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:

    Biomedical (Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering)

    Associated Faculty: Anseth, Bowman, Bryant, Cha, Goodwin, Hind, Kaar, Randolph, Schwartz, Shirts, Stansbury

    • Polymers for drug delivery, in vivo imaging and tissue engineering
    • Directing tissue growth for regenerating cartilage and cardiac muscle
    • Novel dental restorative materials

    Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals

    Associated Faculty: Bowman, Cha, Chatterjee, Davis, Fox, Goodwin, Hind, Kaar, Randolph, Schwartz, Shields, Shirts, Sprenger, Whitehead

    • 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

    Computational Engineering

    Associated Faculty: Chatterjee, Davis, Heinz, Hrenya, Medlin, Musgrave, Shirts, Smith, Sprenger

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

    Energy

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

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

    Interfaces & Catalysis

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

    • 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

    Nanomaterials & Nanotechnology

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

    • Nanoparticle device fabrication and modeling

    • Improved microfluidic devices

    • Emerging nanotechnology applications

    Polymers & Soft Materials

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

    • 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

    Protein Engineering & Synthetic Biology

    Associated Faculty: Chatterjee, Fox, Kaar, Randolph, Sprenger, Whitehead

    • Genome-engineering for biofuels, pharmaceutical, and gene therapy
    • Modular synthetic genetic devices for higher-order biological computation. 

    Transport & Separations

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

    • 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)