McCutcheon, Jeffrey

Al Geib Professor of Environmental Engineering Research & Education

Ph.D., Yale University (2007)

Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DOVCzp8AAAAJ&hl=en

Current Research

  • Membrane separations for sustainable water and energy production
  • Additive manufacturing for membranes
  • Thin film composite membrane design and fabrication
  • Polymeric membrane characterization
  • Wastewater resource recovery using anaerobic digestion
  • Solar driven desalination processes
  • Electrocaloric thin film materials

Selected Professional Activities

Director, Connecticut Center for Applied Separations Technology
Deputy Topic Area Lead, National Alliance for Water Innovation
Associate Editor, Journal of Membrane Science Letters

Research Statement

Our research is driven by the goal to identify opportunities to implement membrane and other advanced separation technology into various industrial processes in order to lower energy use, reduce carbon footprint, limit waste, and prevent adverse environmental and health impacts. We are achieving this through innovative manufacturing approaches that enable the implementation of new materials into various membrane platforms.

We currently run the following projects:

Additive Manufacturing for Customized Membranes: We are designing bespoke membranes for water treatment and desalination applications.

Resource Recovery from Wastewater Treatment Systems:  We are developing AI driven control strategies to maximize the recovery of value from organic waste streams using anaerobic co-digestion.

Solar-driven Membrane Distillation:  We are developing a ceramic-based membrane distillation system driven by solar-thermal energy.

Manufacturing Thin Film Electrocalorics: We are developing an approach to make thin film electrocaloric materials using liquid crystals.

Industry projects: We conduct a wide range of projects for industry on membrane process and component development.

Awards & Honors

2022 Centennial Professor in the University of Connecticut School of Engineering
2021 Elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering
2021 American Made Solar Desalination Prize Semifinalist
2020 American Made Solar Desalination Prize Quarterfinalist
2019 Global Water Summit Water technology Idol Competition Winner
2016 Al Geib Professorship in Environmental Engineering Research and Education
2014 FRI/John G. Kunesh Award
2011 Solvay Advanced Polymers Young Faculty Award
2011 Environmental Protection Agency Early Career Award
2011 3M Untenured Faculty Award

Student Awards

Nicholas Benvenuto, C2E2 Summer Fellowship, 2022

Rebecca Lee, AIChE Undergraduate Poster Competition, 1st place Separations Division, 2021

Rebecca Lee, Summer Undergraduate Research Fund, 2021

Xin Qian, UConn Graduate Student Travel Fellowship, 2021

Tori Danis, GE Innovation Fellowship, 2020

Tulasi Ravindran, NAMS Student Poster Award, 2019

Lingling Xia, ICIM Graduate Student Poster Award, 2018

Maqsud Chowdhury, AIChE Separations Division Graduate Student Research Award, 2017

Maqsud Chowdhury, ICOM Graduate Student Poster Award, 2017

Jian Ren, 3-Minute Thesis – UConn, 2nd place, 2016

Lingling Xia, ECI Poster Award, 2016

Jian Ren, AIChE Separations Division Graduate Student Research Award, 2016

Jian Ren, North American Membrane Society Graduate Student Fellowship, 2016

Maqsud Chowdhury, General Electric Fellowship, 2016

Jian Ren, FEI Graduate Student Fellowship, 2015

Maqsud Chowdhury, NAMS Student Poster Award, 2nd place, Membrane Processes, 2015

Malgorzata Chwatko, NAMS Student Poster Award, 3rd place, Membrane Materials, 2015

Gabriella Frey, AIChE Undergraduate Student Poster Award, 1st place, Separations Division, 2014

Gianna Credaroli, AIChE Undergraduate Student Poster Award, 2nd place, Separations Division, 2014

Jian Ren, ICOM Student Poster Award, 2014

Liwei Huang, NAMS Travel Award, ICOM, 2014

Jason Arena, NAMS Graduate Student Poster Award, 1st place, 2014

Jian Ren, General Electric Fellowship, 2014

Maqsud Chowdhury, Elias Klein Travel Award, 2014

Jason Arena, AMTA Graduate Student Poster Award, 2014

Ngoc Bui, NAMS Graduate Student Poster Award, 2nd place, 2013

Liwei Huang, Elias Klein Travel Award, 2013

Ethan Butler, Marshall Scholarship, 2013

Ethan Butler, Udall Scholarship, 2013

Andrew Silva, University Scholar, 2013

Ethan Butler, University Scholar, 2012

Ngoc Bui, NAMS Travel Award, 2012

Jason Arena, NWRI-AMTA Fellowship, 2012

Jason Arena, GK-12 Fellowship, 2011

 

Selected Publications

For a full listing of publications, please visit my Google Scholar page.

Rahaman, S., McCutcheon, J.R., Mulligan, C.N, Touati, K., Zadeh, A.E., “Closed-loop pressure retarded osmosis draw solutions and their regeneration processes: A review”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 159, 2022, 112191.

