Faculty

CBE Professor Received The Technology Innovation and Development Award

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Momentum logoRepublished with permission of Momentum,
a School of Engineering electronic publication.

 

 

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Dr. Cato Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., was presented the Technology Innovation and Development Award from the Society for Biomaterials. Dr. Laurencin is CEO of the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, Director of the Institute for Regenerative Engineering, the Van Dusen Endowed Chair in Academic Medicine and a professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering.  The award recognizes an individual or team who provided key scientific and technical innovation and leadership in a novel product in which biomaterials played an important and enabling role.  For more than three decades, Dr. Laurencin has conducted research studies on biomaterials for musculoskeletal tissue engineering, nanotechnology, and drug delivery.  He notes that he was influenced by his Ph.D. mentor, Dr. Robert Langer, an Institution Professor at MIT. Read more about Dr. Laurencin here.

Dr. Daniel Burkey Promoted to Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Diversity

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professor_dan_burkeyEffective July 1, 2013, Dr. Daniel Burkey will assume the position of Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Diversity.

For the past three years, Dr. Burkey has been the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) Associate Department Head, as well as Associate Professor-in-Residence of Chemical Engineering. During his time with CBE, he examined and revised the undergraduate Chemical Engineering curriculum to better meet the rapidly changing demands of the current job market, specifically focusing on the senior laboratory and senior design courses. Improvements have included the implementation of new experiments, which reflect the demands, equipment, and techniques of the profession, and partnership with local industries to engage students with real-world problems. He also oversaw the renovation of the Chemical Engineering undergraduate laboratory. Students voted Dr. Burkey AIChE Teacher of the Year for both the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 academic years. CBE thanks Dr. Burkey for his contributions and congratulates him on his new position within the School of Engineering.

Dr. William Mustain Promoted to Associate Department Head

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mustain2012_profileThe Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department is pleased to announce that, as of July 1, 2013, Dr. William Mustain will be the Associate Department Head of CBE. His responsibilities will include chairing the department’s Undergraduate Committee, serving as the point of contact for students, families, and visitors to CBE, and working with the Department Head, faculty, and staff to ensure all of CBEs needs and duties are addressed to the greatest extent possible. In addition, Dr. Mustain will be promoted to Associate Professor in August.
In the past, Dr. Mustain has occupied various leadership positions within CBE, most notably as Chair of the Graduate Committee from 2009-2012 as well as the head of the department’s ABET accreditation process. Academically, Dr. Mustain’s electrochemistry research group investigates the development of novel electrocatalyst materials for energy conversion and storage, and most recently his lab was recognized for developing a promising, high- performance fuel cell catalyst. Dr. Mustain came to UConn in 2008, following a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2006.

Mustain Group Develops High Performance Fuel Cell Catalyst

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CBE Professor William Mustain and Ph.D. candidate Ying Liu have reported, in a paper published in the February issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135(2), pp 530–533; DOI: 10.1021/ja307635r), that a new catalyst material using tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanoparticles (NPs) as a high stability non-carbon support for platinum (Pt) nanoparticles has great potential as a next-generation catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells.  As Liu and Mustain explain in their paper: “Sn was employed as the In2O3 dopant to exploit the strong interaction between Sn and Pt that was previously reported to enhance the activity of Pt on Pt/SnO2, while concomitantly avoiding the intrinsic stability limitations of SnO2 and leveraging the high stability of bulk In2O3 at ORR relevant potentials” This Pt/ITO catalyst showed mass activity that far surpassed the 2015 U.S. Department of Energy goal for Pt mass activity, and the stability of the Pt/ITO was remarkable under harsh conditions.  In the future, Dr. Mustain and Ms. Liu will continue to improve the long-term stability of Pt/ITO and investigate its performance in PEM fuel cell stacks.

Structure and Performance of Pt/ITO Electrocatalysts
Structure and Performance of Pt/ITO Electrocatalysts

Dr. Peter Karp will be visiting CHEG as a Guest Professor

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Peter KarpDr. Peter Karp, Director of the Bioinformatics Research Group at SRI International, will be visiting the CMBE Department at UConn as a Guest Professor this summer. Hosted by Professor Ranjan Srivastava, Dr. Karp will engage the UConn community through a series of seminars on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, as well as carry out research and develop collaborations with faculty at Storrs and the Health Center.
Dr. Karp is a researcher of the highest order and is internationally renowned. His work spans the fields of computational biology, bioinformatics, molecular biology, and biochemistry, with over 90 peer reviewed publications in the literature. He is the 25th most highly cited author in the field of Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, as well as being the 38th most highly cited in the field of Molecular Biology according to Microsoft Academic Research.
Dr. Karp received his B.A. from the University Pennsylvania and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University. From there, he went on to the National Institutes of Health to carry out a Postdoctoral Fellowship. Upon completion of the Fellowship, Dr. Karp took his position at SRI International. He had a brief hiatus at Pangea Systems, Inc. where he served as Vice President. He eventually returned to SRI International where he became an SRI Fellow and is the Director of the Bioinformatics Group.

Dr. Leslie Shor Recognized as Finalist in the Annual Women of Innovation Awards Dinner

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shorWomenInnovationThe department would like to extend its congratulations to Leslie Shor for her recognition as a finalist in the 8th Annual Women of Innovation Awards Dinner hosted by the Connecticut Technology Council.
Every year, the Connecticut Technology Council recognizes the dedication and achievements of women in engineering, science and business in Connecticut.
Leslie Shor has been recognized in Academic Innovation and Leadership through her role as a leader and mentor of the Engineered Microhabitats Research Group for the University of Connecticut. She uses the artificial microbial habitats as a teaching tool to explore its effects on agriculture, biofuels and disease.