Curricula Vitae in Chemical Engineering

Name	Personal Focus	Summary
Dr. Oleg S Alexeev Research Professor	Surface chemistry and catalysis, Reaction kinetics, Organometallic surface chemistry, New catalytic materials, Catalysis by supported metals	Our research goals are focused on fundamental understanding of the structure of the metal-support interface, structures of metal clusters on supports, and the influence of promoters on the structure and catalytic properties of supported metal clusters and aggregates. The objectives of our research program are pursued through an application of a combination of various experimental methods to the characterization of catalytic materials.
Dr. Salai Cheettu Ammal Research Associate Professor	Heterogeneous Catalysis at Metal-Oxide Interfaces, Electrocatalysis in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells	Research areas: Computational catalysis – Rational (nano)material design – Interface Catalysis – Electrocatalysis- Multiscale modeling  Heterogeneous catalysis at metal-oxide interface relevant to energy conversion and chemical production.  Multiscale modeling of anode reactions in solid oxide fuel cells ranging from industrial catalysts to novel perovskite materials.
Dr. James Blanchette Instructor	Delivery of bioactive agents from living delivery systems, Cell encapsulation, Islet encapsulation	The Blanchette Lab's research efforts are focused on developing novel systems for drug delivery and tissue engineering through rational design of biomaterials, genetic engineering and analysis of cell signaling pathways. One area of particular focus is the study of cell encapsulation.
Dr. Nicholas Dale Boltin Instructor	developing decision support systems for the healthcare industry, glean information from data utilizing analytical techniques, design and evaluate translational informatic tools created to deploy sophisticated algorithms	Dr. Boltin is an Academic Instructor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of South Carolina since 2018. He earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of South Carolina in 2018 and his BS in Engineering from Appalachian State University in 2005.
Dr. Paul T Coman Research Associate Professor	Development of mathematical modeling for improving the performance and safety in Li-ion batteries	Paul Coman is a Research Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing. His research includes: Development of mathematical modeling for improving the performance and safety in Li-ion batteries.
Dr. Armin Dieter Ebner Research Professor	Development and understanding of complex hydrides for hydrogen storage, The development of new process designs (i.e., PSA and TSA) for gas seperation processes	Armin Ebner is Research Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Ebner's major research interest is the application of magnetic fields to the separation, collection and/or manipulation of magnetic particles from a fluid medium, with particular emphasis in the use of high gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) principles.
Dr. Edward P Gatzke Associate Professor	deterministic global optimization methods	Professor Gatzke's research interests are in the area of process modeling, control, and optimization. Ongoing research efforts include parallel programming efforts for mixed-integer optimization, including parallel nonconvex nonseparable mixed-integer outer approximation and parallel nonconvex branch-and-reduce methods. Application areas of interest include particulate processing, bio-processes, and large scale systems.
Professor R. Michael Gower Associate Professor	understanding the immune system to develop bio-instructive materials that stimulate immune response	Our research focuses on understanding the immune system in order to develop bio-instructive materials that stimulate specific immune responses. We aim to control immune cell migration to synthetic microenvironments that are engineered to program and expand regulatory immune cells as a therapeutic tool for inflammatory disease. We employ these technologies in animal disease models with the long-term goal of developing translational therapies for atherosclerosis, diabetes, and cancer.
Silke Henrich Instructor	Biomedical Engineering	Silke Henrich is an Undergraduate Director, Biomedical Engineering and Lab Director/ Instructor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing.
Andreas Heyden Professor	Computational Catalysis , Renewable energy production, Multiscale Modeling	Our primary research interests are in the areas of nanomaterial science and heterogeneous catalysis. Our goal is to use computer simulations to obtain a deeper - molecular - understanding of key issues in these areas, such as the self-assembly process in catalyst synthesis, the structure of small metal clusters on high-surface-area supports, and the structure-performance relationship of single-site heterogeneous catalysts.
