Faisal Alamgir

Faisal Alamgir

Faisal Alamgir

Professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering
Initiative Lead, Advanced Real-time Materials Characterization

faisal.alamgir@mse.gatech.edu

404.385.3263

Office Location:
Love 373

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Research Focus Areas:
  • Delivery & Storage
  • Fuels & Chemical Processing
  • Hydrogen Production
  • Hydrogen Utilization
  • Materials for Energy
Additional Research:
Energy Conversion, energy storage, nanomaterials, optical materials, photovoltaics, catalysis, electrical grid, energy storage

IRI Connections:

Fani Boukouvala

Fani Boukouvala

Fani Boukouvala

Assistant Professor

Dr. Boukouvala is originally from Piraeus, which is the port of Athens in Greece. As the daughter of an airforce pilot, she travelled a lot with her family. Her first international move was actually to the USA, where she spent one year in Montgomery, Alabama. She later on lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Crete, Greece, before returning to Athens to get her B.S Degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University in Athens. In 2008, she moved back to the US to obtain a PhD in Chemical Engineering at Rutgers University in NJ. She then worked as a Postdoctoral Associate in both Princeton University and Texas A&M University. In August 2016, Dr. Boukouvala returned to the South East US, as an Assistant Professor in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. 

Her research interest in Process Systems Engineering (PSE) started during her PhD years, where she worked under the supervision of Dr. Marianthi Ierapetritou, on modeling and optimization of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing. Her background on optimization and data-driven modeling was enhanced during her years as a postdoc with the late Christodoulos A. Floudas. Dr. Boukouvala is a proud 4th generation member of the academic family tree of the father of PSE, Roger Sargent.

fani.boukouvala@chbe.gatech.edu

(404) 385-5371

Website

University, College, and School/Department
Research Focus Areas:
  • Biobased Materials
  • Biochemicals
  • Biorefining
  • Biotechnology
  • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
  • Sustainable Manufacturing
  • Use & Conservation
Additional Research:
System Design & Optimization; Energy; Sustainability

IRI Connections:

Andreas Bommarius

Andreas Bommarius

Andreas Bommarius

Professor
RBI Initiative Lead: A Renewables-based Economy from WOOD (ReWOOD)

Andreas (Andy) S. Bommarius is a professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering as well of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA.  He received his diploma in Chemistry in 1984 at the Technical University of Munich, Germany and his Chemical Engineering B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1982 and 1989 at MIT, Cambridge, MA.

From 1990-2000, he led the Laboratory of Enzyme Catalysis at Degussa (now Evonik) in Wolfgang, Germany, where his work ranged from immobilizing homogenous catalysts in membrane reactors to large-scale cofactor-regenerated redox reactions to pharma intermediates.

At Georgia Tech since 2000, his research interests cover green chemistry and biomolecular engineering, specifically biocatalyst development and protein stability studies.  His lab applies data-driven protein engineering to improve protein properties on catalysts ranging from ene and nitro reductases to cellobiohydrolases.  Bommarius has guided the repositioning of the curriculum towards Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering by developing new courses in Process Design, Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering, as well as Drug Design, Development, and Delivery (D4), an interdisciplinary course with Mark Prausnitz.

Andy Bommarius in 2008 became a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.  Since 2010, he is Director of the NSF-I/UCR Center for Pharmaceutical Development (CPD), a Center focusing on process development, drug substance and product stability, and novel analytical methods for the characterization of drug substances and excipients.

andreas.bommarius@chbe.gatech.edu

404-385-1334

Office Location:
EBB 5018

Website

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Biobased Materials
    • Biochemicals
    • Biorefining
    • Biotechnology
    • Drug Design, Development and Delivery
    • Molecular Evolution
    • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
    • Renewable Energy
    • Sustainable Manufacturing
    Additional Research:
    Biomolecular engineering, especially biocatalysis, biotransformations, and biocatalyst stability. Biofuels. Enzymatic Processing; Biochemicals; Chip Activation.

