2009 - Chemical & Biomedical Engineering - University of South ...

University of South Florida 

Department of Chemical & 

Biomedical Engineering 

2009 ANNUAL REPORT 

Mission Statement: Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering 

The mission of the Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering is to prepare 

graduates with fundamental knowledge and contemporary skills for the development, 

economic design, and safe operation of chemical and biological systems, processes, 

products, and methods in a matter compatible with societal values.

Table of Contents 

Major Research Areas 

1 

Letter from the Chair 

2 

Faculty and Research Interests 

3 

ChBME Journal Articles and Patents 

20 

Presentations by Faculty at 

National/International Conferences 

22 

Grants and Contracts 

26 

Faculty and Academic Staff 

Statistics 

28 

ChBME Productivity Summary 

28 

Awards and Recognitions 

29 

Dissertations and Theses 

30 

Degrees Awarded 

31 

ChBME Industrial Advisory Board 

Members 

32 

Administrative and Technical 

Support Staff 

33 

Other Faculty 

33 

Student Statistics 

28 

ii

Areas of Research 

USF Department of Chemical & Biomedical 

Engineering Major Research Areas 

Advanced Materials 

Biofluids 

Biomechanics 

Clean Energy & Systems 

Corrosion of Engineering Materials 

Drug & Gene Delivery 

Electrochemistry 

Environmental Engineering 

Fuel Cells 

Hydrogen Production & Storage 

Modeling, Simulation & Control 

Nanotechnology 

Process & Product Design 

Chemical & Biological Sensors 

Smart Materials 

Supercritical Fluids 

Surface Science & Technology 

Sustainability & Green Engineering 

Synfuels Production 

1

Letter from the Chair 

Venkat R. Bhethanabotla 

Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering 

It is with great pleasure that I submit our 2009 Annual Report. Within this past year, we 

have thanked Dr. Babu Joseph for his leadership as the Chair of the department; 

welcomed a new Assistant Faculty member; initiated a national search for an Assistant 

Faculty member, and look toward the expanded development of our Biomedical 

Engineering curriculum. It has been a transitional period for Chemical & Biomedical 

Engineering and we are looking forward to the future. 

In the fall of 2009, John Kuhn joined the department as an Assistant Professor. John comes 

to us most recently from his postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley. His 

research areas here will focus on Material Chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis. John 

received his doctorate from The Ohio State University. 

Our faculty members continue to receive recognition for their research. Dr. D. Yogi Goswami was inducted into the Pan American 

Academy of Engineering for his work in solar energy utilization. Dr. Babu Joseph was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of 

Chemical Engineers; and Dr. Scott Campbell received a NSF STEP Grant. 

Growth in the Biomedical Engineering program within our department is receiving significant support and focus through the hiring 

of additional faculty members, and a move to USF by a research group from the University of Rochester. 

Approximately half of the 85 graduate students currently enrolled are BME majors, and 24 of the 40 graduate degrees awarded in 

the 2008-2009 year were to Biomedical Engineering majors. With an interdisciplinary approach, these students conduct their 

research with department faculty as well as with professors in other engineering departments, the College of Medicine, and natural 

science faculty members. Undergraduate degree backgrounds of these graduate students vary considerably, some coming from 

BME departments, and many more from traditional engineering disciplines; others are oriented in the life science areas. The 

common tie is the pursuit of applying engineering principles to biomedical problems. 

We look forward to the arrival of Piyush Koria who has been working with Skin Tissue Engineering as Postdoctoral work at the 

Center for Engineering in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Shriners Hospital. We also will 

have Robert Frisina, Jr. join our department as a senior faculty member. He comes to us as part of the USF cluster hire of 

Audiology/Hearing and Deafness Faculty from the University of Rochester. Dr. Frisina’s major fields include Bioengineering, 

Neuroscience, and Physiology. He has numerous published articles, books, reviews, chapters and monographs, as well as patents. 

Dr. Alberto Sagüés joined us in a joint appointment with our department. He is a Distinguished University Professor with the 

Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. His areas of expertise are many, including Corrosion of Engineering Materials, 

Electrochemical Assessment, Concrete, Materials for Infrastructure, and Materials for Energy Systems, Durability Forecasting, 

Physical Metallurgy, and Nuclear Waste Disposal. 

A number of our graduate students earned notable achievements this past year. Cecil Coutinho (advisor: Dr. Gupta) earned an 

honorable mention in the Materials Science Section at the March 2009 Annual Joint Symposium of Florida Chapter of the 

AVS Science and Technology Society and Florida Society of Microscopy in Orlando. Pabitra Choudhury (advisor: Dr. 

Bhethanabotla) was selected by the faculty for the Outstanding Research Assistant for the 2008-2009 year. Audrey Buttice was 

named the Outstanding Teaching Assistant of the year in April 2009. Ala’A Kababji received the top prize at the Power Up 2009 

Energy Conference & Expo Steering Committee for his research with cobalt silica-supported catalysts for Fischer- 

Tropsch synthesis. Syed Ali Gardezi was a winner in the 2009 Green Expo Graduate Student Poster 

Competition for his poster titled “Metal/ Support interaction effects in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis: 

Significance of catalyst preparation for biomass to liquid conversion using Thermo-chemical 

process.” We also graduated 55 undergraduate students in 2009. Nicole Hupalo and Shana 

Williams won awards in the Engineering & Biomedical Science section of the 2009 USF 

undergraduate research symposium; and Judith Landis was a winner in the 2009 

Green Expo Undergraduate Student Poster Competition. Philip Thomley was awarded 

the 2009 AlChE Scholarship. Violeta Kukenska received the William Miasel Scholarship, 

a scholarship that is awarded periodically in memory of William (Bill) Miasel, an active 

member of the local section and past section Chair. It is awarded to a student who is 

supporting a family while working through college. 

We have also experienced changes with the staff over the past year. Cay Pelaez retired in early 

December, after spending 10 years with the department; and we hired Karen Bray as Academic 

Services Administrator. 

2

Surface Forces and Chemical Characterization, Micellar Surfactants, 

Nanoparticles and Organic/Inorganic Thin Films 

Norma A. Alcantar 

Norma A. Alcantar 

Associate Professor 

Ph. D. Chemical Engineering 

University of California, Santa 

Barbara, 2000 

Fig 1a. Time evolution of Aβ 42 

fibril formation by ATR-FTIR. 

The fibrils were incubated at 

scans of mica substrates show 

the structure of the peptide at 3 

different states. 

Fig 1b. Monitoring fibril 

formation and monomeric form 

decomposition for Aβ 40 peptides 

incubated at 37 ºC. The plot 

shows absorbance vs. 

wavenumber (cm -1 ) and a clear 

shift from the Amide I peak to 

Amide II. 

Figure 2. Illustration of the drug 

delivery system to treat ovarian 

and brain cancer tumors. Our 

patent was granted last year on 

this system. 

Absorbance (a.u.) 

0.5 

0.4 

0.3 

0.2 

0.1 

Research Information: 

My research group studies the properties and fundamental interactions of complex 

colloidal systems, interfacial films and biological systems which have novel 

biotechnological applications. We are developing new materials, which can be tailored 

precisely for the application at hand. We can do this because of the power that 

nanotechnology holds for controlling properties. Our approach is to combine several 

nanocomponents, study their chemical and physical properties, and to assemble them 

into new materials. In this approach, two factors determine the end-properties: First, 

the individual properties of the nanosystems and second, how they are assembled. 

For instance, gold nanoparticles will produce two different types of materials when 

forced together at two different pressures, or amyloid beta peptides will form fibrils on 

neurons owing to the rigidity and the adhesion interactions of the neuron membrane. 

We are also determining surface active properties of green materials such as cactus 

mucilage and its effect in reacting with heavy metals to clean contaminated drinking 

water. 

0 

-0.1 

1800 

Fig 1a 

0h 

1h 

2h 

3h 

4h 

1700 1600 1500 1400 1300 

Wavenumber (cm -1 ) 

5h 

6h 

7 

8 

10h 

Niosome with 

encapsulated drug 

0h 

5h 

1200 

10h 

Niosomes were 

prepared by reverse 

evaporation method. 

A Fluorescent dye 

was used to mimic 

drug behaviour 

Monomers 

Oligomers 

Fibrils 

Absorbance 

0.028 

0.026 

0.024 

0.022 

0.020 

0.018 

0.016 

0.014 

0.012 

0.010 

0.008 

0.006 

0.004 

0.002 

0.000 

-0.002 

-0.004 

-0.006 

-0.008 

-0.010 

Fig1b 

Components 

Amide I 

1680-1660 

Hydrogel with the embedded 

niosomes 

1600 

Wavenumbers (cm-1) 

pH and temperature 

sensitive chitosan 

hydrogel 

Hydrogel can be 

molded to desired 

volume 

Protects 

niosomes from 

surrounding 

environment 

Amide II 

(1560-1530) 

1400 

Amide III 

(1420-1400) 

(1310-1280) 

1200 

Degradation of the hydrogel network 

Fig 2 

Release of the drug from the niosomes 

4 

Contact Information: norma@usf.edu ● 813-974-8009

Chemical and Biological Sensors, Computer Simulation of Materials and 

Phenomena, Statistical Mechanics 

Venkat R. Bhethanabotla 


Bhethanabotla’s Sensors Research Laboratory (SRL) is involved in the development 

of the fundamental science and technology for sensor systems and components 

which are common to the platforms which can meet significant sensing needs such 

as for medical diagnostics, national defense and energy security. Current focus is 

on acoustic wave devices for these applications. Sensor response modeling at 

multiple time and length scales is integral to the Bhethanabotla research group, and 

includes perturbation theories, and simulation techniques from electronic structure 

calculations, molecular-level simulation and finite element methods for interpreting 

the response of these acoustic wave devices to environmental disturbances. In 

recent work, this group has formulated a fluid-solid interaction finite element model 

for a surface acoustic wave device interacting with a Newtonian fluid, which is the 

first in the field of acoustics. A multiple biomarker sensor system for ovarian cancer 

detection is currently being developed in this group. In other sensors research, this 

group is exploring the role of composition and processing variables such as 

annealing schedules on the enhancement of fluorescence intensity from typical 

organic luminophore molecules. 

Modeling techniques at the electronic, molecular and macroscopic levels are 

applied to other materials modeling as well in the Bhethanabotla group. These 

include metal hydride systems for hydrogen storage applications, metal organic 

materials for various applications including sensing and catalysis, and bimetallic 

nanoparticles for catalytic applications. A current project involves density functional 

theory and molecular dynamics simulations for elucidating the catalytic role of 

bimetallic nanoparticles in the chiral-selective growth of single-walled carbon 

nanotubes. 

Venkat R. 

Bhethanabotla 

Professor and Department Chair 


Pennsylvania State University, 1987 

Recent Publications: 

Singh, R.; Sankaranarayanan, S. 

K. R. S.; Bhethanabotla, V. R., 

“Orthogonal surface acoustic wave 

device based on langasite for 

simultaneous biosensing and 

biofouling removal,” Applied 

Physics Letters 2009, 94, (26), 

2635031-2635033. 

Sankaranarayanan, S. K. R. S.; 

Bhethanabotla, V. R., “Numerical 

analysis of wave generation and 

propagation in focused surface 

acoustic wave devices for potential 

microfluidic applications,” IEEE 

Trans. Ultrason. Ferroelect. Freq. 

Contr. 2009, 56, (3), 631-643. 

Chowdhury, S.; Bhethanabotla, V. 

R.; Sen, R., “Effect of Ag-Cu alloy 

nanoparticle composition on 

luminescence enhancement/ 

quenching,” J. Phys. Chem. C 

2009, 113, (30), 13026-13022. 

Simulated fluid velocity fields for a focused and a conventional surface acoustic wave devices. 

