Chembe BOND Editorial Team: Secured Tenure-Track Faculty Appointments in Has Attracted Over the Years
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!"#$%&#"'()$% &*$+)$**,)$+ $*-%&.,"/&0#*&1*'2,0/*$0&".& 3#*/)324&2$1& 5)"/"4*3642,& 37895*&5"$1 *$+)$**,)$+ FALL 2010 Joseph L. Katz, professor emeritus, celebrates a half-century of academic work. IN THIS ISSUE: Professor Katz Moves to Professor Emeritus DEPARTMENT NEWS. 2 n the Saturday eve of Labor Day weekend, What’s more, he has been honored as Maryland nearly 100 colleagues, friends, and family Chemist of the Year, a John Simon Guggenheim STUDENT INVOLVEMENT . 3 Omembers gathered at the Inn at the Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of AWARDS & HONORS . 4 Colonnade restaurant in Baltimore to celebrate the Science Fellow, and American Physical Society Fellow. FACULTY NEWS . 5 academic work of Joseph L. Katz, considered by He also is creator of an international biennial nucle- FACULTY RESEARCH. 8 many to be a founding father of the Whiting School ation symposium. of Engineering’s Department of Chemical and “Globally, Joe is the leading expert in the field of ALUMNI NEWS. 9 Biomolecular Engineering. Guests included colleagues nucleation phenomena. He is the expert in the world COMMUNITY OUTREACH . 10 from as far away as Japan and as close as WSE’s in that field,” says ChemBE Professor and WSE Vice Maryland Hall, where Katz maintains a spacious sun- Dean for Research Marc Donohue. “Here at Hopkins, lit office as professor emeritus. he has had a tremendous impact on the culture and A world expert in homogeneous nucleation (the value system of the department.” process that includes the making of bubbles in the Katz’s arrival at Hopkins in 1979 coincided with beer and champagne served at the event), Katz has a the Whiting School again being named a separate reputation among faculty as an intellectual power- academic division on the Homewood campus. At house and among students as a tough but fair, and the time, the department had only two professors, somewhat intimidating, professor. On this night, Katz William Schwartz and Stanley Corrsin, both now says he was doing something he rarely does—smiling deceased. From Clarkson College of Technology in in every single picture. “It was a wonderful, wonder- Potsdam, New York, Katz brought with him A student tests a Chem-E-Car before ful event,” says Katz, of the night that capped a Donohue, who had been his student. Together, Katz, the competition at the AIChE Mid-Atlantic 50-year career. Donohue, Schwartz, and Corrsin became the found- Regional Conference. See page 3. Katz, from Colon, Panama, has produced a body ing fathers of a department that today has 14 tenured of work worthy of celebration. To his credit: more and tenure-track professors. than 500 invited lectures at society meetings, univer- Within two years, Katz was elevated to chair, his sities, government laboratories, and industrial research first of four stints in that position. At the time, the facilities; 90 non-duplicating refereed publications; department was in transition. “Joe was responsible for more than 4,500 literature citations; and four patents. Continued on page 6 THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING 1 1*'2,0/*$0& $*-% Message from the Chair Denis Wirtz Honored as Dear JHU ChemBE Friends and Alumni, Theophilus Halley Smoot Professor t is a pleasure to share with you our exciting Idepartment highlights. Our colleague enis Wirtz, professor of chemical and Professor Joseph “Joe” Katz has retired after Dbiomolecular engineering and director 31 years. Joe is known internationally for his of Johns Hopkins’ Engineering in Oncology groundbreaking work in nucleation. And those Center, was named the Theophilus Halley of us who have worked with Joe know he is Smoot Professor in the Whiting School of not only an accomplished scientist and great Engineering by university President Ronald for cell adhesion and de-adhesion will prove innovator, but he is a terrific mentor and J. Daniels and the board of trustees. critical to our understanding of the metastasis teacher. Wirtz, the founding associate director of cancer and enable important breakthroughs We also congratulate Professor Denis Wirtz, of the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBio- in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in the director of the Engineering in Oncology Technology, was elected years to come.” Center, on being named the a 2009 fellow of the The Smoot Professorship was established Theophilus Halley Smoot Professor American Academy for the in 1981 through the estate of Theophilus in the Whiting School of Engi- Advancement of Science H. Smoot, who joined Johns Hopkins as a neering. And we are fortunate to in the Engineering Section research assistant in the Department of have hired Assistant Professor for his contributions