    IRI Connections:

    Cyrus Aidun

    Cyrus Aidun

    Cyrus Aidun

    Professor

    Dr. Aidun joined the Woodruff School as a Professor in 2003 after completion of a two-year period as program director at the National Science Foundation. He began at Tech in 1988 as an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology. Prior, he was a research Scientist at Battelle Research Laboratories, Postdoctoral Associate at Cornell University and Senior Research Consultant at the National Science Foundation's Supercomputer Center at Cornell. 

    Dr. Aidun's research is at the intersection between fundamentals of the physics of complex fluids/thermal transport and applications to engineering and biotransport. He has a diverse research portfolio in fluid mechanics, bioengineering, renewable bioproducts and decarbonization of industrial processes. 

    A major focus has been to understand the physics of blood cell transport and interaction with glycoproteins (e.g., vWF) with applications to cardiovascular diseases.

    cyrus.aidun@me.gatech.edu

    404-894-6645

    Office Location:
    Love Building, Room 320

    Website

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Biobased Materials
    • Biochemicals
    • Biorefining
    • Biotechnology
    • Conventional Energy
    • Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Biomechanics
    • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
    • Sustainable Manufacturing
    Additional Research:
    Computational analysis of cellular blood flow in the cardiovascular system with applications to platelet margination, thrombus formation, and platelet activation in artificial heart valves. Thermal Systems. Chemical Recovery; Papermaking.

    IRI Connections:

    Blair Brettmann

    Blair Brettmann

    Blair Brettmann

    Assistant Professor, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Material Science and Engineering
    RBI Co-Lead: Interface of polymer science and wood-based materials

    Blair Brettmann received her B.S. in chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in 2007. She received her Master’s in chemical engineering practice from MIT in 2009 following internships at GlaxoSmithKline (Upper Merion, PA) and Mawana Sugar Works (Mawana, India). Blair received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering at MIT in 2012 working with the Novartis-MIT Center for Continuous Manufacturing under Professor Bernhardt Trout. Her research focused on solid-state characterization and application of pharmaceutical formulations prepared by electrospinning. Following her Ph.D., Brettmann worked as a research engineer for Saint-Gobain Ceramics and Plastics for two years. While at Saint-Gobain she worked on polymer-based wet coatings and dispersions for various applications, including window films, glass fiber mats and architectural fabrics. Later, Brettmann served as a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago with Professor Matthew Tirrell. Currently, Brettmann is an assistant professor with joint appointments in chemical and biomolecular engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech.

    blair.brettmann@mse.gatech.edu

    404.894.2535

    Office Location:
    MoSE 31100P

    Website

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Biobased Materials
    • Biochemicals
    • Biomaterials
    • Biorefining
    • Biotechnology
    • Drug Design, Development and Delivery
    • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
    • Sustainable Manufacturing
    Additional Research:

    Pharmaceuticals, polymer and fiber, printing technologies, polymers, nanocellulose applications, new materials, wet-end chemistry, manufacturing, biotechnology, cellulosic nanomaterials, chemistry, biomaterials, aerogels and hydrogels, coating, coatings and barriers, films and coatings


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    Saad Bhamla

    Saad Bhamla

    Saad Bhamla

    Assistant Professor

    Saad Bhamla studies biomechanics across species to engineer knowledge and tools that inspire curiosity.

    Saad Bhamla is an assistant professor of biomolecular engineering at Georgia Tech. A self-proclaimed "tinkerer," his lab is a trove of discoveries and inventions that span biology, physics and engineering. His current projects include studying the hydrodynamics of insect urine, worm blob locomotion and ultra-low-cost devices for global health. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Economist, CNN, Wired, NPR, the Wall Street Journal and more.