Fig 1a: Fig 1b: Fig 2: 

Choudhury, P.; Bhethanabotla, V. 

R.; Stefanakos, E., “Manganese 

borohydride as a hydrogen storage 

candidate: First-principles crystal 

structure and thermodynamic 

properties,” J. Phys. Chem. C 

2009, 113, (30), 13416-13424. 

Fig 1a & 1b: Schematic of an orthogonal IDT surface acoustic wave sensor device and simulated displacement: 

Fig 2: Electron localization function (ELF) of Zn(BH 4 

) 2 

(100 plane) (Red: Zn, Blue: H and Green: B). 

Contact Information: bhethana@ usf.edu ● 813-974-2116 

5

Solution Thermodynamics, Phase Equilibria, Monitoring and Modeling of 

Environmental Pollutants, Improving Undergraduate Education 

Scott W. Campbell 

Scott W. Campbell 

Professor 

Undergraduate Advisor 


Northwestern University, 1986 


Abutayeh, M. and Campbell, S.W. 

“Predicting the citrate soluble loss 

of the dihydrate process,” Ind. Eng. 

Chem. Res.,48 (18), 8670–8677 

(2009). 

Gerretson, H., Howes, E., 

Campbell, S.W and Thompson, D. 

“Interdisciplinary mathematics and 

science education through robotics 

technology: Its potential for 

education for sustainable 

development,” A case study from 

the USA Journal of Teacher 

Education for Sustainability, 10, 32- 

41 (2009). 

Calderóna, Silvia M; Poor, Noreen 

D.; Campbell, S. W.; Tate, Paul; 

Hartsell, Ben. “Rainfall scavenging 

coefficients for atmospheric nitric 

acid and nitrate in a subtropical 

coastal environment,” Atmospheric 

Environment (2008), 42(33), 7757- 

7767. 


Reforming of Engineering Calculus 

Scott Campbell is one of a group of mathematics, engineering and science faculty 

that received a $2 million grant over five years through the National Science 

Foundation’s STEP (STEM Talent Expansion) program. The group, which also 

consists of Kandethody Ramachandran (PI), Arcadii Grinshpan, Catherine Beneteau 

(all Mathematics), Jennifer Lewis (Chemistry) and Gordon Fox (Life Sciences) 

received this funding to reform the Engineering and Life Sciences Calculus 

sequences at USF. The failure rates in these courses are quite high and the group 

believes that, in many cases, it is because students do not see the relevance of the 

course work to their intended major. One of the three major thrusts of this project 

(the use of bridge projects) addresses this issue directly. Students taking 

Engineering Calculus II and III and Life Science Calculus II are given the option of 

replacing their final examination with a project. 

Campbell serves as the coordinator for the Engineering Calculus sections and either 

assigns problems to the student, locates an engineering faculty member that can 

assign a project, or helps the students develop their own ideas. An example of a 

project is shown below. The student was given discrete data for the particle size 

distribution of nitrate in the atmosphere and the collection efficiency of an annular 

denuder and was asked to calculate the distribution of particles that would enter the 

denuder. 

Fig 1. Collection efficiency of the denuder. 

Fig. A denuder 

Fig 2. Distribution of nitrate in the atmosphere (black) and 

captured by the denuder (red). 

6 

Contact Information: campbell@usf.edu ● 813-974-3907

Material Science, Biomedical Systems, Instrumentation, Electrochemotherapy, 

Electrogenetherapy, Engineering Education, Drug Delivery 

Richard Gilbert 


Research activities focus in two sectors; Cancer Translational Treatment 

Protocols and Advanced Technological Education: 

The cancer related research deals with electric field mediated drug and gene 

delivery protocols. Successful FDA approved gene delivery Phase I trials for 

melanoma treatment with our current technology is triggering the development of 

new applicators and methods for developing the electric field across the tumor 

treatment volume. Efforts have resulted in over a dozen U.S. issued and licensed 

patents in applicator and delivery protocols. In addition, a new impedance 

spectroscopy method is under development to monitor the electroporative impact on 

target tissue. This work promises to provide the now missing feedback loop that will 

give physicians information as to the success of the delivery protocol. Technical 

education research is driven by the NSF-ATE Regional Center Excellence for 

Advanced Technological Education, FLATE. Activity includes developing a Sterling 

evaluation plan for NSF-ATE’s centers nation- wide, a systemic reform of 

technological education within the Florida State College system, the characterization 

of Florida’s new alternative energy workforce, developing curriculum for 

biotechnology and biomedical workforce development in USF’s 

service region, and the integration of engineering into 

K-14 education. One highlight of this last activity 

is the successful implementation of an 

integrated engineering curriculum for 

D.J. Jamerson Elementary School in 

Pinellas County. Jamerson 

Elementary was recently awarded 

an “A” school status by the Florida 

Department of Education. 

Richard Gilbert 



University of South Florida, 1980 

Contact Information: gilbert@usf.edu ● 813-974-2139 

7

Energy Conversion, Solar Energy, Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cells, 

Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, HVAC 

D. Yogi Goswami 

D. Yogi Goswami 

John and Naida Ramil Professor 

Ph. D. Mechanical Engineering 

Auburn University, 1975 


Choudhury, P.; Srinivasan, S.S.; 

Bhethanabotla, V.R.; Goswami, 

D.Y.; McGrath, K.; Stefanakos, 

E.K. "Nano-Ni doped Li-Mn-B-H 

dystem as a new hydrogen storage 

Candidate," International Journal of 

Hydrogen Energy 34 (2009): 6325- 

6334. 


Professor Goswami’s research into innovative and futuristic concepts with the 

potential to produce breakthroughs in solar energy technologies include nano-scale 

antenna energy systems, an innovative new combined cycle for solar thermal power 

and cooling, and the next generation photocatalytic detoxification and disinfection 

technologies. The nano-scale antenna technology has the potential to reduce the 

cost of photovoltaic power by an order of magnitude. Our research in this area has 

already produced patents. The new thermodynamic cycle, conceptualized by Dr. 

Goswami, is expected to reduce the capital costs of solar thermal power by 50%. 

Photocatalytic disinfection is a pioneering development which uses the UV rays of 

sunlight or other light sources and a catalyst to completely oxidize and mineralize the 

micro-organisms in the air or water. The technology has already been patented, 

commercialized, and recognized as a key technology to fight bioterrorism. The 

present multi-disciplinary team of researchers through the Clean Energy Research 

Center is focusing on developing the next generation of this technology, which will be 

faster and less expensive to deploy. 

Kislov, N.; Lahiri, J.; Goswami, 

D.Y.; Stefanakos, E.; Batzill, M. 

"Photocatayltic degradation of 

methyl orange over single 

crystalline ZnO: Orientation 

dependence of photoactivity and 

photostability of ZnO," Langmuir 25 

(2009): 2210-3315. 

Lee, M.S.; Goswami, D.Y.; 

Stefanakos, E.K. "Immobilization of 

calcium oxide solid reactant 

on an yttia fabric and 

thermodynamic analysis of UT-3 

thermochemical hydrogen 

production cycle," International 

Journal of Hydrogen Energy 34 

(2009): 745-752. 

D.Y. Goswami, (Editor), Passive 

Solar Architecture Pocket 

Reference, by James + 

James/Earthscan, London, UK (for 

the International Solar Energy 

Society), September 2009. 

Before 

After 

Destruction of mold spore, aspergillus niger, and bacillus subtilis, a spore that causes food spoilage (and 

is a cousin of the anthrax spore, bacillus anthracis) through photocatalytic disinfection. 

8 

Contact Information: goswami@usf.edu ● 813-974-0956

Interfacial Phenomena, Polymeric Materials, Organic-Inorganic Composites, 

Self-Assembled Systems, Molecular Recognition, Nanoscale/Smart Materials 

Vinay K. Gupta 


Our research program lies in the broad area of surface science and polymer science 

with a specific focus on the design of novel nanomaterials that are critical in 

practical applications such as detection of chemicals in the environment, 

biocompatibility, and smart materials. Current research focuses on engineering 

novel materials and constructs by combining stimuli-sensitive polymers with metallic 

or oxide nanoparticles using interfacial modifications. A central principle has been 

to assimilate the unique properties of existing, organic molecules, macromolecules, 

and inorganic components. The projects ongoing at USF under this objective 

include developing and applying novel polymer-titania microcomposites for 

photoctalytic degradation of organic contaminants in aqueous streams, extending 

the same principle to develop organic-inorganic microcomposites for chemical 

mechanical polishing (CMP) in semi-conductor manufacturing, self-assembling 

nanometer scale constructs of gold nanorods/nanoparticles with mamcromolecular 

or macrocyclic compounds for functional devices such as sensors or biomolecular 

electronics, and combining gold nanoparticles with biochemicals to study and 

control osteonecrosis in bone repair/healing. 

Vinay K. Gupta 


Graduate Admissions Coordinator 

Ph.D. Chemical Engineering 

California Institute of Technology, 

1996 


Coutinho, C. A. and Gupta, V.K., 

“Photocatalytic degradation of 

methyl orange using polymer-titania 

microcomposites,” J Colloid and 

Interface Science 333(2), 457-464 


Walker, D. A. and Gupta,V. K., 

“Reversible end-to-end assembly of 

gold nanorods using a disulfide 

modified polypeptide,” Nanotechnology, 

19(43), 435603/1-435603/9 

(2008). 

Coutinho, C. A.; Mudhivarthi, S.R.; 

K. Ashok; and Gupta,V. K., “Novel 

ceria-polymer microcomposites for 

chemical mechanical polishing,” 

Applied Surface Science, 255(5,Pt. 

2), 3090-3096 (2008). 

Coutinho, C. A., Harrinauth, R. and 

Gupta,V. K., “Settling characteristics 

of composites of PNIPAM microgels 

and TiO 2 

nanoparticles,” Colloid and 

Surfaces A: Physicochemical and 

Engineering Aspects, 318, 111-121 

(2008). 

50 nm 

Schematic of conformation change of a polypeptide that drives aggregation of isotropic gold 

nanoparticles (top) and of anisotroptic gold nanrorods (bottom). 

Additional Background Information: 

Post Doctoral Research, Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science/UC Davis 

Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 1996 

M.S. in Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 1993 

B.Tech in Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India, 1990 

Shim ,J. Y. and Gupta,V. K., 

“Reversible aggregation of gold 

nanoparticles induced by pH 

dependent conformational 

transitions of a self-assembled 

polypeptide,” Journal of Colloid and 

Interface Science, 316, 977-983 

(2007). 

Contact Information: vkgupta@usf.edu ● 813-974-3651 

9

Drug and Gene Delivery, Electrofusion, Biomedical Instrumentation, 

Electrophoresis 

Mark Jaroszeski 

Mark Jaroszeski 


MARC U-Star Scholars Program 

Director 

Ph.D. Engineering Science 

University of South Florida, 1993 


Rey, J. I.; Connolly, R. J.; 

Jaroszeski, M.J., Hoff, A.M.; 

Lewelllyn, J.A. and Gilbert, R. 

“Piezoelectric nature of tissues: 

Electrostrictive forces on vesicles 

with compartmentalized permittivity 

and conductivity conditions,” IEEE 

Transactions on Dielectrics and 

Electrical Insulation 16(5): 1280- 

1287 (2009). 

Connolly, R.J.; Rey, J. I.; 

Jaroszeski, M.J.; Hoff, A.M., 

Lewellyn, J.A. and Gilbert, R. 

“ 

Effectiveness of non-penetrating 

electroporation applicators to 

function as impedance 

spectroscopy electrodes,” IEEE 

Transactions on Dielectrics and 

Electrical Insulation 16(5): 1348- 

1355. (2009). 

