Vanderbiltdepartment of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Department of Chemical and Vanderbilt Biomolecular Engineering contents programs of study Plasmonics and Nanophotonics: Rizia Bardhan Undergraduate Graduate 2 Chemical engineering is unique among the engineering disciplines Graduate work in chemical and biomolecular engineering provides in that it is based on the molecular sciences of chemistry and biology an opportunity for study and research at the cutting edge—to Computational Nanomaterials and Engineering: Peter Cummings 3 as well as physics, mathematics and computation. From its early contribute to shaping a new model of what chemical engineers do. foundation in petrochemical and bulk chemical processing, chemical All faculty members are active in research and direction of graduate Modeling and Control in Biosystems: Kenneth Debelak engineering has expanded to play key roles in the development student projects. The department’s research focus areas can be 4 and production of pharmaceuticals and biomaterials, specialty broadly defined as materials, bioengineering and energy, and are polymers and high strength composites, semiconductors and synchronized with institutional strengths and areas of national and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering: Scott Guelcher 5 microelectronic devices, fine chemicals and nanomaterials and so regional need. In their research endeavors, faculty pursue novel forth. Indeed, chemical engineering is essential for the operation of applications of chemical engineering principles, both in their own Molecular and Surface Engineering: Kane Jennings contemporary society. The solutions to many of the problems facing research and as part of interdisciplinary teams. Interdisciplinary 6 society today—energy, the environment, sustainable processes and research is important at Vanderbilt and can lead to “game-changing” Interfacial Science and Engineering: Paul Laibinis development of high-performance materials—will involve chemical new ideas and discoveries. Faculty collaborate outside the school with 7 engineers. Future opportunities in the field are very bright. faculty in the natural sciences and medicine, and through research initiatives such as the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science Molecular Biophysics: Matthew Lang 8 The Vanderbilt undergraduate program in chemical and and Engineering (VINSE), the Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative biomolecular engineering prepares students to contribute to these Bioengineering Research and Education (VIIBRE) and the Vanderbilt Novel Adsorbent Materials: Douglas LeVan critical technologies. It is the department’s mission to educate those Institute of Chemical Biology (VICB). 9 who will advance the knowledge base in chemical engineering, to conduct both basic and applied research in chemical engineering, Graduate students are provided with strong support throughout their Molecular Modeling: Clare McCabe 10 to become practicing chemical engineers and to be leaders in Ph.D. program and offered opportunities for professional development the chemical and process industries, academia and government. through future faculty programs, conferences and internships, as well Electrochemical Engineering: Peter Pintauro Graduates find meaningful careers in industry, in government as an active Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Association 11 laboratories and as private consultants. Some continue their (ChEGSA). Thesis research gives unparalleled experience in problem education through graduate studies in chemical engineering, solving, the key to challenging research assignments in industry and Material Durability: Bridget Rogers 12 medicine, business or law. admission to a global community of scholars. Metabolic Engineering: Jamey Young Contact Contact 13 Director of Undergraduate Studies Director of Graduate Recruiting Kenneth Debelak Kane Jennings Email: [email protected] 1 programs of study Email: [email protected] Phone: (615) 322-2088 Phone: (615) 322-2707 The Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 15 admissions offers courses of study leading to B.E., M.E., M.S. and PhD. degrees. Our program leading to the bachelor of engineering 16 financial aid degree is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Com- Contact mission of ABET, 111 Market Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, MD Director of Graduate Studies 18 faculty 21202-4012, phone (410) 347-7700. Clare McCabe Email: [email protected] Phone: (615) 322-6853 1 plasmonics and nanophotonics computational nanomaterials he research theme in our lab hinges nderstanding collective on the question: How does size Rizia BARDHAN Peter CUMMINGS phenomena is the ultimate reduction to the nanoscale alter Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering John R. Hall Professor of Chemical Engineering goal of our research group, material properties including pho- using a combination of Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering tonic, electronic, electrochemical The foundation of our research group is biomolecular analytes, for theranostics theory and computational and catalytic behavior? Understand- based on understanding the fundamentals that combines targeting, imaging and An enduring problem in science and connected set of unit operations be tools. For example, we ing these fundamental properties at of plasmonics and nanophotonics and therapy within a single nanoentity for engineering and the overriding focus of our optimized?) to cells (how does individual, perform computational the nanoscale has important technologi- applying these fundamental concepts disease detection and treatment, for research is: How does complex behavior of random cell motion, modulated by simulations of fluids and interfaces by tcal implications from chemical sensing to towards biomedical and energy plasmon-enhanced energy conversion a system composed of interacting entities chemotaxis, give rise to collective motion ucomputing the motions of the constituent energy conversion and storage to bio- applications. By combining colloidal processes including photoelectrochemistry emerge from the simpler dynamics of the at the population level?). The tools used in atoms and molecules. We also simulate medicine. Our research efforts are focused synthesis and nanofabrication, we design for water splitting into hydrogen, and individual entities and their interactions these disparate fields are those of statistical tumors by computing the motion and on interdisciplinary nanoscience, with optically active metal and metal-oxide CO2-to-fuel conversion and plasmon- with each other and their environment? mechanics and large-scale simulation. dynamics of individual cancer cells, their the convergence of multiple disciplines: nanostructures with unique photonic mediated heterogeneous catalysis. We The entities range from molecules (how We apply these tools to understanding interactions with each other and their engineering, material science, chemistry, characteristics driven by their geometry, also have active collaborations with do phase transitions and many-body nanoscale systems (nanowires, molecular environment. In order to do this, we use a physics and bioengineering. We combine dimensions and composition. We then other faculty members at Vanderbilt to thermodynamic and transport properties electronics devices, nanoconfined fluids), hierarchy of computational tools, from indi- both wet-chemistry and nanofabrication engineer assemblies of these metal and design and study phase transformations emerge from interactions?) to the energy-relevant interfaces and the ways in vidual workstations to local and national techniques to engineer plasmonic nano- metal-oxide nanostructures in functional in batteries and supercapacitors at the components of a chemical plant (how can which tumors form and metastasize to bone. parallel computing facilities and in some structures, utilize “smart” bioconjugation architectures for real-time biosensing in nanoscale. the plant-wide behavior of a complex, http://huggins.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/ptc cases, the largest computers in the world. techniques to design biologically active cellular media for detecting pathogens and https://my.vanderbilt.edu/bardhanlab We work closely with experimentalists, par- beacons and employ cutting-edge tools ticularly those that can perform molecular- such as molecular spectroscopy, ultrafast and atomic-level probes of structure and optics, electrochemistry and super-resolu- dynamics at the nanoscale, using methods tion imaging to characterize the nanostruc- such as X-ray scattering and neutron scat- tures. The ultimate goal of our research tering techniques. The computational tools program is to utilize these materials to we develop and apply in our laboratory will solve important global challenges—energy evolve into the design tools for new tech- and sustainability and human health. nologies in the future, such as next-gener- ation batteries and energy storage devices. Our group consists of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, with each student typically paired with a postdoctoral researcher to work on a specific project. 2 3 modeling and control in biosystems biomaterials and tissue engineering n the Vanderbilt Biomaterials and Kenneth DEBELAK Scott GUELCHER Tissue Engineering Laboratory, we are Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering exploring two main areas of research: Director of Undergraduate Studies Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering scaffolds and drug delivery systems for tissue regeneration

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