Dr. Esmaiel Jabbari Professor	Tissue Engineering, Biomaterials, Drug Delivery	Jabbari's group research interests are in the areas of tissue engineering, biomaterials, and drug delivery. Tissue regeneration and maintenance is a complex process involving the interactions of cells with growth and differentiation factors, cytokines, and extracellular components. These guiding signals originate from the interactions of cells with bioactive peptide domains attached to the collagenous network or the non-collagenous soluble factors of the extracellular matrix.
Dr. Ehsan Jabbarzadeh Professor	Tissue engineering, Stem cells, Drug Discovery	The overarching theme of our research is the robust design and engineering of tissues through understanding and modeling of the environmental effects on stem cell differentiation and tissue remodeling and development. We are engineering microenvironments based on carbon nanotube arrays with finely controllable biophysical and biochemical properties for the investigation of molecular mechanisms associated with cell migration, proliferation and differentiation.
Dr. Golareh Jalilvand Assistant Professor	materials development and structural design for a broad range of applications, established the advance lithium-based batteries research in the Chemical Engineering department, works on high performance Sulfur cathode, novel separator materials and structures	Dr. Golareh Jalilvand is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of South Carolina (UofSC). Prior to joining the UofSC, she received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology and the University of Central Florida (UCF), respectively.
Dr. Jochen Lauterbach Professor	Catalysis, high-throughput screening, NOx abatement, CO2 and CH4 utilization, Synthesis of nanomaterials	Dr. Lauterbach is working in a variety of research areas related to heterogeneous catalysis, including NOx abatement via SCR and storage/reduction technology, direct epoxidation of ethylene and propylene, ammonia decomposition for hydrogen storage and generation, Fischer-Tropsch chemistry, CO2 reforming with methane, and CO2 hydrogenation. He also combines high-throughput data generation with discovery and knowledge extraction via machine learning.
Professor Chang Liu Associate Professor	Biosensing, Biomarker, in vitro Diagnostics	Dr. Chang Liu’s research focuses on applying nanotechnology on the development of biosensors for disease diagnosis and treatment evaluation. Prior to this appointment, he served as a Research Scientist at the Biodesign Institute of Arizona State University. Dr. Liu completed his Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Nanomedicine at the Research Institute of Houston Methodist Hospital. He received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Florida International University.
Dr. Michael Anthony Matthews Professor	Abatement of indoor allergens, Hydrogen storage for fuel cells, Professional development for graduate students	Dr. Matthews' expertise is in using novel supercritical carbon dioxide methods for deactivationg allergenic proteins, as well as sterilizing and disinfecting invasive medical instruments, biomaterials and tissue engineering scaffolds. We have been funded by NIH to develop technology for cold sterilization as well as abatement of indoor allergens. A separate area of expertise is in developing chemical hydride technology for storage and delivery of hydrogen to fuel cells.
Dr. Benjamin Highsmith Meekins Research Assistant Professor	Solar Fuels, Electrocatalysis, Fundamental Catalytic Processes	My work focuses on photo- and electrocatalysis for the generation of clean fuels. This includes photocatalytic splitting of water to hydrogen and oxygen as well as electrochemical conversion of sulfur dioxide to sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid to chlorine, each paired with formation of hydrogen gas. This work seeks to both understand the fundamental processes that govern the catalysis as well as use that information to maximize efficiency in application-based settings.
Dr. Melissa A. Moss Department Chair/Professor	protein aggregation, kinetics of protein aggregation, inhibition of protein aggregation, effect of protein aggregates on neuronal and vascular cells, blood-brain barrier function	Professor Moss's research focuses on the problem of Alzheimer's disease.
William Mustain Professor	Energy Conversion and Storage, Electrochemistry, Chemical Engineering	Prof. Mustain is an expert in electrochemical catalysis, energy conversion and storage. He has experience with many research and commercial platforms related to fuel cells, electrolyzers, Li-ion batteries, as well as primary and secondary alkaline batteries. He also leads research projects on CO2 capture and electrochemical synthesis of fuels.
Zhenmeng Peng Professor	Active, Cost-Effective and Stable Fuel Cell Catalysts, New Catalysts for C1-Chemicals Conversion, Facile Preparation of Advanced Catalysts	Zhenmeng Peng is a Professor, Chemical Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing.
