective wastewater treatment.  According to EPA reports, energy costs can account for 30 percent of the total operation and maintenance costs of wastewater treatment plants, and nationwide, these facilities account for approximately three percent of the total electric load. These factors make wastewater treatment facilities attractive focal points for reducing energy consumption while improving the production of clean water. Dr. McCutcheon’s project represents an important step toward the development of more sustainable water purification processes world-wide, according to Dr. McCutcheon.

Dr. McCutcheon’s 3M Nontenured Faculty Grant, which awards him $15,000/year for up to three years, will support his work on two types of electrospun nanofiber membranes for water filtration applications.  He was nominated for the award by Thomas J. Hamlin, Senior Vice President of R&D at 3M Purification in Meriden, CT.  Dr. McCutcheon explained that membranes made from electrospun nanofibers are especially attractive thanks to their high surface area for capturing contaminants.  This funding will support Dr. McCutcheon’s research efforts on polymeric nanofiber mediated water filtration. Polymer nanofibers are a new type of material with applications to water filtration.  Dr. McCutcheon’s work aims to optimize the nanofiber strength, size, and morphology.  The 3M grant will allow Dr. McCutcheon and his team to design, fabricate and test polymeric nanofiber material as novel filtration media.