Marshall, W.G.; Boone, B.A.; 

Burgos, J.D.; Gografe, S.I.; 

Baldwin, M.K.; Danielson, M.L.; 

Larson, M.J.; Caretto, D.R.; Cruz, 

Y.; Ferraro, B.; Heller, L.C.; Ugen, 

K.E.; Jaroszeski, M.J. and Heller, 

R. “Electroporation-mediated 

delivery of a naked DNA plasmid 

expressing VEGF to the porcine 

heart enhances protein 

expression,” Gene Therapy Epub 

ahead of print PMID 19956270. 



Jaroszeski’s Drug and Gene Delivery Research Laboratory is involved in the 

development physical methods for delivering therapeutic agents for cancer, 

metabolic diseases, and immunization. Research has been focused on the use of 

millisecond to microsecond direct current electric pulses that cause a temporary 

breakdown of the cell membrane barrier that allows the entry of exogenous 

molecules such as DNA and drugs. The technology is known as in vivo 

electroporation. Research has included the development of many tissue specific 

electrodes for administering localized electric pulses to different tissues. It has also 

included the development of instrumentation to drive the electrodes and testing in 

multiple animal models. Different applications are transitioning from the lab to the 

clinic and some are active projects in the lab. Another technology has been under 

development, in parallel, is the use of surface charging for in vivo molecular delivery. 

This technology applies a stream of charge to the surface of a tissue that has been 

injected with DNA. The surface charge induces a potential difference across the 

tissue which induces uptake of the DNA. The use of surface charge has some 

advantages over the more traditional application of direct current pulses to tissue. 

The primary advantage is that the charge source does not contact the tissue which 

eliminates any electrolytic tissue damage that results when electrodes are used. 

Also, there is no sensation during surface charging methods. In contrast, the direct 

application of electric pulses to tissues can cause involuntary muscle contraction and 

pain. Both corona charge and helium plasma have been used to apply surface 

charge to skin in animal models with very promising results. 

Top: Helium plasma generating pen used to apply surface charge to tissues for delivering DNA. Bottom: 

Representative images showing the expression of DNA encoding firefly luciferase that was delivered to the 

flank skin in mice. Data was acquired 2 days after DNA delivery using a helium plasma. (A) animals that 

received no treatment, (B) injection of plasmid only, (C) plasmid with positive plasma treatment, (D) plasmid 

with positive plasma treatment and high impedance ring, (E) plasmid with positive plasma treatment, and (F) 

plasmid with negative plasma treatment and high impedance ring. 

Additional Publications: 

Boone, L.R.; Niesen, M.L.; Jaroszeski, M.J. and Ness, G.C. “In Vivo Identification of promoter 

elements and transcription factors mediating activation of hepatic HMG-CoA reductase by T3,” 

Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 385(3):466-471 (2009). 

Frewin, C.L.; Jaroszeski, M.J.; Weeber, E.; Muffly, K.E.; Peters, M.; Oliveros, A. and Saddow, 

S.E. “Atomic force microscopy analysis of central nervous system cell morphology on silicon 

carbide and diamond substrates,” Journal of Molecular Recognition 22(5): 380-388. (2009). 

Connolly, R.J.; Lopez, G.A.; Hoff, A.M.; Jaroszeski, M.J. “Plasma facilitated delivery of DNA to 

skin,” Biotechnology and Bioengineering 104(5): 1034-1040 (2009). 

10 

Contact Information: mjarosze@usf.edu ● 813-974-4662

Modeling, Simulation and Control, Multi-scale Modeling of Systems, Clean 

Liquid Fuels from Biomass, Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis 

Babu Joseph 


Synthesis and Kinetics of Nanoscale Co/SiO 2 Catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch 

Processes 

F-T Synthesis (FTS) using Co catalysts is a promising technology for producing 

clean burning liquid fuels with minimum aromatics and optimum blend of 

olefins/paraffins to achieve high combustion efficiency while minimizing pollutant 

emissions. The overall objective of this research is to investigate the design of 

catalysts tailored to optimize process and product design. 

FTS activity of Co catalysts primarily depends on the number of active-sites located 

on the surface of the crystalline metal. The number of cobalt metal sites in the 

catalysts is a function of the size of cobalt metal particles and extent of cobalt 

reduction. We will use a novel approach for Co catalyst synthesis based on 

exploiting colloidal chemistry and molecular self-assembly in tandem to create Co 

nanoparticles supported on SiO 2 . We will prepare monolayer protected clusters 

(MPCs) wherein the nanoparticles are stabilized with protective layer of organic 

ligands. A direct consequence of this strategy will be better control of size below the 

~10nm range and higher catalytic performance. The catalyst surface will be 

characterized using modern analytical tools such as TEM/SEM, XPS, EDX, BET 

and TGA. The reaction mechanisms will be investigated using in-situ, large angle 

near gracing (LARI) IR spectra to study elementary reaction steps, particularly the 

adsorption and decomposition of CO on the active sites. Overall kinetics will be 

studied using a micro reactor. These experimental efforts will be guided by 

theoretical calculations including molecular dynamics simulations to study structure 

and morphology of these nanoparticles, density functional theory to study energetics 

and surface activity and kinetic modeling to validate reaction mechanisms. We will 

develop a model providing a quantitative relationship between yield, selectivity and 

physico-chemical structure and properties of the catalyst. The synergistic interplay 

of the computational and experimental tools provide an opportunity to develop a 

deeper understanding of the complex reaction mechanisms occurring on surface 

active sites on the catalyst and hence achieve breakthroughs in integrated 

catalyst/reactor/process design tailored to meet product requirements. 

Using the synergy of basic electronic structure calculations and molecular dynamic 

simulations combined with fundamental studies of catalyst synthesis, 

characterization and performance evaluation we hope to achieve a clearer 

understanding of the relationship between catalyst size, support structure and 

reaction mechanisms and hence achieve breakthroughs in yield and selectivity. In 

the synthesis step, novel techniques for surface deposition of metal on support will 

be developed. The electronic and molecular level studies will broaden or 

understanding of the reaction mechanisms and role of surface morphology and 

support interactions on reaction kinetics. In-situ studies of elementary reaction steps 

would lead to better understanding of the reaction steps involved and hence 

improved predictive models for use with reactor design for optimizing process 

performance while minimizing environmental impact. 

Babu Joseph 



Case Western Reserve University, 

Cleveland, 1975 


Sankaranarayanan, Subramanian 

K. R. S.; Bhethanabotla, V R.; 

Joseph, B. ”Molecular dynamics 

simulation study of phase transformations 

in transition bimetallic 

nanowires,” Journal of Physical 

Chemistry C (2007), 111(6), 2430- 

2439. 

Sankaranarayanan SKRS;Cular S; 

Bhethanabotla VR; and Joseph B. 

“Flow induced by acoustic streaming 

on surface-acoustic-wave 

devices and its application in 

biofouling removal: A computational 

study and comparisons to 

experiment ,“ Physical Review E 

77, 6, 066308, Part 2 JUN 2008. 

Singh, R; Strom, JA; Ondrovic, 

L, M.;VanAuker and Joseph B 

“Age-related changes in the aortic 

valve affect leaflet stress distributions: 

Implications for aortic valve 

degeneration ,“ Journal of Heart 

Valve Disease 17, 3, 290 

298 2008. 

Kababji, A.; Joseph, B. and Wolan, 

J., “Cobalt silica supported catalysts 

for use in Fischer-Tropsch 

synthesis: Effects of calcination 

temperature and support surface 

area on cobalt silicate formation,” 

Catalysis Letters (2009),130(1-2), 

72-78. 

Contact Information: bjoseph@usf.edu ● 813-974-0692 

11

Heterogeneous Catalysis, Materials Chemistry, Electro-catalysis, Engineering 

Education, Sustainability, Renewable Energy 

John Kuhn 

John Kuhn 

Assistant Professor 


The Ohio State University, 2007 


Kuhn, J. N.; Tsung, C.K.; Huang, 

W.; Somorjai, G. A.; “Effect of 

organic capping layers over 

monodisperse platinum 

nanoparticles upon activity for 

ethylene hydrogenation and carbon 

monoxide oxidation,” Journal of 

Catalysis 265 (2009): 209-215. 

Tsung, C.K; Kuhn, J. N.; Haung, 

W; Aliaga, C; Hung, L.I.; Somorjai, 

G. A.; Yang, P. “Sub-10 nm 

platinum nanocrystals with size and 

shape control: Catalytic study for 

ethylene and pyrrole 

hydrogenation,” Journal of the 

American Chemical Society 131 

(2009): 5816-5822. 


The research that my group will be performing is at the intersection of materials 

chemistry and of heterogeneous catalysis. The purpose of this merger is to use the 

morphological control obtained by synthetic chemistry to demonstrate catalytic 

phenomena and to design catalysts by reducing the polydispersity of active sites. As 

outlined in Scheme 1, the synthetic parameters can be controlled to produce either 

thermodynamically or kinetically controlled shapes with simultaneous size control. 

Synthetic chemistry can also be used as a mechanism for improving catalytic 

stability. As shown in Scheme 2, an oxide shell can be used to encapsulate and 

protect metal nanoparticles. The shell should provide added thermal stability for high 

temperature catalytic processes. 

The research will entail synthesis of well-defined metal and metal oxide 

nanoparticles, the characterization of these materials, and the evaluation of their 

catalytic properties. Microscopy, diffraction, and spectroscopy studies will be 

performed to characterize the materials. Spectroscopic, isotopic, and adsorption 

techniques will be used to understand the interactions between the materials and 

adsorbates. These fundamental investigations will be used as platforms for 

understanding catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability of the materials under 

reaction conditions. Applications will include generation of fuels and chemicals from 

renewable sources and electrochemical conversion of hydrogen and of alcohols. 

Scheme 1: Synthesis of shapecontrolled 

metal nanoparticles 

by colloid chemistry. 

Zhao, Z.; Lakshminarayanan, N.; 

Kuhn, J. N.; Senefeld-Naber, A.; 

Felix, L. G.; Slimane, R. B.; Choi, 

C. W.; Ozkan, U. S. “Optimization 

of thermally impregnated Ni-olivine 

catalysts for tar removal,” Applied 

Catalysis A: General 363 (2009): 

64-72. 

Scheme 2: Synthesis of oxide protected metal nanoparticles by colloid chemistry. 

12 

Contact Information: jnkuhn@usf.edu ● 813-974-6498

Biomechanics, Prosthetic Design, Creative Processes, Education 

William E. Lee, III 


Investigation of the Performance and Design of Orthopedic Implant Devices 

This study involves an interdisciplinary team consisting of engineers and orthopedic 

surgeons. The study focuses on the evaluation and design of a new generation of 

orthopedic implant devices, focusing on shoulder joint replacements. This includes 

the mathematical modeling of the human shoulder and the implant device, cadaver 

testing, human subject evaluations, and the mechanical testing of various prototype 

devices. Other projects have focused on knee replacements, artificial finer joints, 

and artificial breast implants. 

□ Characterization of Shoulder Joint Designs 

□ Investigation of Creativity and Related Issues Across Disciplines 

□ Investigation of Falls and Related Injuries in Health Care Facilities 

□ Investigation of Injury Causation Mechanisms for Rotator Cuff Tears and Lumbar 

Soft Issue Injuries 

□ Development of sensory measurement techniques to measure pain and the 

human thermal response 

□ Investigation of the Role of Student Immersion in Visual and Performing Arts on 

Undergraduate Education 

William E. Lee, III 


Director of BME Program 


University of Cincinnati, 1984 


Bowers, B.; Lloyd, J.; Lee, W. III; 

Powell-Cope, G.; Baptiste, A. 

“Biomechanical evaluation of injury 

severity associated with patient 

falls from beds,” Rehab Nursing. 

33(6): 253-259, 2008. 