    Saad is a prolific inventor and his most notable inventions includes a 20-cent paper centrifuge, a 23-cent electroporator, and the 96-cent hearing aid. Saad's work is recognised by numerous awards including a NIH R35 Outstanding Investigator Award, NSF CAREER Award, CTL/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, and INDEX: Design to Improve Life Award. Saad is also a National Geographic Explorer and a TED speaker. Newsweek recognized Saad as 1 of 10 Innovators disrupting healthcare.

    Saad is a co-founder of Piezo Therapeutics.

    Outside of the lab, Saad loves to go hiking with his partner and two dogs (Ollie and Bella).

    saadb@chbe.gatech.edu

    404-894-2856

    Office Location:
    ES&T L1224

    Website

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Biobased Materials
    • Biochemicals
    • Biomaterials
    • Biorefining
    • Biotechnology
    • Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Biomechanics
    • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
    • Sustainable Manufacturing
    Additional Research:

    Biotechnology; Complex Systems; Materials and Nanotechnology. The Bhamla Lab explores fundamental and applied research questions through the development of new experimental tools and techniques at the intersection of soft matter, organismic physics and global health. Ultra-fast Organismic Physics Biologists are just starting to systematically examine ultrafast motion across species (jellyfish, mantis shrimp, trap-jaw ants), some of which achieve accelerations exceeding a million g-forces in nanoseconds. At the single-cell level, the physical biology of ultra-fast motility remains poorly understood. What is the fastest motion a single cell can achieve? How do single-cell organisms amplify power and survive repeated high accelerations? These fundamental questions guide our exploration of several non-model unicellular and multicellular organisms to uncover the principles of extreme motility at cellular scales. Biological Soft Matter Our bodies are composed almost entirely of soft, wet, squishy materials. How do the fundamental principles of soft matter and complex fluids enable us to grasp dynamic processes, from the self-assembly of proteins to the stretching of a spider web? We study a spectrum of biological soft matter, from the tears on our eyes to biological foams from insects, with the goal of connecting the microscale structures (lipids, proteins) to their consequences for macroscale biological function (contact lens-eye interaction, microbiome health). As engineers, we leverage this understanding for human-health applications, ranging from diagnostics and monitoring to artificial therapeutic replacements and biomedical devices. Frugal Science and GlobalHealth Today, although information is free to anyone with internet, access to scientific tools and healthcare devices still has many barriers. How do we design and build tools that are scientifically rigorous, but cost a few cents on the dollar? Driven by the spirit of doing “frugal science”, we box ourselves in to find out of the box solutions for global challenges in science education, agriculture, and healthcare. Projects in this area include field-work, science outreach, and citizen-science initiatives. Disciplines: Biotechnology Complex Systems Materials and Nanotechnology


    IRI Connections:

    Stefan France

    Stefan France

    Stefan France

    Associate Professor

    Stefan France is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Professor France earned his B.S. in Chemistry (2000) from Duke University and a M.A. (2003) and Ph.D. (2005) in Organic Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University. His research group focuses on experimental methodology development, natural product synthesis, and medicinal chemistry. Owing to Prof. France's avid interest in undergraduate research, his research group has mentored and trained more than 60 undergraduates (both Georgia Tech and non-Georgia Tech students). Professor France has been the recipient of several awards for his research, mentorship, and teaching including: the 2018 Georgia Tech-Georgia Power Professor of Excellence; the 2015 Georgia Tech Senior Faculty Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor Award; the 2014 Georgia Tech Faculty Award for Academic Outreach; the 2014 Georgia Tech Hesberg Teaching Award; the 2013 Georgia Tech Sigma Xi Young Faculty Award; the 2012 National Organization for the Professional Advancement for Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) Lloyd N. Ferguson Young Scientist Award; and the 2011 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. He heads the Chemistry FAST Program, a NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site, and also serves as Chair of the NSF Chemistry REU Leadership Group.