to cell Mechanical Engineering in 1942 and in 1946 Honggang Cui (see p. 5), who will micromechanics, cell adhe- became a research associate in the department. further the department’s work in sion, and the development Upon the passing of Mr. Smoot in 1976 and nanobiotechnology. and application of particle tracking methods of his widow, Helen A. Smoot, in 1980, the National graduate school rankings, released that probe the micromechanical properties of Theophilus Halley Smoot Fund for Engi- by the National Research Council, show that living cells. neering Science was created. The first Smoot our department included the nation’s highest Wirtz is on the editorial boards of Professorship was awarded in 1981 to former percentage of assistant professors in our disci- Biophysical Journal, Cell Adhesion and Migration professor, Stanley Corrsin. Robert E. Green Jr., pline. Given our early-career faculty, it was and Journal of Nanomedicine . In 2005, he was professor in the Department of Materials good news to learn that we ranked 23rd in named a fellow of the American Institute for Science, held the professorship from 1988 faculty research productivity (quantified by the Medical and Biological Engineering. Wirtz through 2007. number of published papers per faculty mem- won a National Science Foundation CAREER ber) and 14th in research impact (quantified by Award in 1996 and the Whitaker Foundation the number of citations per published article). Biomedical Engineering Foundation Award Since rankings data were released in 2005, we in 1997. have increased our research output, doubled our In an announcement from the Whiting annual research expenditures per faculty, and School’s dean, Nick Jones, it was stated that, expanded our ChemBE graduate program from “Throughout his time at Johns Hopkins, 45 PhD and one MSE students to 79 PhD and Denis has distinguished himself as an out- 19 MSE students and 25 postdoctoral fellows. standing scholar and teacher. Additionally, Our undergraduate enrollment also grew from Denis’ role as a catalyst for interdisciplinary 250 to 315 students. research and collaboration at the university has Most importantly, since 2005, 17 ChemBE proven extremely effective, both in terms of doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows have the research he conducts and the support he ChemBE BOND Editorial Team: secured tenure-track faculty appointments in has attracted over the years. I am confident Department Chair: Konstantinos Konstantopoulos, PhD premier national and international universities. that his current research into the physical basis Senior Editor: Jeffrey Gray, PhD All of these facts indicate that our department Consulting Editors/Writers: Abby Lattes, Mary Beth Regan, is poised to excel in years to come. Phil Sneiderman, Mary Spiro Coordinating Editors: Erin Wilhelm, Emilee Romano Best wishes, Design: Johns Hopkins University Marketing and Creative Services Published annually by the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University; 221 Maryland Hall, 3400 North Charles Street, Konstantinos Konstantopoulos Baltimore, MD 21218 Professor and Department Chair 410-516-7170 / [email protected] 2 jhu.edu/chembe %061*$0& )$:"4:*/*$0 JHU Undergrads Host AIChE Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference hen undergraduates Eric Lam, William WBagdorf, and Kyrstina Laucik began planning the 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference, held on the Homewood campus April 16–18, they expected a solid turnout. But the level of participation and outpouring of support surprised even the enthusiastic organizers. “Everyone did an excellent job,” says Bagdorf, incoming presi- Siah Hong Tan, with Sravanti Kusuma and Sharon Gerecht, placed second in the research poster dent of the Whiting School’s AIChE student presentation contest. chapter. The record-setting attendance included more than 260 students from 24 top East Coast engineering programs who traveled to Baltimore to take part in the event. Conference highlights included the stu- dent research paper competition, research poster competition, and the popular ChemE car competition. “It was a great success,” says Joelle Frechette, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and the group’s faculty adviser. “The students organized an amazing event and their hard work paid off.” The event was so successful that Frechette was awarded the AIChE student chapter adviser award, and ChemBE undergrads, Students gather at the Belvedere to conclude the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Regional including Bagdorf, were invited by national Conference, held in April 2010. representatives to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, in November for the 2010 national conference. There, they presented a workshop ence, and students’ egos and money are at Hopkins team, headed by Peter Li, used