Schulz, BW; Lee, WE III; and 

Lloyd, JD. “Estimation, simulation, 

and experimentation of a fall from 

bed,” J. Rehabilitation Res. Dev. 

45(8): 1227-1236. 

Guiterrez, S.; Frankle, MA; Keller, 

TS; Levy, JC; Lee, WE 

III. “Hierarchy of stability factors in 

reverse shoulder 

arthroplasty,” Clin. Orthop. Related 

Res. In print. 

Contact Information: wlee2@usf.edu ● 813-974-2136 

13

Analysis and modeling of the processes occurring in tissues following 

electroporations 

John Anthony Llewellyn 

John A. Llewellyn 

Professor Emeritus 

Ph.D. Physical Chemistry 

University College Cardiff, UK 


For many processes, especially in biological systems, there is a moderate level of 

understanding the behavior at equilibrium or at steady state. The dynamic behaviors 

are complex and less well understood. My current interests lie in the analysis and 

modeling of the processes occurring in tissues following electroporations that are 

designed to facilitate the delivery of drugs or genetically active media into these cell 

aggregates. We have made extended studies of the time histories of changes in the 

electrical properties following the electroporative pulse and are relating these to the 

cell recovery dynamics. The analysis relies heavily on computer-based pattern 

recognition and classification methods under the principle "If you torture the data 

enough, it will confess.“ 

In these efforts I am indebted to Professors Gilbert and Jaroszeski and their students 

for my introduction into this area. 

The effect of displacement on the fields 

around a floating electrode pair. 

A simulation that deals with an electroporation array used in Dr. Gilbert’s Biomedical work. 

14 

Contact Information: ynot3142@gmail.com ● 813-974-5505

Corrosion of Engineering Materials, Electrochemical Measurements and 

Modeling, Materials for Infrastructure, Materials for Energy Systems, Durability 

Forecasting, Physical Metallurgy, Nuclear Waste Disposal 

Alberto A. Sagüés 


My areas of expertise are Corrosion of Engineering Materials, Electrochemical 

Assessment, Concrete, and Materials for Infrastructure, Materials for Energy 

Systems, Durability Forecasting, Physical Metallurgy and Nuclear Waste Disposal. 

Current research uses extensively electrochemical measurements such as 

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) for nondestructive evaluation of 

corrosion rates in systems that cannot be accessed for direct observation, as is the 

case of steel embedded in concrete. Dr. Sagüés uses EIS also for quantifying the 

surface of novel nanoporous semiconductors that find application in energy 

producing and sensing technologies. His experimental work is supplemented by the 

development of computational models to elucidate mechanisms responsible for 

surface reactions, and also for performance forecasting to include in economic 

optimization models that drive the selection of alternative materials of construction. 

Previous research by Dr. Sagüés addressed the performance of engineering alloys 

in advanced high temperature coal usage technologies, mechanisms of 

intergranular attack of alloys in hydrocarbon processing and in breeder as well as 

conceptual fusion nuclear reactors, and solute atom interactions in refractory metal 

alloys. During his service at the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board he 

evaluated the technical basis for the Department of Energy's research on 

containment of high level nuclear waste, an application requiring corrosion 

resistance over extremely long service periods. 

Electrochemical Impedance 

Spectroscopy (EIS) 

Interfacial processes are often 

associated with the exchange or 

accumulation of electric charges at 

the interface. For example, in the 

corrosion process metal ions enter 

the surrounding water medium as 

positive ions and leave electrons 

behind. The rate of the process (how 

fast the corrosion occurs) can then be 

measured by electric means. In EIS a 

small, alternating difference of 

potential is applied to the interface 

and the resulting current is measured. 

The potential/current ratio determined 

at various frequencies is the 

electrochemical impedance spectrum 

of the interface, which is extremely 

sensitive to the rate of the reaction. 

Thus, short term tests can reveal 

problems that would take years to 

detect by conventional means, and 

identify the fundamental factors 

responsible for the damage. EIS can 

also indicate how rough an interface 

is at the microscopic level, providing 

key information for the development 

of nanoporous materials. 

Contact Information: sagues@usf.edu 813-974-5819 

Im(Z) / Ω 

-3000 

-2000 

-1000 

0 

1000 

-20 

-10 

0 

10 20 30 40 50 60 

2000 

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 

Re(Z) / Ω 

24 hr 

360 hr 

504 hr 

648 hr 

864 hr 

1392 hr 

2400 hr 

3048 hr 

In this example, the EIS spectrum (Nyquist representation) of an 

aluminum coating on a steel substrate shows signs of increasing 

corrosion rate with time of immersion in a chloride-containing 

solution, as manifested by a decrease in the impedance 

magnitude with time. A scanning electron microscope view of the 

surface at 360 hours of exposure confirms the deterioration, which 

was already detected in tests that only lasted about 1 hour each. 

Alberto A. Sagüés 

Interdisciplinary Professor 

Ph.D. Metallurgy 

Case Western Reserve University, 

1972 


Lau, K.; Sagues, A. "Corrosion of 

epoxy-and polymer/zinc-coated 

rebar in simulated concrete pore 

solution," Corrosion 65 (2009): 

681. 

Presuel-Moreno, F.J.; Sagues, A. 

"Bulk magnetic susceptibility 

measurements for determination of 

fly ash prescence in concrete," 

Cement and Concrete Research 39 

(2009): 95. 

Taveira, L.V.; Sagues, A.A.; 

Macak, J.M.; Schmuki, P. 

"Impedance behavior of TiO2 

nanotubes formed by anodization 

in NaF electrolytes," Journal of 

Electrochemical Society 155 

(2008): C 293. 

15

Automatic Process Control, Dynamic Process Modeling, Process Engineering 

Carlos A. Smith 

Carlos A. Smith 

Professor Emeritus 


Louisiana State University, 1972 


Control of Nonlinear Processes Using Fuzzy Logic 

The importance and difficulty of the control of nonlinear processes is well known. 

This research looks into the use of fuzzy logic as a tool to improve the control of 

these processes. Specifically, the use of fuzzy logic to improve the performance of 

the classical PID controller has already resulted in four new versions of self-tuned 

PID’s. This research is presently looking into enhancing the performance of Sliding 

Mode Controllers, Dynamic Matrix Controllers, and Internal Model Controllers. 


Automảtico de Proceso,” 

Translation to Portuguese, 2008. 

Published by LTC- LivrosTecnicose 

Cientỉficos Editora, S.A.; Smith, C., 

“Automated Continuous Process 

Control,” March, 2002. John Wiley 

& Sons, Inc.: New York, NY. Smith, 

C., Corripio, A., “Principles and 

Practice of Automatic Process 

Control,” January, 2006. Third 

Edition. John Wiley & Sons: New 

York, NY. (Also available in 

Spanish.) . 

Sanjuan, M.; Kandel, A.; Smith, C.; 

“Design and implementation of a 

fuzzy supervisor forn-line 

compensation of nonlinearities: 

Aninstability avoidance module,” 

Engineering Applications of 

Artificial Intelligence, 2006. 

Velasquez Orta, S.; Smith, C.; 

“Control y Simulacion de Procesos 

Sequenciales Aplicados al 

Tratamiento de Agua. Revistadel 

Instituto Mexicano de 

IngenierosQuimicos,” (Journal of 

the Mexican Institute of Chemical 

Engineers), 2005. 46(3-4) . 

Left: Reviews for Dr. Smith’s book include "...explains the practical design and operation of process 

control systems..." (SciTech Book News, Vol. 26, No. 2, June 2002); “…a book worth adding to any 

process control library shelf…” (Measurement & Control, April 2003.). Right: Dr. Smith is the first author 

of this widely used text for undergraduate Chemical Engineering. 


Velasquez Orta, S.;Smith, C., “Control ySimulacion de Procesos Sequenciales Aplicados al 

Tratamiento de Agua,” XLIV Convencion Nacional, Instituto Mexicano de Ingenieros Quimicos, 

2004 Tampico, Mexico. 

Garcia, Y.; Camacho, O.; Sanjuan, M.; Iglesias, E.; Smith, C., “A new approach of cascade 

control based on fuzzy logic,” Proceedings of the 9th WSEAS International Conference on 

Automatic Process Control, Modeling and Simulation, Istanbul, Turkey, May, 2007. 

16 

Contact Information: csmith@usf.edu ● 813-974-5859

Systems Engineering, Process and Product Design, Green Engineering, 

Supercritical Fluid Technology 

Aydin K. Sunol 


Our research group focuses on enabling sciences and technologies that form a 

transformational basis for development of novel engineered systems and aim to 

provide sustainable solutions to current societal concerns. Green pathways, utilizing 

supercritical carbon dioxide and water, and global computational methods, such as 

Genetic Programming, Finite Elements, Monte Carlo simulation, Mixed Integer 

Linear Programming, and Homotopy continuation methods, shape our integrated 

experimental and computational approach. 

The current themes are: 

• Synthesis of Nano-structured particles for energy storage and delivery, targeted 

delivery of therapeutics, and catalysis. Supercritical fluids are used for 

deposition, template removal, drying, foaming and encapsulation in design and 

development of portfolio of nano-structured functional material. Sponsored by 

Advanced Materials Technologies, NASA, DOD, and FHTC. 

• Design and Development of Self Heating and Cooling Products: Novel products 

with temperature modulation capability are developed. Smart polymers, phase 

change materials, reaction modulation, particle encapsulation, self assembly and 

CAD modeling are enabling elements utilized. Sponsored by Donovan Industries, 

TempTroll and Florida High Tech Counsel. 

Aydin K. Sunol 



VPI and SU, 1982 


Keyur Patel and Aydin K. Sunol 

“Automatic generation of global 

phase equilibrium diagrams for 

binary systems from equations of 

state,” Computers and Chemical 

Engineering 33 (2009) 1793–1804. 

• Fractionation of Chiral compound, isolation of nutraceuticals, and extraction of 

clean fuels from natural matrices using supercritical fluids. Global phase 

diagrams with reliable computational methods, coupled with well designed 

property measurements, provide an effective fundamental basis for development 

of these green processes. Sponsored by USF and CERC. 

Fig 1: Fig 2: 

Fig 3: 

Fig.1: Chitosan Coated TiO2; Fig. 2: Cross 

section; Fig 3: Xerogel with template after 

calcination. 

Contact Information: asunol@usf.edu ● 813-974-3566 

17

Responsive Polymers, Hydrogels 

Ryan G. Toomey 

Ryan G. Toomey 

Assistant Professor 


University of Minnesota, 

Minneapolis, 2002 


Patra, L.; Toomey, R. “Viscoelastic 

response of photo-cross-linked 

poly(Nisopropylacrylamide) 

coatings by QCM-D,” Langmuir 

(2010) DOI: 10.1021/la903681s. 


We study the physics of soft matter, or materials that are easily deformed by external 

stimuli, including electrical, magnetic and thermal cues. Our main scientific interest 

involves the design and study of novel functional polymer hydrogels that change their 

properties on command. The response characteristics are built directly into the 

polymer structure, and the materials can be thought of as “soft robots.” Techniques 

that we employ include ellipsometry, neutron reflection, light scattering, fluorescence, 

confocal microscopy, and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation. Ultimately, we 

aim to develop new materials for low-cost sensors, adjustable foundations for selfassembly, 

surfaces with tunable wrinkling; “buckling” surface coatings for dynamic 

tissue cultures, and mechanical micro-switches and actuators in microfluidics. 

Vidyasagar, A.; Smith, H.L; 

Majewski, J.; Toomey, R., 

“Continuous and discontinuous 

volume-phase transitions in 

surface-tethered, photo-crosslinkedPoly(N-isopropylacrylamide) 

Networks,” Soft Matter (2009) 5: 

4733 - 4738. 

