Seminars

The Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering spring 2024 seminars, sponsored by the Chevron Corporation, will take place on Thursdays in Duncan 1055 (McMurtry Auditorium) at 2:30pm except on holidays, during university breaks, or as otherwise noted.

Spring 2024 Seminars Sponsored by The Chevron Corporation

January 11, 2024
Youngmin Lee, PhD
New Mexico Tech
Room: Duncan Hall 1055
Seminar Title: Understanding the Effect of the Side Reaction on Thermoreversible Diels-Alder Networks

January 18, 2024
Xiao Su, PhD
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Room: Duncan Hall 1055
Seminar Title: Redox-Mediated Electrochemical Separations: from Fundamentals to Applications

January 25, 2024
Xiaodan Gu, PhD
University of Southern Mississippi
Room: Duncan Hall 1055
Seminar Title: Enabling Rational Design of Soft Stretchable Polymer for Wearable Applications

February 1, 2024
Jaewoon Nam, PhD
Seoul National University
Room: Duncan Hall 1055
Seminar Title: Rheological Insights and Coating Challenges in Battery Electrode Manufacturing

February 15, 2024
Aisulu Aitbekova, PhD
California Institute of Technology
Room: Duncan Hall 1055
Seminar Title: Converting CO₂, Water, and Sunlight into Liquid Fuels

February 29, 2024
Bradley Biggs, PhD
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Room: Duncan Hall 1055
Seminar Title: Recovering Waste through Biomanufacturing for Sustainable Chemical Synthesis

March 7, 2024
Zhifei Yan, PhD
Harvard University
Room: Duncan Hall 1055
Seminar Title: Ion Management and Electron Transfer in Electrochemical Energy Storage

March 21, 2024
Everett Zofchak, PhD
The University of Texas at Austin
Room: Duncan Hall 1055
Seminar Title: Factors Underlying Ion Partitioning and Diffusivity in Uncharged Polymer Membranes

April 4, 2024
Wyatt Shields IV, PhD
University of Colorado - Boulder
Room: Herzstein 212
Seminar Title: Active and Responsive Microparticles for Biomedicine

April 11, 2024
Alfred Spormann, PhD
Stanford University
Room: Duncan Hall 1055
Seminar Title: Conversion of Intermittent Electricity by Microbial Electromethnaogenesis

April 18, 2024
William Tarpeh, PhD
Stanford University
Room: Duncan Hall 1055
Seminar Title: Electrochemical Wastewater Refining: Reactive Separations to Convert Pollutants into Products

April 25, 2024
The Leland Lecture
Pablo Debenedetti, PhD
Princeton University
Lecture: Herzstein Hall Amphitheater, 5:00 - 6:00pm
Reception: O'Connor 5th Floor Event Area, 6:00 - 7:00pm
Lecture Title: A Computational Perspective on Cold Water

Past Seminars

Fall 2023

August 24, 2:30PM
Yushan Yan, PhD
The University of Delaware
Room: Dell Butcher Hall 180
Seminar Title: Electrochemical Engineering for Energy Transition: Green Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and Carbon Capture

August 31, 2:30PM
Srini Siripurapu, PhD
Prysmian Group
Room: Dell Butcher Hall 180
Seminar Title: Innovation and Sustainability as Intertwined Forces to Accelerate Net Zero Goals

September 7, 2:30PM
Bamin Khomami, PhD
The University of Tennessee
Room: Dell Butcher Hall 180
Seminar Title: Atomistic Simulation of Elongational Flow-Induced Phenomena in Entangled Polymeric Fluids

September 21, 2:30PM
Marwa Al-Ansary, PhD
Shell
Room: Dell Butcher Hall 180
Seminar Title: Shell's Next Generation Breakthrough Research

September 28, 2:30PM
Bob Maughon, PhD
SABIC, Inc.
Room: Dell Butcher Hall 180
Seminar Title: A Rapidly Transforming Chemical Industry: How Embracing Innovation, Risk, and Collaboration will be Essential to Thrive and Deliver on a Sustainable Future

October 5, 2:30PM
Adrianne Rosales, PhD
The University of Texas at Austin
Room: Dell Butcher Hall 180
Seminar Title: Multiscale Control of Dynamic Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications

October 12, 2:30PM
Peter Green, PhD
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Room: Dell Butcher Hall 180
Seminar Title: A Future Clean Energy System: Challenges and Opportunities

October 19, 2:30PM
Barry Thompson, PhD
University of Southern California
Room: Dell Butcher Hall 180
Seminar Title: Approaches to Mechanically Robust and Sustainable Polymers for Organic Solar Cells

October 26, 2:30PM
Rakesh Agrawal, PhD
Purdue University
Room: Dell Butcher Hall 180
Seminar Title: Challenges and Opportunities for Chemical Engineering

November 2, 2:30PM
Eric McFarland, PhD
University of California, Santa Barbara
Room: Dell Butcher Hall 180
Seminar Title: Affordable "Green-ish" Production of Hydrogen from Methane

November 30, 2:30PM
Riki Kobayashi Fellowship Presentation
Speaker Thiago Jose Pinheiro dos Santos
Rice University
Room: Dell Butcher Hall 180
Seminar Title: Molecular Insights into NMR relaxation for Medical and Biomolecular Applications

Spring 2023

January 19, 2:30PM
Matthew W. Kanan, PhD
Stanford University
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Finding a Path to CO₂ Conversion on a Scale that Matters

February 2, 2:30PM
Jason Adams, PhD
The California Institute of Technology
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Organic Species, Alloys and Support Identity Control the Transformation of H₁, O₂, and H₂O over Metal Nanoparticles

February 9, 2:30PM
Matthew McDonald, PhD
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Crystalization for Process Intensification: an Enzymatic Case Study

February 16, 2:30PM
Kent Jingxu Zheng
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Engineering Mesoscale Order in Crystaline Materials for Sustainability

February 23, 2:30PM
Stavroula-Alina Kampouri
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Leveraging the Unique Properties of MOFs for Light-Driven Catalytic Applications

March 9, 2:30PM
Max Joshua Huelsey
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Controlling the Local Reaction Environment to Drive Catalysis

March 23, 6:00 - 8:00PM
The Chevron Lecture
Jose Santiesteban
Lecture: 6:00pm, Keck 100
Reception: 7:00pm, Sid Commons
Seminar Title: New Directions for Chemical Engineering

March 30, 2:30PM
Rangachary Mukundan, PhD
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Durability of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell and Electrolyzer Materials

April 6, 2:30PM
Leonardo Spanu
Shell Project and Technology
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Enabling Deep Decarbonization via Natural Gas Pyrolysis: Old Ideas and New Technology Challenges.

Friday, April 14, 11:00AM
Mercouri G. Kanatzidis
Northwestern University
Room: Anderson Hall 117
ChBE/CHEM Special Joint Seminar: Solar Energy Conversion and Optoelectronics Enabled by the Halide Perovskites

April 20, 2:30PM
Carolin Sutter-Fella
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Mechanistic Understanding of Synthesis Coupled with Automation Exemplified on Halide Perovskites

Fall 2022

September 8, 2:30PM
Milad Abolhasani, PhD
North Carolina State University
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Self-Driving Fluidic Labs: A Sustainable Voyage through the Chemical Universe en route to Smart Manufacturing

September 15, 2:30PM
Adam Boies, PhD
University of Cambridge
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Harnessing Aerosol Technology for Environmental, Energy and Climate Sustainability: Nano-Carbons, C02-Free Hydrogen, Li-Ion Battery Materials and Particle Sensing Technologies

September 22, 2:30PM
Siamak Nejati, PhD
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Bottom-up and Dry Approaches to Macromolecular Assembly Synthesis, Integration, and Applications

September 29, 2:30PM
Flavia Vitale, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: When Nano Meets Neuro: High-Resolution, Multimodal Interfaces Enabled by Nanoscale Soft Conductors

October 6, 2:30PM
Ryan Hartman, PhD
New York University
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Data-Centric Micro-Reaction Engineering for a Sustainable Future

October 13, 2:30PM
Farshid Ramezanipour, PhD
University of Louisville
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Designing Energy Conversion Materials by Tailoring the Structural Order in Multi-Metal Oxides