Dr. Branko Popov Professor	Power Sources, Corrosion and Protection, Electrodeposition	Dr. Branko Popov directs the USC Center for Electrochemical Engineering. His current research focuses on new cathode materials for PEM Fuel Cells (SOFC MCFC) cathode and anode materials for primary and secondary batteries, capacitors, and development of performance models for batteries, capacitors, and fuel cells which are capable to predict the performance and the capacity fade for lithium ion batteries corrosion and corrosion protection.
John Regalbuto Professor	Catalyst Preperation and Characterization, Adsorption Theory, Reaction Kinetics	John Regalbuto is Professor and CoEE Endowed Chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Regaluto's research focuses on the study of the preperation of solid catalysts.
Dr. James Anthony Ritter Professor	Chemical Engineering	Professor Ritter has a broad research program in the areas of separation processes, materials science and energy storage. His research team is carrying out several projects funded by both government and private sources.
Monirosadat Sadati Assistant Professor	Complex Fluids, Anisotropic Soft Materials, Liquid Crystals	My expertise in molecular engineering, polymer physics, rheology, and scattering techniques, as well as microfluidic and liquid crystals have prepared me to pursue a bottom-up approach to study the structure, dynamics, and self-assembly of soft materials, with an emphasis on anisotropic components to engineer responsive materials with unique architectural features designed for actuation, energy transfer, controlled cargo transport, and biosensing applications.
Dr. Sirivatch Shimpalee Research Professor	Fuel Cells, Renewable Energy, Computational Fluid Dynamics	The primary goal of Dr. Shimpalee's research is to use the expertise in fluid mechanic, heat and mass transfer, and electrochemistry to design and develop engineering applications especially in the areas of renewable energy. His current research is in the area of numerical analyses of electrochemical energy focusing on fuel cells and energy storage to understand the physics inside their complex system particularly in the transport phenomena.
Nader Taheri-Qazvini Assistant Professor	Polymer Science and Engineering, Soft Matter, Nanocomposites	My research focuses on the rational design, synthesis, and structure-property relation of soft materials for healthcare and biomedical applications. Specifically, my lab is interested in harnessing charge driven self-assembly between macromolecules and two-dimensional nanomaterials for designing hybrid soft materials. This covers a broad class of systems in several fields, with problems including biofabrication, biosensing, environmental remediation, and cellular motions.
Dr. John Meynard Macasero Tengco Research Assistant Professor		Dr. John Meynard Macasero Tengco is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering & Comp.
Dr. Mark Uline Associate Professor	Molecular modeling of biological interfaces, Bubble and droplet nucleation theory, Molecular dynamics simulations in the isothermal-isobaric ensemble	The Uline research group is working toward the fundamental understanding of how the complex interactions at interfaces couple together to give the rich phenomena observed in various chemical and biological systems. Currently, we are focused on molecular modeling of biological interfaces, in particular, phase transitions and binding in lipid bilayers and surfactant driven nematic ordering transitions in liquid-crystal thin films.
Dr. Ralph Edward White Professor	Electrochemical Systems, Mathematical Modeling, Corrosion & Electrodeposition	Dr. White and members of his research group are working on projects in the areas of fuel cells, batteries, electro-deposition, corrosion, and numerical methods. Their work on numerical methods consists of developing efficient algorithms to solve the equations that represent the phenomena that occur in electrochemical and chemical systems.
Dr. Christopher T Williams Professor	Catalysis, Surfaces, Spectroscopy, Nanomaterials, Adsorption	We currently have research interests covering a wide range of important catalytic reactions. These include enantioselective hydrogenation of alpha-ketoesters and alkenoic acids, hydrodesulfurization of refractory sulfur-containing aromatics, selective hydrogenation of functionalized olefins (e.g., butadiene epoxide), and selective oxidation of alcohols, including especially glycerol, which is the major byproduct in biodiesel production.
Dr. wenqiang yang Research Assistant Professor