Fan, Y., Qian, X., Wang, X., Funk, T., Herman, B., McCutcheon, J.R., Li, B., “Enhancing long-term accuracy and durability of wastewater monitoring using electrosprayed ultra-thin solid-state ion selective membrane sensors”, Journal of Membrane Science 643, 2022, 119997.

Fu, P., Li, H., Gong, J., Fan, Z., Smith, A.T., Shen, K., Khalfalla, T.O., Huang, H., Qian, X., McCutcheon, J.R., Sun, L. “4D Printing of Polymeric Materials: Techniques, Materials, and Prospects”, Progress in Polymer Science 126, 2022, 101506

Qian, X., Ostwal, M., Asatekin, A., Geise, G.M., Smith, Z.P., Philip, W.A., Lively, R.P., McCutcheon, J.R. “A critical review and commentary on recent progress of additive manufacturing and its impact on membrane technology,” Journal of Membrane Science 645, 2022, 120041.

Fan, Y., Qian, X., Wang, X., Funk, T., Herman, B., McCutcheon, J.R., Li, B., “Enhancing long-term accuracy and durability of wastewater monitoring using electrosprayed ultra-thin solid-state ion selective membrane sensors,” Journal of Membrane Science 643, 2022, 119997.

Qian, X. Ravindran, T, Lounder, S.J., Asatekin, A., McCutcheon, J.R., Printing zwitterionic self-assembled thin film composite membranes: Tuning thickness leads to remarkable permeability for nanofiltration”, Journal of Membrane Science 635, 2021, 119428.

Bell, E.M., De Guise, S., McCutcheon, J.R. , Lei, Y., Levin, M., Li., B., Rusling, J.R., Lawrence, D.A., Cavallari, J.M., O’Connell, C., Javidi, B., Wang, X., Ryu, H., “Exposure, health effects, sensing, and remediation of the emerging PFAS contaminants–Scientific challenges and potential research directions”, Science of The Total Environment, 2021, 146399.

Elsaidi, S.K., Ostwal, M., Zhu, L., Sekizkardes, A., Mohamed, M.H., Gipple, M., McCutcheon, J.R., Hopkinson, D. “3D printed MOF-based mixed matrix thin-film composite membranes”, RSC Advances 11, 2021, 25658.

McCutcheon, J.R. “Unravelling the mysteries of the thin film composite reverse osmosis membrane”, Joule 5, 2021, 528-530.

Arena, J.T., Reimund, K.K., McCutcheon, J.R. “On the importance of selectivity an support layer compaction in pressure retarded osmosis”, Desalination 498, 2021 114804.

Schnittger, J., McCutcheon, J.R., Hoyer, T., Weyd, M., Fischer, G., Puhufurb, P., Voigt, I., Lerch, A., “Hydrophobic ceramic membranes in MD processes–Impact of material selection and layer characteristics”, Journal of Membrane Science 618, 2021, 118678.

Ryu, H., Li, B., De Guise, S., McCutcheon, J.R., Le. Y.  “Recent Progress in the Detection of Emerging Contaminants PFASs”, Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2020, 124437.

Beauregard, N., Al-Furaiji, M., Dias, G., Worthington, M., Suresh, A., Srivastava, R., Burkey, D. D., McCutcheon, J.R. “Enhancing iCVD Modification of Electrospun Membranes for Membrane Distillation Using a 3D Printed Scaffold”, Polymers 12, 2020, 2074.

Ambrosi, A, Motke, M.B., Souza-Silva, E.A., Zini, C.A., McCutcheon, J.R., Sergio, N., Cardozo, M., Tessaro, I.C., “Beer dealcoholization by forward osmosis diafiltration”, Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 2020, 10237.

Ren, J., Chowdhury, M.R., Xia, L., Bollas, G.M., McCutcheon, J.R., “A computational fluid dynamics model to predict performance of hollow fiber membrane modules in forward osmosis”, 2020, Journal of Membrane Science 603, 117973.

Xia, L., McCutcheon, J.R., Understanding the influence of solvents on the intrinsic properties and performance of polyamide think film composite membranes, Separation and Purification Technology 238, 2020, 116398.

Waisi, B.I., Arena, J.T., Benes, N.E., Nijmeijer, A., McCutcheon, J.R., “Activated carbon nanofiber nonwoven for removal of emulsified oil from water”, Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 296, 2020, 109966.

Firouzjaei, M.D., McCutcheon, J.R., et. al. “Recent advances in functionalized polymer membranes for biofouling control and mitigation in forward osmosis”, Journal of Membrane Science, 2020, 117604.

Waisi, B.I., Al-Jubouri, S., McCutcheon, J.R., “Fabrication and Characterization of Silica Nanoparticle Carbon Nanofiber Composite”, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 58, 2020, 4462-4467.

Professor Jeffrey McCutcheon Photo
Email jeffrey.mccutcheon@uconn.edu
Phone (860) 486-4601
Mailing Address 191 Auditorium Road, Unit 3222, Storrs, CT 06269-3222
Office Location UTEB 280
Link https://ccast.uconn.edu/