Tentative Researchers

Chemical and Materials Engineering

• F. J. Boerio is Professor of Materials Science in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering. Professor Boerio has more than forty years experience in the preparation and characterization of polymeric materials and has more than 250 publications to his credit. He received the College of Engineering Research Award in 1989 and the Adhesion Society Award for Excellence in Adhesion Science, Sponsored by 3M, in 1999. Very recently he has been working on self-assembly of functionalized bilayer lipid membranes for applications in fuel cells.
• Dr. Raj.Singh: Raj is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and has over 30 years of experience in materials research including batteries, fuel cells, and nanostructured materials. He is a Fellow of The American Ceramic Society and American Society of Metals. He has published more than 230 papers, holds 25 patents, and winners of several awards. His current research on SOFC funded by DOE and nanostructured thin films by NSF-NIRT, FRG, NER will supplement the proposed activities on SOFC fuel cells. His group will develop electrode, electrolyte, and sealing technologies for lower temperature SOFC.
• Dr. J. Dong: Dr. Dong will be joining our CME department in a few months. He has extensive experience in developing materials for SOFC, hydrogen production, and sensors for hydrogen detection. His group will develop nanocrystalline electrolyte and electrode materials for lower temperature SOFC.
• Dr. Vesselin Shanov: Dr. Shanov from the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering specializes in synthesis of nanostructured materials (carbon nanotube synthesis and application), thin films using conventional and plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition techniques, hydrogen fuel cells (HFC), and semiconductor materials. He is author and co-author of 140 publications in refereed journals and conferences, 3 books, and 13 patents. Dr. Shanov is co-directing with Dr. Mark Schulz the UC laboratory for synthesis of nanostructured materials. His expertise in nanotechnology will be important in developing components and materials for HFC, hydrogen storage, and photovoltaic devices.
• Dr. Rakesh Govind obtained his MS and PhD from Carnegie-Mellon University, Pitsburgh, PA and joined Mellon Institute as Director of the ICAPS (Industrial Control and Process Safety) Center. Then he worked at Polaroid Corporation as Senior Scientist in Boston, MA, before joining the faculty in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He is currently Professor of Chemical Engineering. He was awarded the Alfred Bodine Award by the Society of Manufacturing Engineering and received the Earth Day Award from Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company for three consecutive years - 1995, 1996 and 1997.
• Vadim Guliants: Expertise in molecular modeling design and synthesis of nanostrucutured catalysts for selective oxidations and biomimetic nanoporous immobilized and encapsulated enzyme membranes for the chiral resolution and selective oxidation of nonactivated C-H bonds; supported by NSF CAREER, NIRT and DOE Basic Energy Sciences programs ($1,700,000). Will investigate membrane separation of biomass conversion products and hydrogen from coal; and membrane reactors for the selective oxidation of biomass feedstocks. The development of gas (including hydrogen) separation membranes is being funded by the Ohio Coal Development Office, OCDO ($560,000/4 yr)
• Peter Smirniotis: Extensive expertise in development of novel catalysts for "green" reaction routes to produce industrial chemicals and reduce environmental pollution in liquid phase; development of photocatalysts and photoreactors for destruction of toxic organics.
• Soon-Jai Khang: Expertise in chemical reactor design, catalytic membrane, wet electrostatic precipitation, air pollution source control including SOx, NOx and mercury. Will perform the development of combining multiple process steps into a single stage of operation for biorefinery and hydrogen from coal.

Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Jason Heikenfeld: During 2001-2005 Dr. Heikenfeld co-founded and served as principal scientist at Extreme Photonix Corp. In 2005 he joined the University of Cincinnati as an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science. Dr. Heikenfeld's university laboratory, The Novel Devices Laboratory www.ececs.uc.edu/devices, is currently engaged in multi-disciplinary research paths spanning photonics, nanoscale structures, electrowetting, and biomedical devices. He has authored and coauthored over 100 publications in refereed journals, industry magazines, conference proceedings, and a book chapter. He is an inventor on granted and several pending U.S. Patents.
• Dr. Mark Cahay is a Professor in the ECECS Department at UC. He has received over $750 K in research funding to develop several devices based on the use of rare-earth sulfides, which are chemically and thermally stable with work function as low as 1 eV. The potential applications of these materials include cold cathodes with very low threshold voltage, efficient cathodes for electron injection into organic light emitting diodes, thermoelectric coolers for control of power dissipation in future generations of microchips, efficient solar cells with plastic substrates, among others.

Civil, and Evironmental Engineering

• Dr. Dionysios D. Dionysiou is an Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering at UC. His research activities include environmental nanotechnology, advanced oxidation technologies, drinking water treatment and purification, photocatalytic destruction of organic contaminants in water, preparation of TiO2 photocatalysts, ceramic coatings and inorganic membranes, and ionic liquids. He is the author or co-author of 89 refereed journal (46) and conference proceedings (43) publications, 3 book chapter publications, 3 editorial and more than 140 conference presentation abstracts.

Mechanical, Industrial and Nuclear Engineering

• Dr. Raj M. Manglik is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, with over 23 years of experience in thermal science and engineering, including fuel cells, energy systems, boiling and convective heat transfer, thermal management of micro-electronics, and enhanced heat transfer. He is a Fellow of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Wessex Institute (UK), and is an editor of ASME J. Heat Transfer, J. Enhanced Heat Transfer, Int. J. Heat Exchangers, and Heat Transfer & Fluid Flow Data Books. He has published 3 books/edited volumes, 5 book chapters, and over 125 archival papers and technical reports. His current research on thermal management of a PEMFC system, funded by DOE & Honeywell, and enhanced heat transfer in planar SOFC stacks would be critical to this effort. His group will advance the science and engineering of micro-scale phase-change flows, convective heat and mass transfer, and interfacial phenomena in PEMFCs and SOFCs.
• Dr. Mark J. Schulz: Dr Schulz is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He specializes in smart materials, nanotechnology, nano-devices and sensors. The total number of publications (Aug. 1993-present) is >150, including 2 books and 3 patents. He is co-directing with Dr. Vesselin Shanov the UC laboratory for synthesis of nano-structured materials. His expertise in smart materials, nanosensors and related devices will be critical to reaching the goals of the proposed research thrust.
• Dr. Sang Young Son is an assistant professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is an expert in micro-/nano-scale heat and mass transfer. He has been a staff scientist with NCMR, NASA GRC to conduct water management project for NASA's PEM fuel cell development. At his directing Micro Thermofluidics Laboratory at UC, Dr. Son is conducting DMFC fluid management project of Samsung Electro-Mechanics as a PI He is currently a collaboration partner of an international Fuel Cell development project (Korea National Micro DMFC Development Project).

College of Medicine

• John Cuppoletti is Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Physiology in UC's College of Medicine. Professor Cuppoletti is an internationally recognized expert in the preparation, characterization, and application of synthetic membranes from lipid bilayers. He currently serves as PI on the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) entitled "Flexible Membranes for Active Transport of HCl," which is sponsored at UC by the U. S. Army and a DARPA grant which is focused on using plant proteins to generate electrical current and serve as actuators. In addition, he is funded by a pharmaceutical company where he has successfully developed drugs, and is funded by the NIH to study epithelial ion channels.