October 20, 2:30PM
Hongfei Lin, PhD
Washington State University
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Towards Holistic Approach for Decarbonizing Energy System

October 27, 2:30PM
Hsi-Wu Wong
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Revealing Molecular Level Interplays During Copyrolysis of Macromolecular Mixtures

November 3, 2:30PM
Speaker: Sepideh Razavi
University of Oklahoma
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Dynamics of Multi-Component Fluids Near Interfaces

November 10, 2:30PM
Speaker: Feng-Yang Chen
2021-22 Riki Kobayashi Fellowship Winner
Rice University
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: TBA

December 1, 2:30PM
Speaker: Zengyi Shao
Iowa State University
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Teaching and Old Dog New Tricks - Elucidating Core Design Principles to Engineer Nonconventional Yeasts as Microbial Factories

Spring 2022

February 8, 2:30PM
Hon Chung Lau, Ph.D.
Rice University, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Pathways to Achieve Rapid Decarbonization of Southeast Asia

February 15, 2:30PM
Julea Vlassakis, Ph.D.
Rice University, Bioengineering
ZOOM Seminar: https://riceuniversity.zoom.us/j/96447225612?pwd=V1ZHb0lVQStsdStnQnVuMk5FbHhNQT09
Seminar Title: Investigation of Macromolecular Interactions at Single-Molecule and Single-Cell Levels

March 1, 2:30PM
Mohamed Ateia Ibrahim, Ph.D.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Fighting Against Forever Chemicals

March 8, 2:30PM
Chihui An, Ph.D.
Merck
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Biocatalytic Toolbox for Site-Selective Insulin Modification

March 22, 2:30PM
Alberto Salleo, Ph.D.
Stanford University
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Mixed Conduction in Polymeric Materials: The Marriage of Electrons and Ions for Brain-Like Computing

March 29, 2:30PM
Safa Jamali, Ph.D..
Northeastern University
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Rheology-Informed Neural Networks (RhINNs) for Complex Fluid Modelling

April 5, 2:30PM
Long Luo, Ph.D.
Wayne State University
Room: Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Electrifying Material and Organic Synthesis

April 19, 2:30PM
Peng Zhu, Riki Kobayashi Fellowship Award Winner and
Chris Conrad, Tina and Sunit Patel '85 Endowed Fellowship Award Winner
Rice University
Room: Herzstein 210

April 26, 11:00AM
Behnam Jafarpour, Ph.D.
University of Southern California
Room: Duncan 1070
Seminar Title: Dynamic Imaging and Characterization of Subsurface Flow Systems with Deep Learning Architectures

Fall 2021

September 14, 2:30PM - Zoom seminar
Francesca Toma, Ph.D.
Lawrence Berkeley Labs
Seminar Title: "(Photo)electrocatalysis at Work"

September 21, 2:30PM
Divya Panchanathan, Ph.D.
Axiom Space
Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: "Materials Research, Discovery, and Commercialization in Space"

October 5, 2:30PM
Mehmet Orman, Ph.D.
The University of Houston
Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: "What Do We Know About Microbial Persisters?"

October 19, 2:30 PM
Wilfred Chen, Ph.D.
University of Delaware
Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: "Synthetic Modulation of Protein Functions by Dynamic Strand Displacement"

October 26, 2:30 PM - Zoom seminar
Kai Zhu, Ph.D.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Seminar Title "Perovskites for Efficient Tandem Solar Cells"
https://riceuniversity.zoom.us/j/99838291870?pwd=T3p6RzNDZ08yUUJESzdVUHlTSWVEUT09
Meeting ID: 998 3829 1870
Passcode: 251965

November 2, 2:30 PM
Paul Kenis, Ph.D.
University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign
Herzstein 210
Seminar Title "Sustainable Manufacturing of Chemicals and Nanomaterials"

November 16, 2:30 PM
Wilfred van der Donk, Ph.D.
University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign
Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: “Biosynthesis and Engineering of Macrocyclic Peptides”

November 30, 2:30 PM
Lucas Hildebrand Pires de Cunha (presenter) and Peng Zhu (unavailable to present)
Riki Kobayashi Fellowship in Chemical Engineering Award Recipients
Rice University
Herzstein 210
Seminar Title: Settling Dynamics of Brownian Chains