Chbe Welcomes 3 New Faculty Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the A
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SpRiNg 2008 COLUMNS ChEMiCAL AND BiOMOLECuLAr ENgiNEEriNg A. JAMES CLArk SChOOL of ENgiNEEriNg www.chbe.umd.edu A newsletter for Alumni And friends of the depArtment of ChBe welcomes 3 New faculty ChemiCAl And BiomoleCulAr engineering At the A. JAmes ClArk sChool of engineering, university of mArylAnd. The Department of Chemical and Genetics at the University of California, Los Biomolecular Engineering is pleased to Angeles (UCLA), where he was involved with welcome its newest faculty members: Drs. metabolic investigations of glycerol kinase Jeffery Klauda, Ganesh Sriram, and deficiency, an inherited human disease. His Chunsheng Wang. All three have been primary research interests are in systems biology iN ThiS issue: appointed as assistant professors. Klauda and and metabolic engineering, including metabolic Wang joined the Clark School in Fall 2007, networks, regulatory networks, and fuel 2 ChAir’S MessagE while Sriram joined us in Spring 2008. production from biorenewable resources. 3 EDuCATiON Professor and Chair F. Joseph Schork Wang was previously an assistant NEwS is excited about the faculty’s growth. “These professor at the Center for Manufacturing 4 Faculty NEwS hires will allow the department to address Research, part of the some of the critical research areas in chemical Department of Chemical 6 ResearCh FeaturE and biomolecular engineering today: Engineering at Tennessee biomolecular engineering, nanotechnology, Technological University. He 7 STuDENT NEwS and energy.” received his Ph.D. in materials 9 ALuMNi NEwS Klauda received his Ph.D. in chemical science and engineering from engineering from the University of Delaware Zhejiang University, China, 11 Recent DissertatiONS in 2003. Before coming to Maryland, he in 1995. His research interests was an Intramural Research Training Award include energy conversion 12 Great ExpectatiONS (IRTA) Postdoctoral Fellow at the Laboratory for fuel cells; energy storage jeffeRy kLaUda of Computational Biology at the National systems such as rechargeable Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National batteries, supercapacitors Institutes of Health (NIH), where he studied and hydrogen storage; lipid forcefield improvements and dynamical sensors; electrochemistry; and behavior of membranes; transport of sugars nanostructured materials. Dr. through the cell membrane via proteins, and Wang is also a member of the enhanced sampling of beta-haripin protein University of Maryland Energy folding. His research interests include cell Research Center (UMERC), membrane biophysics, thermodynamics, and a multidisciplinary initiative gaNeSh SRiRaM molecular simulations. dedicated to advancing the Sriram received his Ph.D. in chemical frontiers of energy science and engineering from Iowa State University in technology, with a special focus 2004, then held a postdoctoral position on forward-looking approaches with the Departments of Chemical and for alternative energy Biomolecular Engineering and Human generation and storage. ChUNSheNg WANg chair’sMESSAGE Last year iN ThiS column, with new graduate oped an experiment i saiD That 2006-07 was A students, writing based on a fuel cell. in SigNiFiCANT YEAr for ThE proposals and teaching his short time here he DeparTMENT OF ChEMiCAL a course in statistics and has already secured and Biomolecular experimental design. outside funding for ENgiNEEriNg at ThE his research work, and uNivErSiTY OF MArYLAND. Dr. ganesh Sriram joined organized a workshop us in January after a on Soldier-Portable it was my first year here, and it postdoc at uCLA with Power Systems for the seemed like things were changing Professors james Liao and f. jOSeph SChORk Army research Office. so very fast. More likely, all years in katrina M. dipple. his Ph.D. the life of an academic department is in chemical engineering from iowa As i reported last year, we are very are significant. Certainly 2007-08 State, where he worked with Professor excited that T.k. “patrick” Sung was for ChBE. Things are still jacqueline V. Shanks. we successfully (M.S. ’69 and Ph.D. ’72, chemical changing fast, perhaps even faster competed with a number of other engineering) and his wife, Marguerite than last year. Or maybe i’m just universities in order to recruit him to (B.S. ’70, mathematics), have getting older! uMD. Their loss is our gain! his research pledged $1.5 million to the Clark work is in the area of metabolic School to establish two endowed i have gotten over the feeling of engineering. he is in the midst of professorships in chemical and walking in on the middle of the setting up his laboratory and working biomolecular engineering, “The Patrick movie. i have learned most of the with new graduate students now, and and Marguerite Sung Professorship procedures, and know who to will begin teaching next Fall. in Chemical Engineering” and contact and when. i have definitely “The Patrick and