Jeffrey McCutcheon

Centennial Professor of Engineering

Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering


General Electric Professor of Advanced Manufacturing

Ph.D., Chemical Engineering,  Yale University (2008)

B.S., Chemical Engineering, University of Dayton (2002)

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

Selected Service Activities

  • President of the North American Membrane Society, 2018
  • University of Connecticut Senate, 2017-2023, 2024-2027
  • University of Connecticut Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees (2022-2024)
  • Co-organizer of the Industrial Workshop on Applied Separations Technologies (2019, 2023, 2024)

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, ion exchange, and gas separations 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.

Direct measurement osmometry for concentrated brines:  We have developed a membrane osmometer that can measure osmotic pressures up to 3000 psi for aqueous brines.

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

2024 Paul L. Busch Award
2024 AIChE Separations Division FRI/Neil Yeoman Innovation Award
2024 General Electric Professor of Advanced Manufacturing
2024 Permeance Prize for Mid-career Excellence, North American Membrane Society
2022 Ed Archuleta Distinguished Lecture, American Water Works Association
2022 Centennial Professor in the University of Connecticut College 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

 

Yasmin Bimbatti, UConn Institute of Materials Science Industrial Affiliates Program Poster Award, 1st place, 2024

Yasmin Bimbatti, Stephanie Shaw Fellowship, 2024

Yasmin Bimbatti, NAMS Student poster award  3rd place, Processes division, 2024

Arjun DeJesus, NAMS Student poster award, 3rd place, Undergraduate Posters, 2024

Martina Jagielski, NAMS Student poster award, 2nd place, Undergraduate Posters, 2024

Yasmin Bimbatti, Connecticut Center for Clean Energy Engineering Graduate Research Summit on Sustainability, Presentation Award 3rd Place, 2024

Wei Ruan, College of Engineering Graduate Student Research Symposium, 1st place poster award for Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, 3rd place poster award for the College of Engineering, 2024

Martina Jagielski, AIChE Undergraduate Poster Competition, 2nd place, Separations Division,  2023

Yasmin Bimbatti, John Lof Leadership Academy, 2023

Yasmin Bimbatti, NAMS Poster Competition, 1st place, 2023

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

 

Highlighted  Publications

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

 

Email jeffrey.mccutcheon@uconn.edu
Mailing Address 191 Auditorium Road, Unit 3222, Storrs, CT 06269-3222
Office Location PWEB 280
Link https://ccast.uconn.edu/
Contact Information
Emailjeffrey.mccutcheon@uconn.edu
Phone(860) 486-4601
Mailing Address191 Auditorium Road, Unit 3222, Storrs, CT 06269-3222
Office LocationEII-207
Linkhttps://ccast.uconn.edu/