Smith, H. L.; Jablin, M. S.; 

Vidyasagar, A.; Saiz, J.; Watkins, 

E.; Toomey, R.; Hurd, A. J.; 

Majewski, J. "Model lipid 

membranes on a tunable polymer 

cushion," Physical Review Letters 

(2009) 102(22). 

Vidyasagar, A.; Majewski, J.; 

Toomey, R., “Temperature induced 

conformational changes in 

surface-tethered Poly(Nisopropylacrylamide) 

networks,” 

Macromolecules (2008) 41(3): 919- 

924. 

Figure 1.Summary of current projects, which have a unifying theme of responsive polymer hydrogels for low-cost 

actuation in a number of applications. 

18 

Contact Information: toomey@usf.edu ● 813-974-1964

Catalysis/Reaction Kinetics, Energy Systems & Conversion, Materials, Surface 

Science, Sensors 

John T. Wolan 


Our research focuses on advancing the fundamental understanding of atomic scale 

processes occurring during the synthesis of technologically relevant surfaces, 

catalysis, thin films, and supperlatice material systems. These include studies of 

surface and bulk chemical/enzymatic reactions & kinetics, thermodynamic driving 

forces and quantum phenomena. Special emphasis is given towards 

sustainable/renewable applications. 

Our primary research interests include green and sustainable 

applications relevant to: 

• Biomass to Liquid Fuels 

• Engineered Catalytic systems 

• Size Dependent Catalytic Effects 

• Photocatalysis 

• Fuel Cell and Sensor Systems 

Key Words: energy, catalysis, fuel cells, sensors, biomass, 

surface science, nanomaterials, photocatalysis. 

Diesel & JP-8 Jet fuel 

0.24 mm 

Fig 1: Our novel engineered 

and tunable catalyst. 

(R o – R c ) = Eggshell thickness 

χ= (R o – R c ) 2 Ө M 

= 10 6 g atom surface 

Ө M 

John T. Wolan 


Graduate Advisor 


University of Florida, 1998 


A.H. Kababji, B. Joseph, J.T. 

Wolan; “Silica-supported cobalt 

catalysts for Fischer–Tropsch 

synthesis: Effects of calcination 

temperature and support surface 

area on cobalt silicate formation,” 

Catal. Lett (2009) 130: 72-78. 

Jonathan Mbah, Burton Krakow, 

Elias Stefanakos, and John T. 

Wolan, “A study on H 2 S 

permeability of CsHSO 4 

membrane,” International Journal 

of Hydrogen Energy; 34 (5) 2009, 

2460-2466. 

Co/m 2 19 

Fig2: A GC result of the Biomass-derived diesel and JP-8 fuel. 

Jonathan Mbah, Burton Krakow, 

Elias Stefanakos and John Wolan 

"Influence of high energy planetary 

milling on the ionic conductivity of 

CsHSO4,” Electrochem. Solid- 

State Lett., Volume 12, Issue 7, pp. 

E12-E16 (2009). 

Elias Stefanakos, Burton Krakow, 

Jonathan Mbah, and John T. 

Wolan: "Hydrogen production from 

hydrogen sulfide in IGCC power 

plants,” (DOE Information Bridge), 

http://nsdl.org/resource/2200/2008 

0812094136518T. 

Fig 3: A schematic of the overall Fischer Tropsch process. 


Jonathan Mbah, Burton Krakow, John Wolan and Elias Stefanakos, “Electrolytic splitting of H 2 S 

using CsHSO 4 membrane,” J. Electrochem. Soc., 155 (11) E166-E170 (2008). 

A.H. Kababji and J.T. Wolan, “Porous silicon carbide and gallium nitride,” SiC Catalysis Today, 

book chapter 10, Wiley Press, editors Randall M. Feenstra and Colin Woods, ISBN 978-0-470- 

51752-9, copyright © 2008 Wiley Press & Sons Ltd. 

Contact Information: wolan@usf.edu ● 813-974-6250

Journal Articles and Patents 

ChBME Journal Articles and Patents in 2009 

Alcantar 

Nguyen, T.; Hupalo, N., Jimenez, J., Morgan, 

D., Alcantar, N., “Monitoring A-beta peptide 

species assembly during their aggregation 

process,” Cell Transplantation 2009, 18, 228- 

229. 

Bhethanabotla 

Yavuz, A. G.; Uygun, A.; Bhethanabotla, V. R., 

“Substituted polyaniline/chitosan composites: 

synthesis and characterization,” Carbohydrate 

Polymers 2009, 75, (3), 448-453. 

Singh, R.; Sankaranarayanan, S. K. R. S.; 

Bhethanabotla, V. R., “Orthogonal surface 

acoustic wave device based on langasite for 

simultaneous biosensing and biofouling 

removal,” Applied Physics Letters 2009, 94, 

(26), 263503/1-263503/3. 

Singh, R.; Sankaranarayanan, S. K. R. S.; 

Bhethanabotla, V. R., “Enhanced surface 

acoustic wave biosensor performance via 

delay path modifications in mutually interacting 

multidirectional transducer configuration: a 

computational study,” Applied Physics Letters 

2009, 95, (3), 034101/1-034101/3. 

Sankaranarayanan Subramanian, K. R. S.; 

Bhethanabotla Venkat, R., “Numerical analysis 

of wave generation and propagation in a 

focused surface acoustic wave device for 

potential microfluidics applications,” IEEE 

Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, 

and Frequency Control 2009, 56, (3), 631-43. 

Sankaranarayanan, S. K. R. S.; 

Bhethanabotla, V. R., “Finite-element 

modeling of a hexagonal surface acoustic 

wave device based on LinNbO3 substrate,” 

IEEE Sensors Journal 2009, 9, (4), 329-339. 

Chowdhury, S.; Bhethanabotla, V. R.; Sen, R., 

“Effect of Ag-Cu alloy nanoparticle 

composition on luminescence enhancement / 

quenching,” Journal of Physical Chemistry C 

2009, 113, (30), 13016-13022. 

Chowdhury, S.; Bhethanabotla, V. R.; Sen, R., 

“Silver-copper alloy nanoparticles for metal 

enhanced luminescence,” Applied Physics 

Letters 2009, 95, (13), 131115/1-131115/3. 

Choudhury, P.; Srinivasan, S. S.; 

Bhethanabotla, V. R.; Goswami, Y.; McGrath, 

K.; Stefanakos, E. K., “Nano-Ni doped Li-Mn- 

B-H system as a new hydrogen storage 

candidate,” International Journal of Hydrogen 

Energy 2009, 34, (15), 6325-6334. 

Choudhury, P.; Bhethanabotla, V. R.; 

Stefanakos, E., “Manganese borohydride as a 

hydrogen-storage candidate: first-principles 

crystal structure and thermodynamic 

properties,” Journal of Physical Chemistry C 

2009, 113, (30), 13416-13424. 

Bhethanabotla, V. R.; Williams, R. D. “High 

frequency thickness shear mode acoustic 

wave sensors for gas and organic vapor 

detection,” 2006-460851. 2009151428, 

20060728. 2009. 

Campbell 

Abutayeh, M.; Campbell, S. W., “Predicting the 

citrate soluble loss of the dihydrate process,” 

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 

2009, 48, (18), 8670-8677. 

Gilbert 

Rey, J. I., Connolly R. J., Jaroszeski, M.J., 

Hoff, A.M., Lewelllyn, J.A., and Gilbert, R. 

(2009). “Piezoelectric Nature of Tissues: 

Electrostrictive Forces on vesicles with 

compartmentalized permittivity and 

conductivity conditions,” IEEE Transactions on 

Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation 16(5): 

1280-1287. 

Connolly, R.J., Rey, J. I., Jaroszeski, M.J., 


(2009). “ Effectiveness of non-penetrating 

electroporation applicators to function as 

impedance spectroscopy electrodes,” IEEE 

Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical 

Insulation 16(5): 1348-1355. 

Goswami 

Vittetoe, A.W., Niemann, M.U., Srinivasan, 

S.S., K. McGrath, Kumar, A., Goswami, 

D.Y., E.K. Stefanakos, and Thomas, S. 

(2009) “Destabilization of LiAlH 4 

by 

Nanocrystalline MgH 2, 

” International Journal of 

Hydrogen Energy, 34:5, pp. 2333-2339. 

Razykov, T.J., Anderson, T., Acher, R., 

Crasium, V., Crisale, Goswami, Yl, Kucharov, 

K.M., Li, S., Wijayaghawan, S., and Ergashev, 

B. (2009) “Electron microprobe X-ray spectral 

analysis of CMBD CdTe Filems of Different 

Composition,” Applied Solar Energy, 45:1, pp. 

48-50. 

Choudhury, P., Srinivasan, S.S., 

Bhethanabotla, V.R., Goswami, D.Y., 

McGrath, K. and Stefanakos, E.K. (2009) 

“Nano-Ni doped Li-Mn-B-H system as a new 

hydrogen storage Candidate,” International 

Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 34(15), pp. 6325- 

6334. 

Abutayeh, M.; Goswami, D. Y., “Solar flash 

desalination under hydrostatically sustained 

vacuum,” Journal of Solar Energy Engineering 

2009, 131, (3), 031016/1-031016/7. 

Kislov, N.; Lahiri, J.; Verma, H.; Goswami, D. 

Y.; Stefanakos, E.; Batzill, M., “Photocatalytic 

degradation of methyl orange over single 

crystalline ZnO: Orientation dependence of 

photoactivity and photostability of ZnO,” 

Langmuir 2009, 25, (5), 3310-3315. 

Lee, M. S.; Goswami, D. Y.; Stefanakos, E. K., 

“Immobilization of calcium oxide solid reactant 

on a yttria fabric and thermodynamic analysis 

of UT-3 thermochemical hydrogen production 

cycle,” International Journal of Hydrogen 


Maroo, S. C.; Goswami, D. Y., “Theoretical 

analysis of a single-stage and two-stage solar 

driven flash desalination system based on 

passive vacuum generation,” Desalination 

2009, 249, (2), 635-646. 

Niemann, M. U.; Srinivasan, S. S.; Kumar, A.; 

Stefanakos, E. K.; Goswami, D. Y.; McGrath, 

K., “Processing analysis of the ternary LiNH 2 

- 

MgH 2 

-LiBH 4 

system for hydrogen storage,” 

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 

2009, 34, (19), 8086-8093. 

Niemann, M. U.; Srinivasan, S. S.; McGrath, 

K.; Kumar, A.; Goswami, D. Y.; Stefanakos, E. 

K., “Nanocrystalline effects on the reversible 

hydrogen storage characteristics of complex 

hydrides,” Ceramic Transactions 2009, 202, 

(Materials Innovations in an Emerging 

Hydrogen Economy), 111-117. 

Niemann, M. U.; Srinivasan, S. S.; Phani, A. 

R.; Kumar, A.; Goswami, D. Y.; Stefanakos, E. 

K., “Room temperature reversible hydrogen 

storage in polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers,” 

Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology 

2009, 9, (8), 4561-4565. 

Vittetoe, A. W.; Niemann, M. U.; Srinivasan, S. 

S.; McGrath, K.; Kumar, A.; Goswami, D. Y.; 

Stefanakos, E. K.; Thomas, S., 

“Destabilization of LiAlH4 by nanocrystalline 

MgH2,” International Journal of Hydrogen 


20

Gupta 

Coutinho, C. A.; Gupta, V. K., “Photocatalytic 

degradation of methyl orange using polymertitania 

microcomposites,” Journal of Colloid 

and Interface Science 2009, 333, (2), 457- 

464. 

Jaroszeski 

Boone, L. R.; Niesen, M. I.; Jaroszeski, M.; 

Ness, G. C., “In vivo identification of promoter 

elements and transcription factors mediating 

activation of hepatic HMG-CoA reductase by 

T3,” Biochemical and Biophysical Research 

Communications 2009, 385, (3), 466-471. 

Connolly, R. J.; Lopez, G. A.; Hoff, A. M.; 

Jaroszeski, M. J., “Plasma facilitated delivery 

of DNA to skin,” Biotechnology and 

Bioengineering 2009, 104, (5), 1034-1040. 

Frewin, C. L.; Jaroszeski, M.; Weeber, E.; 

Muffly, K. E.; Kumar, A.; Peters, M.; Oliveros, 

A.; Saddow, S. E., “Atomic force microscopy 

analysis of central nervous system cell 

morphology on silicon carbide and diamond 

substrates,” Journal of Molecular Recognition 

2009, 22, (5), 380-388. 

Rey, J. I., Connolly R. J., Jaroszeski, M.J., 


(2009) “Piezoelectric Nature of Tissues: 

Electrostrictive Forces on vesicles with 

compartmentalized permittivity and 

conductivity conditions,” IEEE Transactions 

on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation 16(5): 

1280-1287. 

Connolly, R.J., Rey, J. I., Jaroszeski, M.J., 


(2009). “ Effectiveness of non-penetrating 

electroporation applicators to function as 

impedance spectroscopy electrodes,” IEEE 

Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical 

Insulation 16(5). 

Khanna, P.; Ramachandran, N.; Yang, J.; 

Wang, J.; Kumar, A.; Jaroszeski, M.; Bhansali, 

S., “Nanocrystalline diamond microspikes 

increase the efficiency of ultrasonic cell lysis in 

a microfluidic lab-on-a-chip,” Diamond and 

Related Materials 2009, 18, (4), 606-610. 

Joseph 

Kababji, A. H., Joseph, B., Wolan, J. T., 

“Silica-supported cobalt catalysts for Fischer- 

Tropsch synthesis: Effects of calcination 

temperature and support surface area on 

cobalt silicate Formation,” Catalysis Letters 

2009, 130, (1-2), 72-78. 

Kuhn 

Zhao, Z., Lakshminarayanan, N., Kuhn, J.N., 

Senefeld-Naber, A., Felix, L.G., Slimane, R.B., 

Choi, C.W., and Ozkan, U.S., “Optimization of 

thermally impregnated Ni-olivine catalysts for 

tar removal,” Applied Catalysis A: General 363 

(2009) 64-72. 

Kuhn, J.N., Tsung, C.-K., Huang, W., and 

Somorjai, G.A., “Effect of capping agent upon 

activity for ethylene hydrogenation and carbon 

monoxide oxidation over platinum 

nanoparticles supported on mesoporous 

silica,” Journal of Catalysis 265 (2009) 209- 

215. 

Tsung, C.-K., Kuhn, J.N., Huang, W., Aliaga, 

C., Hung, L.-I., Somorjai, G.A., and Yang, P. 

“Sub-10 nm platinum nanocrystals with size 

and shape control: Catalytic study for ethylene 

and pyrrole hydrogenation,” Journal of the 

American Chemical Society 131 (2009) 5816- 

5822. 

Sagüés 

Lau, K.; Sagüés, A. A., “Corrosion of epoxyand 

polymer/zinc-coated rebar in simulated 

concrete pore solution,” Corrosion (Houston, 

TX, United States) 2009, 65, (10), 681-694. 

Presuel-Moreno, F. J.; Sagüés, A. A., “Bulk 

magnetic susceptibility measurements for 

determination of fly ash presence in concrete,” 

Cement and Concrete Research 2009, 39, (2), 

95-101. 

Sunol 

Patel, K. S.; Sunol, A. K., “Automatic 

generation of global phase equilibrium 

diagrams for binary systems from equations of 

state,” Computers & Chemical Engineering 

2009, 33, (11), 1793-1804. 

Sunol, A. K.; Sunol, S.; Ferguson, T. W. “A 

self-contained heater device,” 2008-220146 

2009090351, 20080722, 2009. 

Toomey 

Smith, H. L.; Jablin, M. S.; Vidyasagar, A.; 

Saiz, J.; Watkins, E.; Toomey, R.; Hurd, A. J.; 

Majewski, J., “Model lipid membranes on a 

tunable polymer cushion,” Physical Review 

Letters 2009, 102, (22), 228102/1-228102/4. 

Vidyasagar, A.; Smith, H. L.; Majewski, J.; 

Toomey, R. G., “Continuous and 

discontinuous volume-phase transitions in 

surface-tethered, photo-crosslinked poly(Nisopropylacrylamide) 

networks,” Soft Matter 

2009, 5, (23), 4733-4738. 

Wolan 

Kababji, A. H., Joseph, B., Wolan, J. T., 

“Silica-supported cobalt catalysts for Fischer- 

Tropsch synthesis: effects of calcination 

temperature and support surface area on 

cobalt silicate formation,” Catalysis Letters 

2009, 130, (1-2), 72-78. 

Mbah, J.; Krakow, B.; Stefanakos, E.; Wolan, 

J., “Influence of high energy planetary milling 

on the ionic conductivity of CsHSO4,” 

Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters 2009, 

12, (7), E12-E16. 

Mbah, J.; Krakow, B.; Stefanakos, E.; Wolan, 

J. T., “A study on H2S permeability of 

CsHSO4 membranes,” International Journal of 

Hydrogen Energy 2009, 34, (5), 2460-2466. 

21

Presentations by Faculty at National/International Conferences in 2009 

Alcantar 

Dawn I. Fox, Norma Alcantar, "Cactus 

mucilage: Using a natural hydrocolloid to 

remove arsenic from drinking water,“ In 13th 

IACIS International Conference on Surface 

and Colloid Science and the 83rd ACS Colloid 

& Surface Science Symposium, Columbia 

University, New York, New York, 2009. 

Alcantar, Norma, "Direct observation of the 

effect of monoclonal antibodies on the 

evolution of amyloid peptide fibrils,” In USF 

Neuroscience Program - Byrd Alzheimer 

Center Research Symposium, Clearwater, FL, 

2009. 

Williams E, Toomey R, Alcantar N., "Novel 

double packaged system for localized drug 

delivery for ovarian cancer,“ In Annual Meeting 

of AIChE 2009, Nashville, TN, 2009. 

Alcantar, Norma, "Removing bacteria and 

heavy metals from drinking water with cactus 

mucilage,“ In The 237th ACS National 

Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, 2009. 

Alcantar, Norma, "Synthesis and 

characterization of surface active films,“ In 

Smart Coatings 2009, Orlando, FL, 2009. 

Alcantar, Norma, "The use of cactus mucilage 

as strategy to scour arsenic and bacteria in 

water," In American Society for Tropical 

Medicine and Hygiene, Washington, D.C., 


Alcantar, Norma, "Using a natural material for 

removing bacteria and heavy metals from 

drinking water,"In University of Florida Mexico 

Forum Keynote Address, 2009. 

Dawn I. Fox, Thomas Pichler, Daniel Yeh, 

Norma Alcantar, "Using cactus mucilage to 

remove inorganic contaminants from drinking 

water,“ In Annual Meeting of AIChE 2009, 

Nashville, TN, 2009. 

Williams E, Toomey R, Alcantar N., "Using 

surface forces to design a localized drug 

delivery system for cancer treatment, “ In 8th 

World Congress of Chemical Engineering 

(WCCE8), Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 2009. 

Bhethanabotla 

Fanord, F. F., Korie; Kim, Harry K.W.; 

Bhetanabotla, Venkat; Gupta, Vinay K., 

"Bisphosphonate modified gold nanoparticles 

to study bone resorption,“ In AIChE Annual 

Meeting, Nashville, TN, 2009. 

Choudhury, P., Nianthrini, B., Bhethanabotla, 

V., Stefanakos, E. , "Complex borohydride for 

reversible hydrogen storage,“ In AIChE Annual 


Chowdhury, S., Bhethanabotla, Venkat, Sen, 

Rajan, "Composition effect of ag-cu alloy 

nanoparticles on luminescence 

enhancement/quenching of vicinal 

luminophores,“ In AIChE Annual Meeting, 


Singh, R., Bhethanabotla, V.R., 

Sankaranarayanan, S.K.R.S., "Design of 

mutually interacting multi-directional 

transducer configurations on a surface 

acoustic wave device for enhanced 

biosensing,“ In IEEE Sensors 2009 

Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand, 


Balakrishnan, N., Bhethanabotla, Venkat R., 

Joseph, Babu, "Effect of cluster size on co 

adsorption and dissociation on cobalkt 

catalysis: Dft studies using cluster models," In 

AIChE Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, 2009. 


"Enhancement in ultrasonic micro-transport 

using focused inter-digital trandsducers in a 

surface acoustic wave device: Fluid-structure 

interaction study,“ In IEEE Sensors 2009 



Chowdhury, S., Bhethanabotla, Venkat R., 

Sen, Rajan, "Fluorescence quenching of 

cdse/zns nanocrystals by binding to copper 

nanoparticles,“ In MRS Fall Meeting, Boston, 

MA, 2009. 


Rajan "Fluorescence quenching of cdse/zns 

nanocrystals near copper nanoparticles in 

aqueous solution,“ In AIChE Annual Meeting, 


Singh, R. S., Subramanian K.R.S., 

Bhethanabotla, Venkat R., "Hexagonal surface 

acoustic wave sensor for multiple biomarker 

detection in biosensing applications,“ In AIChE 

Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, 2009. 


Bhethanabotla, Venkat R., "Integrated focused 

and conventional transducer configuration on 

a single piezoelectric device for simultaneous 

biosensing and biofouling removal,“ In AIChE 



Bhethanabotla, Venkat R., "Integrated 

transducer and surface modifications on saw 

device for enhanced biosensing,“ In MRS Fall 

Meeting, Boston, MA, 2009. 

Choudhury, P. S., Sesha S., Bhethanabotla, 

Venkat R., Goswami, Yogi, Stefanakos, Elias, 

"Limn(bh4)3 for on-board hydrogen storage,” 

In AIChE Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, 



Bhethanabotla, Venkat R., "Microcavityinduced 

acoustic streaming enhancement in a 

surface acoustic wave device based on 

langasite,“ In AIChE Annual Meeting,, 


Richardson, M. B., Bhetanabotla, Venkat; 

Branch, Darren W.; Edwards, Thayne L., 

"Multiple biomarker detection using sh-saw 

resonator array,“ In AIChE Annual Meeting, 


Khoe, C., Bhethanabotla, V. R., Sen, R., "A 

new diffusion cell for characterizing oxygen 

permeation of fiber reinforced polymers," In 

American Composite Manufacturers 

Association, ACMA, Tampa, FL, 2009. 

Choudhury, P. S., Sesha S., Bhethanabotla, 

Venkat R., Goswami, Yogi, Stefanakos, Elias 

"New type of reversible hydrogen storage 

material at low temperature," In MRS Fall 

Meeting, Boston, MA, 2009. 


Sankaranarayanan, S.K.R.S., "A novel three 

dimensional fluid-structure interaction finite 

element of model of wave propagation in saw 

device: Application to biosensing & 

microfluidics,“ In IEEE Sensors 2009 



Singh, R., Bhethanabotla, Venkat R., 

"Orthogonal saw device based on langasite for 

simultaneous biosensing and biofouling 

removal: A fluid structure interaction study,” In 


Choudhury, P., Bhethanabotla, Venkat R., 

Stefanakos, Elias "Reversible borohydride for 

hydrogen storage,” In MRS Fall Meeting, 

Boston, MA, 2009. 


Rajan, "Spr tuning of silver-copper alloy 

nanoparticles: Application in metal enhanced 

luminescence," In MRS Fall Meeting, Boston, 


22

Goswami 

“New and Emerging Solar Energy 

Technologies,” Keynote Address, Farrington 

Daniels Award Lecture, Solar World Congress, 

Johannesburg, South Africa, October 2009. 

“New and Emerging Solar Energy 

Technologies,” Keynote Address, Plenary 

Lecture, CISBAT Conference, Lausanne, 

Switzerland, September 2009. 

“Emerging CSP Market in India,” Keynote 

Address, SolarPACES conference, Berlin, 

Germany, September 2009. 

Abutayeh, M. and Goswami, D.Y. , 

"Experimental simulation of solar flash 

desalination,” In AIChE National Meeting, 


Chen, H. and Goswami D.Y. , "The conversion 

of moderate temperature heat into power and 

refrigeration with CO 2 

and organic binary 

working fluid,“ In Biennial international student 

conference of Education without Borders, 

Dubai, UAE, 2009. 

Li, C., Srinivasan, S., Kislov, N., Schmidt, M., 

Stefanakos, L., and Goswami, Y., 

"Enhancement of TiO2 photocatalytic activity 

by N-doping using the gas phase impregnation 

method,” In 2009 MRS Fall Meeting, Boston, 


Li, C., Srinivasan, S., Kislov, N., Phani, A., 

Stefanakos, L., and Goswami, Y. , "Increasing 

the photocatalytic activity by nechanochemically 

milling on Zn-doped TiO2,” In 2009 

MRS Fall Meeting, Boston, MA, 2009. 

Niemann, M., Srinivasan, S., Phani, A., 

Kumar, A., Goswami, Y. and Stefanakos, E. , 

"Hydrogen sorption behaviour in conducting 

polymer nanostructures,” In ASME 

International Mechanical Engineering 

Congress and Exposition, Lake Buena Vista, 

FL, 2009. 

Niemann, M., Srinivasan, S., McGrath, K., 

Kumar, A., Goswami, Y. and Stefanakos, E. , 

"Processing and characterization of new 

multinary Li-Mg-B-N-H complexed hydrides for 

hydrogen storage,” In 2009 ASME 




Srinivasan, S., Kislov, N., Emirov, Y., 

Stefanakos, E. and Goswami, Y. , 

"Investigation of ZnFe204 nanoparticles 

prepared by high energy milling,” In ASME 




Gupta 

Fedena Fanord, Korie Fairbairn, Harry Kim, 

Venkat Bhethanabotla, Vinay K. Gupta, 

"Bisphosphonate modified gold nanoparticles 

to study bone resorption,” In American 

Institute of Chemical Engineers, Annual 


Cecil Coutinho, Vinay K. Gupta, "Investigating 

the photocatalytic performance of rapid 

settling pnipam-titania microcomposites,” In 

American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 


Cecil A. Coutinho, Subrahmanya R. 

Mudhivarthi, Ashok Kumar, Vinay K. Gupta, 

"Novel ceria-polymer composites for reduced 

defects during oxide cmp,” In Symposium on 

Science and Technology of Chemical 

Mechanical Planarization (CMP) at the Annual 

Spring Meeting of MRS, San Francisco, CA, 


Cecil Coutinho, Vinay K. Gupta, 

"Photocatalytic degradation using polymertitania 

microcomposites,” In Annual Joint 

Symposium of Florida Chapter of the AVS 

Science and Technology Society and Florida 

Society of Microscopy, Orlando, FL, 2009. 

Cecil A. Coutinho, Vinay K. Gupta, "Polymertitania 

composites for photocatalytic 

degradation of organics in aqueous 

environments,” In Symposium on Materials 

Science of Water Purification at the Annual 

Spring Meeting of MRS, San Francisco, CA, 


V. K. Gupta, Bijith Mankidy, Cecil Coutinho, "A 

simple optical experiment on polymer diffusion 

for undergraduates that incorporates web-cam 

capture, data digitization, and multi-variable 

regression," In American Institute of Chemical 

Engineers, Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, 


Chhavi Manocha, Ashok Kumar, Vinay K. 

Gupta, "Study of conditioner abrasives in 

chemical mechanical planarization,” In 

Symposium on Science and Technology of 

Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) at 

the Annual Spring Meeting of MRS, San 

Francisco, CA, 2009. 

Korie Fairbairn, Fedena Fanord, Harry Kim, 

Venkat Bhethanabotla, Vinay K. Gupta, 

"Studying the effects of gold nanoparticles on 

mature osteoclast cells,” In Annual Joint 

Symposium of Florida Chapter of the AVS 

Science and Technology Society and Florida 

Society of Microscopy, Orlando, FL, 2009. 

Bijith Mankidy, Babu Joseph, Vinay Gupta, 

"Surface decoration of cobalt nanoparticles on 

silica colloids,” In American Institute of 

Chemical Engineers, Annual Meeting, 


Alisha Petereson, Vinay Gupta, "Synthesis 

and characterization of novel nanomaterials: 

Gold nanoshells with an organic-inorganic 

hybrid core,” In American Institute of Chemical 

Engineers, Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, 


Fedena Fanord, Korie Fairbairn, Harry Kim, 

Venkat Bhethanabotla, Vinay K. Gupta, "Using 

functionalized nanoparticles to study 

intracellular response central to the 

progression of osteonecrosis,” In National 

Organization for the Professional 

Advancement of Black Chemists and 

Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE), St. Louis, 

MO, 2009. 

Jaroszeski 

Jaroszeski, M.J. and Connolly, R.J. , "Charge 

based systems for plasmid DNA and drug 

delivery,” In Advanced in Research (AIR) 

Seminar Series, Old Dominion University, 

Frank Reidy Center for Bioelectrics, Norfolk, 

VA, April, 2009. 

Jaroszeski, M.J. and Connolly, R.J., "Plasma 

based method for augmenting DNA delivery to 

skin,” In International Symposium on 

Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics, Sibiu, 

Romania, May, 2009. 

Connolly, R. C., Lopez. G. Wegerif, G., Hoff, 

A.M., and Jaroszeski, M.J., "Effects of plasma 

mediated molecular delivery,” In XXth 

International Symposium on 

Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics, Sibiu, 

Romania, May, 2009. 

Connolly, R. C., Muffly, K.E., Hoff, A.M., 

Llewellyn, J.A., Gilbert, R., and Jaroszeski, 

M.J., "Skin as a bioengineering interface,” In 

215 th Electrochemical Society Meeting, San 

Francisco, CA, May, 2009. 

Medrano, J., Anderson, A., Jaroszeski, M.J., 

Gitliin, R., "Dynamic bioimpedance feedback 

for in vivo electroporated tissues,” In 2009 

USF College of Engineering Research Day, 

University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 2009. 

23

Joseph 

Alaa Kababji, Babu Joseph, John Wolan, 

"Fischer-tropsch synthesis using cobalt silica 

supported catalysts,” In Gulf Coast Energy 

Network’s Power Up 2009 Energy Conference 

& Expo, Walton Beach, Florida, 2009. 

J. Wolan, B. Mankidy, B. Joseph, V. K. Gupta 

In Surface decoration of cobalt nanoparticles 

on silica colloids, AIChE Annual Meeting, 


Balakrishnan, N.; Bhethanabotla, V. R.; 

Joseph, B. In Effect of cluster size on co 

adsorption and dissociation on cobalt 

catalysts: Dft studies using cluster models, 


Joseph, B., "Teaching reaction engineering 

and process control: A spiral approach,” In 

NSF Sponsored Workshop on Transforming 

the Educational Experience of Students in 

Chemical Engineering, USF, Tampa, FL, 


S. A. Gardezi, B. Joseph, J. Wolan In 

Metal/support interaction effects in fischertropsch 

synthesis: Significance of catalyst 

preparation, AIChE Annual Meeting; Nashville, 

TN, 2009. 

Kuhn 

Huang, W., Tsung, C.-K., Kuhn, J.N., and 

Somorjai, G.A., "Cyclohexene hydrogenation / 

dehydrogenation over bimetallic rhodiumplatinum 

nanoparticles,” In AICHE Annual 

Meeting, Nashville, TN, November, 2009. 

Huang, W., Kuhn, J.N., Tsung, C.-K., and 

Somorjai, G.A., "Synthesis of dendrimer 

encapsulated one nanometer rh and pt 

particles and their activity for ethylene and 

pyrrole hydrogenation,” In 21st North 

American Catalysis Society Meeting, San 

Francisco, CA, June, 2009. 

Huang, W., Kuhn, J.N., Tsung, C.-K., Zhang, 

Y., and Somorjai, G.A., "Dendrimer 

encapsulated one nanometer pt and rh 

particles: Characterization and hydrogenation 

studies of ethylene and pyrrole,“In Spring ACS 

Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, March, 2009. 

Huang, W., Li, Y., Kuhn, J.N., Tsung, C.-K., 

and Somorjai, G.A., "Co oxidation and 

ethylene hydrogenation over one nanometer 

bimetallic rhpt particles,” In Spring ACS 

Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, March, 2009. 

Kuhn, J.N., Huang, W., Tsung, C.-K., and 

Somorjai, G.A., "Size dependence of pyrrole 

hydrogenation over monodisperse platinum 

nanoparticles supported on mesoporous 

silica,“ In 21st North American Catalysis 

Society Meeting, San Francisco, CA, June, 


Kuhn, J.N., Huang, W., Tsung, C.-K., and 

Somorjai, G.A., "Structure sensitivity of pyrrole 

hydrogenation over monodisperse platinum 

nanoparticles supported onto mesoporous 

silica,” In Spring ACS Meeting, Salt Lake City, 

UT, March, 2009. 

Lakshminarayanan, N., Choi, H., Kuhn, J.N., 

Millet, J.-M.M. and Ozkan, U.S., "Control of 

oxygen mobility in doped lafeo3 as sofc 

catalysts,” In 6th World Congress on Oxidation 

Catalysis, Lille, France, July, 2009. 

Lakshminarayanan, N., Kuhn, J.N., and 

Ozkan, U.S., "Nature of deactivation in sofc 

anode catalysts in the presence of h2s,” In 

21st North American Catalysis Society 

Meeting, San Francisco, CA, June, 2009. 

Tsung, C.-K., Kuhn, J.N., Huang, W., and 

Somorjai, G.A., "Role of synthetic additives in 

catalysis: Ethylene hydrogenation and carbon 

monoxide oxidation over monodisperse 

platinum nanoparticles with organic capping 

layers,” In AICHE Annual Meeting, Nashville, 

TN, November, 2009. 

Tsung, C.-K., Kuhn, J.N., Huang, W., 

Somorjai, G.A., and Yang, P., "Platinum 

nanocrystals smaller than 10 nm with size and 

shape control: A study of ethylene and pyrrole 

hydrogenation," In Spring ACS Meeting, Salt 

Lake City, UT, March, 2009. 

Tsung, C.-K., Kuhn, J.N., Huang, W., Yang, 

P., and Somorjai, G.A., "Pyrrole hydrogenation 

over size and shape controlled platinum 

nanocrystals,” In Spring ACS Meeting, Salt 

Lake City, UT, March, 2009. 

Lee 

Schulz B, Lee WE III, and Lloyd, J. “The 

effects of concurrent tasks on 3D overground 

minimum toe clearance,” In Gait & Clinical 

Movement Analysis Society, Denver, CO, 

March 2009. 

Schulz B, Lee, WE III, and Lloyd, J. “The 

effects of concurrent tasks on 3D overground 

minimum toe clearance,” In10 th Annual 

Transforming Falls Prevention Conference, 

Clearwater, FL, May 2009. 

Lee, WE III and Jones, R. “Creativity problem 

solving and discovery,” In AIS 31 st Annual 

Meeting, University of Alabama, October 


Sagüés 

A. A. Sagüés, K. Lau and S.C. Kranc, 

"Challenges in incorporating potentialdependent 

threshold in predictive models for 

corrosion of steel in concrete," 5th Kurt 

Schwabe Symposium "From Corrosion to 

Semiconductors", Erlangen, Germany, May 

24-28, 2009. 