Marguerite Sung stopped saying, “well at georgia Dr. klauda, Dr. Sriram and i were hired Distinguished Professorship in Tech we…” My heartfelt thanks to to replace those of our colleagues Chemical Engineering.” The first will our faculty and staff for training me. who left for the newly-formed Fis- be fully funded in early 2009, and chell Department of Bioengineering. we will soon establish a committee So what is new this year in ChBE and Our last new faculty member came to to select who will hold the position. the Clark School of Engineering? us via another route. The university Current thinking is that the first 2 Dean Nariman farvardin is now and particularly The Clark School are Professorship will be awarded Provost Farvardin, and we are in establishing the university of Maryland internally, while the second will be the midst of a search for a new Energy research Center (uMErC). used for an outside hire. dean. while we all miss Nariman’s This center will build on existing incredible energy and vision, we are strengths at uMD in energy-related One of the things we are most proud glad he is able to put these gifts to fields, and position us to tackle the of is our recent track record in placing work for the university as a whole. problems facing the world as we seek our Ph.D.s in academic positions. Each Meanwhile, Professor herb Rabin new and cleaner sources of energy. year over the past nine years, at least is serving as interim dean for the At its founding, the Center had four one of our former Ph.D.s has entered second time in his career. openings for new faculty, two at the a tenure-track academic position. This senior level, and two at the junior level. is a remarkable achievement for a The big news in the Department A college-wide search committee has department of our size. is that we have hired three new been formed to fill these openings. i assistant professors. You can read am very happy to report that the first After a year and a half at uMD, about them in our cover story, but i hire for uMErC is our third new pro- i am even more excited about have to say more about them here fessor, Dr. Chunsheng wang. Dr. wang our prospects. we have a great because i am so very excited that received his Ph.D. in materials science department in a really great college. if we were able to recruit them. Dr. and engineering from Zhejiang uni- we can leverage the momentum of the jeffery klauda joined us in August versity, one of the foremost Chinese Clark School, we can be even better in after a postdoc at The National universities in science and engineer- the future. Please help in any way you institutes of health. his Ph.D. is in ing. he has a reputation for significant can or consider a donation to the Great chemical engineering with Professor contributions in the area of electro- expectations campaign (see p. 12). Stan Sandler at The university of chemical engineering, and specifically Delaware. we were able to convince in fuel cell and battery applications. i would love to hear from you. him to choose uMD over other he comes to us from a faculty position opportunities. his research work will at Tennessee Technological university focus on molecular and mesoscale in Cookeville, Tennessee. Since join- simulation as it relates to both cell ing the faculty in August, he has been busy setting up his research laboratory biophysics, and energy production Joe and storage. he is busy building and teaching the Chemical Engineer- his computational cluster, working ing Laboratory course, where he devel- COLUMNS spring 2008 educationNEWS ChBE Undergraduate Engineering Analysis) will be moved Processes CurriCuLuM ChANgES to the second semester, renumbered as III, currently CHBE101, and renamed Introduction offered in Kyu Yong Choi, Professor and Associate Chair, to Chemical and Biomolecular the first Undergraduate Program Engineering. semester) will be exchanged. The ChBE undergraduate curriculum will be • Sophomore Year: ENCH300 (Chemical A technical modernized and realigned beginning in Fall Process Thermodynamics) will be elective will 2009. The curriculum changes are motivated renumbered as CHBE301 and moved to KYU yONg ChOi the first semester. ENCH400 (Chemical be required in the by the significant movement of the chemical second semester. engineering profession into the realm of Engineering Thermodynamics) will be biological science and engineering. Chemical renumbered as CHBE302 and moved to • Senior Year: ENCH442 (Chemical the second semester. Course names will Engineering Systems Analysis) will be engineering has been traditionally based on change slightly. moved to the first semester. chemistry, physics, and mathematics, but biology is rapidly becoming a core science • Junior Year: CHEM482 (Physical A transition plan has been developed for Chemistry II) will be removed as a for the field. The new ChBE curriculum will moving to the new curriculum starting requirement and become a senior better prepare our students for the scientific in Fall 2009. Freshmen in Fall 2009 will elective.