    stefan.france@chemistry.gatech.edu

    404-385-1796

    Office Location:
    MoSE 2100K

    Website

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Cancer Biology
    • Drug Design, Development and Delivery
    Additional Research:
    Our group is interested in the design of efficient methodologies to accomplish the formation of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds with the intent to apply the methodology toward the synthesis of complex natural and unnatural targets. Natural Product Synthesis. Approaches to natural products not only inspire the development of new synthetic strategies, but often unveil unexpected and often interesting reactivity. Targets are chosen for their interesting biological activity along with their sheer complexity. We are interested in exploring both modular and convergent approaches to complex targets that enable facile derivatization for the development of combinatorial libraries. Medicinal Chemistry. Medicinal or pharmaceutical chemistry lies at the intersection of chemistry and pharmacy. Our group is interested in the design, synthesis and development of pharmaceutical drugs, or other chemical entities suitable for therapeutic use. We are further interested in the study of their biological properties and their quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR). Given that medicinal chemistry is a highly interdisciplinary science, we aim to establish several collaborations with biologists, biochemists, and computational chemists to facilitate the design and development process. In particular, we aim to develop therapeutics toward the treatment of various forms of cancer, HIV, diabetes, and neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

    IRI Connections:

    Yongsheng Chen

    Yongsheng Chen

    Yongsheng Chen

    Bonnie W. and Charles W. Moorman IV Professor

    Dr. Chen has an extensive research interests in environmental science and engineering. More specifically, he is a leading researcher in the environmental applications of nanomaterials and their potential fate, transport, transformation, bioaccumulation and toxicity in the environment. His interests in environmental nanomaterials dated back in his graduate research in 1992. He has also been active on algae based bio-renewable energy and sustainable urban development. Dr. Chen has been principle and co-principal investigators for 28 research projects (by June 2010) funded by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, Boeing and other organizations. The total funds are $7 million. He has also served as a review member or panel review member in the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy evaluation committee. He has also been invited to serve as an abroad review expert for the China Changjiang Scholars Program (which is to awarded to the top researchers in China). He has published more than 40 papers and two book chapters in this field.

    Dr. Chen received his Ph.D in Nankai University, China. He joined the Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering in May 2009. Till then, he was an Associate Professor Research at the Arizona State University.

    yongsheng.chen@ce.gatech.edu

    (404) 894-3089

    Office Location:
    Daniel Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Room 206

    Website

  • Civil Engineering Profile
  • University, College, and School/Department
    Research Focus Areas:
    • Clean Water
    • FEWS
    • Fuels & Chemical Processing
    • Hydrogen Production
    Additional Research:

    Biofuels; Separations Technology; Water


    IRI Connections:

    Victor Breedveld

    Victor Breedveld

    Victor Breedveld

    Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies
    Professor and Frank Dennis Faculty Fellow

    victor.breedveld@chbe.gatech.edu

    404.894.5134

    Office Location:
    Ford Environmental Science & Technology Building, Room 1222

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Biobased Materials
    • Bioengineering
    • Biomaterials
    • Biorefining
    • Biotechnology
    • Energy
    Additional Research:
    Biofuels; Papermaking, Coatings & Barriers; Films & Coatings; Biomaterials; Structure and Reheology of Complex fluids; Rheology of Bioengineering Materials

    IRI Connections:

    Andrew Medford

    Andrew Medford

    Andrew Medford

    Assistant Professor

    Dr. Medford is interested in leveraging materials informatics, statistics, and machine learning to maximize the practical impact of fundamental atomic-scale simulations in the field of surface science and catalysis. His research areas include heterogeneous catalysis, oxide surface chemistry, density functional theory, kinetic models, uncertainty quantification, and Bayesian optimization and inference.

    andrew.medford@chbe.gatech.edu

    (404) 385-5531

    Website

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Biobased Materials
    • Biochemicals
    • Biorefining
    • Biotechnology
    • Fuels & Chemical Processing
    • Hydrogen Production
    • Hydrogen Utilization
    • Materials & Manufacturing
    • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
    • Sustainable Manufacturing
    Additional Research:
    Catalysis, Biochemicals, Biorefining, Chemistry, Sugars, Molecular Simulations, Computational Biology

    IRI Connections: