Research

Chemical and biological engineering research seeks to address a variety of complex and important challenges, from renewable and sustainable energy, therapeutics and pharmaceutical development, to the creation and improvement of functional materials and more.

Our department's efforts are organized into these key research areas:

Biological Engineering
  • Biomaterials
  • Stem cells
  • Tissue engineering and regeneration
  • Cell delivery systems
  • Biosensing
  • Microphysiological systems
  • Drug delivery

Associated Faculty: Anseth, Bay, Bowman, Bryant, Burdick, Cha, Del Rio Flores, Goodwin, Hind, Randolph, Schwartz, Shields, Shirts, Stansbury

Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals
  • Therapeutic proteins, and vaccines and antimicrobials
  • Sustainable biorefining of fuels, commodity chemicals and pharmaceuticals
  • Biosensing using novel proteins, smart colloids, liquid crystals, polymerization or photonics

Associated Faculty: Bowman, Burdick, Cha, Davis, Del Rio Flores,Fox, Goodwin, Hind, Randolph, Schwartz, Shields, Shirts, Sprenger, Whitehead

Computational Engineering
  • Cellular processes for biomedical applications
  • Materials for catalysis, microelectronics, data storage and biomaterials
  • Quantum simulation of energy conversion and storage materials

Associated Faculty: Calderon, Davis, Heinz, Medlin, Shirts, Smith, Sprenger

Energy
  • Design of solar cells
  • New materials for the conversion and storage of energy
  • High purity hydrogen production using solar-thermal reactors

Associated Faculty: Cha, Davis, Fox, Gupta, Hayward, Heinz, Holewinski, Marder, McGehee, Medlin, Schwartz, Smith, Toney, Weimer

Interfaces & Catalysis
  • Electrocatalysis for renewable and sustainable energy
  • Directed self-assembly of polymeric films into useful, device-oriented structures
  • Smart colloids that sense and react to their surroundings

Associated Faculty: Bowman, Cha, Goodwin, Gupta, Hayward, Heinz, Holewinski, Marder, Medlin, Randolph, Schwartz, Shields, Smith, Sprenger, Weimer, White, Knauer

Nanomaterials & Nanotechnology
  • Nanoparticle device fabrication and modeling
  • Improved microfluidic devices
  • Emerging nanotechnology applications

Associated Faculty: Bowman, Calderon, Cha, Goodwin, Hayward, Heinz, Holewinski, Marder, Medlin, Schwartz, Shields, Smith, Weimer, White

Polymers & Soft Materials
  • Polymers for drug delivery, in vivo imaging, tissue engineering, dental restoratives, labs-on-a-chip, adhesives, coatings, lithography, microelectronics and LCDs
  • Novel monomers and photopolymerization mechanisms

Associated Faculty: Anseth, Bay, Bowman, Bryant, Goodwin, Gupta, Hayward, Heinz, Marder, Randolph, Shields, Shirts, Sprenger, Stansbury, Toney, White, Knauer

Protein Engineering & Synthetic Biology
  • Genome-engineering for biofuels, pharmaceuticals and gene therapy
  • Modular synthetic genetic devices for higher-order biological computation

Associated Faculty: Del Rio Flores, Fox,Randolph, Sprenger, Whitehead

Transport & Separations
  • Particulate matter flows including granular, gas-particle fluidization and aerosol
  • Suspensions, sedimentation, filtration, aggregation, coalescence, flotation and phase separation
  • Polymer membranes & molecular layer deposition (MLD)

Associated Faculty: Davis, Gupta, Medlin, Schwartz,Shields, Shirts, Toney, Weimer, Knauer