Our research efforts span everything from energy to the environment, from human health to materials and manufacturing
Our faculty bring leading edge research, development and design experience into the classroom and into our labs. We educate our students to address complex challenges so they can discover solutions that transform industries, benefit society and improve quality of life.
Transforming properties
We explore the fundamentals of changing a material’s chemistry to improve its properties. Faculty investigate how external stimuli – for example, temperature, pH or moisture – can affect a material’s performance. This understanding is vital to the development of innovative materials, biomedical applications and more.
- Alireza Asiaee – Properties at extreme conditions
- Alexander Lopez – Selective membrane separations
- Sasan Nouranian – Nano-engineered multifunctional materials
- Brenda Prager – Hydrophobicity and thermal-barrier properties
- Adam Smith – Stimuli-responsive polymers
Advanced materials
We look for ways to make materials better. Better could mean cheaper, faster, more efficient, more environmentally sustainable. Innovative nanomaterials, advanced composites and computational modeling are just a few of the ways we try to achieve this.
- Alireza Asiaee – Heterogeneous catalysis
- Alexander Lopez – Ionic liquid-based composites
- Sasan Nouranian – Polymer nanocomposites
- Brenda Prager – Surfaces and interfaces
- Adam Smith – Polymer nanocomposites
- Byron Villacorta – Composites and renewable materials
Biomaterials and drug delivery
We are designing materials that integrate with living tissues to be able to diagnose, treat, replace or augment biological function. We are also looking at ways to improve the performance of pharmaceutics by targeting their therapeutic effects and limiting any toxic side effects.
For instance, we’re developing medical implants that release drugs in a controlled fashion. This helps ensure consistent and properly timed doses.
- Adam Smith – Polymeric drug and gene delivery
High speed aeroacoustics
We investigate how turbulence interacts with fluid media and its boundaries. Our faculty have projects studying jet noise reduction, high-speed two-phase flows and shockwave boundary-layer interactions.
- Nathan Murray – Aeroacoustics
State-of-the-art instrumentation
Our faculty and students have access to a variety of tools for their research efforts:
- Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation to detect changes in mass at the molecular level, registering miniscule deviations in frequencies and energy loss.
More info and booking - Attension Theta Contact Angle Analyzer to identify the surface properties of materials
- Light scattering spectrometers to measure how light scattering from nanoparticles changes in response to variable material and solution properties