A. A. Sagüés, S.C. Kranc, and K. Lau, 

"Service life forecasting for reinforced concrete 

incorporating potential-dependent chloride 

threshold,“Corrosion /09, NACE 

International, NACE International, Atlanta, 

Georgia, March 22-26, 2009. 

K. Lau and A. A. Sagüés, "Corrosion of epoxyand 

polymer/zinc- coated rebar in simulated 

concrete pore solution,” Corrosion /09, NACE 

International, Atlanta, Georgia, March 22-26, 


A. A. Sagüés, K. Lau and S.C. Kranc, 

"Challenges in predictive modeling of 

corrosion damage in reinforced concrete,” 

Research Topical Symposium, Corrosion /09, 

NACE International, NACE International, 

Atlanta, Georgia, March 22-26, 2009. 

Smith 

Smith, Carlos A., plenary speaker, In 2010 

Congress of Colombian Chemical Engineers, 

Medellin, Colombia, South America, 2009. 

Sunol 

Haitao Li, Sermin Sunol, Aydin Sunol, 

"Supercritical fluid aided synthesis of 

nanostructured catalyst,“ In AIChE Annual 

Meeting, Nashville, TN, November 2009. 

Sunol, Aydin, "Foundations of supercritical 

fluid aided materials development,” In 

Princeton University, November 18, 2009. 

Sunol, Aydin, "Green manufacturing of nano 

structured energetic systems,” In San Antonio, 

TX, February 2009. 

Wade Mack, Sermin Sunol, Aydin Sunol, 

"Determination of sorption isotherms using 

supercritical fluid chromatography,” In AIChE 

Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, November 


24

Sunol Continued 

Darron C. Purifoy, John P. Kosky , Aydin K. 

Sunol, “Micro-cellular Solid Propellant 

Technology,” In Suborbital Missions and the 

Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion 

(SUSTAIN) Forum, Lackland Air Force Base, 

San Antonio, Texas, 24 – 26 February 2009. 

Son H. Ho, Muhammad M. Rahman, Mutasim 

Elsheikh, Aydin K. Sunol, “Analysis of Thermal 

Response of a Portable Blood Cooling 

Device,” In 2009 ASME International 

Mechanical Engineering Congress and 

Exposition, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA 

November 13-19, 2009. 

Toomey 

Michael Jablin; Smith, Hillary; Zhernenkov, 

Mikhail; Vidyasagar, Ajay; Toomey, Ryan; 

Saiz, Jessica; Toperverg, Boris; Watkins, Erik; 

Kuhl, Tonya; Hurd, Alan; Majewski, Jaroslaw, 

"Breathable nipaam network with controllable 

hydration supports model lipid membrane," In 

2009 APS March Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, 

March, 2009. 

Ophir Ortiz, Ajay Vidyasagar and Ryan 

Toomey, "Active surface topographies in 

constrained hydrogel films,“ In MRS Fall 

Meeting 2009, Boston, MA, November, 2009. 

Samuel DuPont, Peter Stroot and Ryan 

Toomey, "Reversible buckling of patterned 

micro-scale poly(n-isopropylacrylamide) 

structures due to surface confinement,” In 

MRS Fall Meeting, Boston, MA, November, 


Toomey, Ajay Vidyasagar and Ryan, "Volumephase 

transitions and confined water in 

surface-tethered poly(n-isopropylacrylamide) 

networks," In 2009 APS March Meeting, 

Pittsburgh, PA, March, 2009. 

Toomey, Ajay Vidyasagar and Ryan, "Role of 

hofmeister series of salts on the volume phase 

transition of peptide modified n- 

isopropylacrylamide networks,” In 2009 Fall 

AIChE Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, 

November, 2009. 

Toomey, Leena Patra and Ryan, "Volumephase 

transitions in photo-crosslinked, 

surface-tethered lcst polymer networks,” In 

2009 Fall AIChE Annual Meeting, Nashville, 


Toomey, Ryan, "Volume-phase transitions and 

swelling instabilities in surface-tethered 

responsive gels,” In 2009 APS March Meeting 

Pittsburg, PA, March, 2009. 

Toomey, Ryan, "Volume-phase transitions in 

surface-tethered networks and implications for 

swelling instabilities,” In Georgia Tech: 

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 

Departmental Seminar, Atlanta, Georgia, 

September, 2009. 


confined water in surface-tethered poly(nisopropylacrylamide)," 

In Los Alamos Neutron 

and Science Center User Group Meeting, 

Santa Fe, NM, September, 2009. 

Toomey, Ryan, "Buckling instabilities in 

surface-confined, poly(n isopropylacrylamide) 

microstructures,” In GelSympo 2009 (8th 

International Gel Symposium) Osaka, Japan, 

December, 2009. 


swelling instabilities in surface-tethered 

responsive gels,” In ACS Spring National 

Meeting Salt Lake City, UT, March, 2009. 

Wolan 

Alaa Kababji, Babu Joseph, John Wolan, 

"Fischer-Tropsch synthesis using cobalt silica 

supported catalysts,” In Gulf Coast Energy 

Network’s Power Up 2009 Energy Conference 

& Expo Walton Beach, Florida, 2009. 

S.A. Gardezi, J.T. Wolan, B. Joseph, 

"Metal/support interaction effects in Fischer- 

Tropsch synthesis: Significance of catalyst 

preparation,” In FESC 2009 Summit, Tampa, 


Wolan, J.T., B. Ridder , "Vs photocataylitic 

oxidation of metal orange,” In AIChE, 

Nashville , TN , 2009. 

Wolan, J.T., J. Mbah, "Hydrogen sulfide 

splitting via electrolysis,” In International 

symposium, Washington, DC, 2009. 

Wolan, J.T., "Hydrogen storage research,” In 

2009 DOE Annual Merit Review Meeting, 

Washington DC, USA, 2009. 

Wolan, J.T. and S. Gardezi "Characterization 

of fts catalysts,” In Fall 2009 DFLAVS, Tampa, 


Wolan, J.T. and S. Gardezi., "Eggshell cat., “ 

In 2009 Fall AIChE Annual Meeting, Nashville, 


S. A. Gardezi, B. Joseph, J. Wolan In 

Metal/support interaction effects in Fischer- 

Tropsch synthesis: Significance of catalyst 

preparation,” In AIChE Annual Meeting, 


25

Our Faculty were active in these grants and contracts during 2009 

Project Title 

Multiple Biomarker Sensor for Early Detection of 

Ovarian Cancer 

HCC to USF for FLATE Interactions with BITT 

Planning for Education 

FL-ATE Florida Regional Center for Manufacturing 

Education 

Remote Monitoring of Bridges 

Electro oration System for Cutaneous Gene 

Transfer 

SGER: Conducting and Semi-transparent 

Chemically Active Surface 

Design and Construction of Precast Piles with 

Stainless Reinforcing Steel 

MRI: Acquisition of a Computational Cluster for 

Research and Training at the University of South 

Florida in Partnership with Eckerd College and the 

University of Tampa 

Reinforced Concrete Pipe Cracks - Acceptance 

Criteria 

Design and Development of Self Cooling Products 

that Utilize Evaporative Technologies 

Corrosion Characteristics of Post-Tensioning 

Strands in Ungrouted Ducts 

Mechanistic Issues on Corrosion Performance of 

Dual Polymeric-Zinc Coated Rebar-Continuation. 

Principal and 

Co-Principal 

Investigators (PI) 

Sponsor/Agency 

Awarded Project 

Period 

Total 

Costs 

Awarded 

Bhethanabotla (PI) National Science Foundation 06/2008 05/31/11 $216,980 

Kruk (co-PI) 

Gilbert (PI) Hillsborough Community College 09/01/08 09/01/10 $40,000 

Gilbert (PI) 

Sen (PI) 

Mullins (co-PI) 

Sagüés (co-PI) 

Heller (PI) 

Jaroszeski (co-PI) 

Alcantar 

Mullins (PI) 

Sen (co-PI) 

Sagüés (co-PI) 

Subcontract on a NSF grant from 07/01/04 06/30/10 $237,842 

Hillsborough Community College 

Mistras Group Inc. 08/04/09 01/31/11 $233,284 

National Institute of Biomedical 

Imaging and Bioengineering 

National 

Science Foundation 

Florida Department of 

Transportation 

09/01/06 06/30/10 $30,000 

02/01/08 01/31/09 $100,000 

12/03/09 03/01/12 $210,000 

Bhethanabotla National Science Foundation 08/15/07 08/31/10 $499,999 

Sagüés 

A. Sunol (PI) 

Rahman (co-PI) 

Wilkinson (co-PI) 

Sagüés 



Temptroll, Florida High Tech 

Corridor 



07/01/09 04/01/11 $80,000 

05/30/07 03/31/10 $82,500 

11/04/08 07/30/10 $79,938 

Sagüés Gerdau Ameristeel 07/22/08 10/21/09 $98,995 

Faculty for the Future Award Alcantar Schlumberger Foundation 07/01/08 06/30/10 $49,029 

Biomechanics Basic Studies in Patient Safety Lee Veterans Administration Medical 

Center 

VA Patient Safety Research Lloyd Projects Lee Veterans Administration Medical 

Center 

Molecular Engineering of Nanoscale Constructs 

Using Self-Assembled Cavitands 

CAREER:Responsive,Surface-Attached Networks 

with Built-in Logic- An Integrated Research and 

Education Plan 

Development of Novel Polymer Nanocomposite 

Materials 

Performance of Evaluation of FresuR 

Evaporatively Cooled Residential Air Conditioner 

A STEP to grow in biology-engineeringmathematics 

undergraduate degrees. 

Antibody Medicated Conformational Changes in 

AB Peptides 

08/01/08 07/31/09 $21,788 

10/28/08 10/27/09 $23,500 

Gupta (PI), 

State of Florida and USF-FMMD 1/2008 12/2009 $35,000 

Bisht (co-PI) 

Toomey National Science Foundation 02/01/07 01/31/11 $368,000 

A. Sunol Advanced Materials Technology. 08/30/08 03/31/10 $17,000 

INC 

Goswami Florida Power & Light Company 08/09/06 08/01/11 $50,000 

Ramachandran(PI) 

Campbell (co-PI) 

Alcantar(PI) 

National Science Foundation 08/20/08 07/20/13 $1,999,756 

Pfizer Inc. U.S. Pharmaceuticals 

Group 

04/18/07 02/01/10 $206,231 

Editorship of the Journal "Solar Energy" Goswami 01/01/09 12/31/09 $42,440 

26

Project Title 

Aggregation and Structural Changes of Amyloidal 

Proteins 

Integrating global capabilities into STEM 

education: Critical technologies and strategies for 

meeting the UN’s Millennium Development Goals 

on water and sanitation 

Implementation Grant: Transforming the 

Educational Experience of Transfer Students in 

Chemical Engineering using a Multi-Dimensional 

Approach. 

Florida Advanced Technological Education 

(FLATE) Regional Center for Manufacturing 

Education 

Principal and 

Co-Principal 

Investigators (PI) 

Sponsor/Agency 

Awarded Project 

Period 

Total 

Costs 

Awarded 

Alcantar(PI) BITT-USF 06/01/08 05/31/09 $37,000 

Yeh (PI) 

Alcantar(co-PI) 

State of Florida, USF partnership- 

Sustainable Communities: Water 

01/01/07 09/31/10 $490,000 

Gupta (PI) 

Alcantar (co-PI) 

Joseph co-PI) 

Sunol (co-PI) 

Toomey (co-PI) 

National Science Foundation 01/01/05 08/31/10 $1,005,000 

Gilbert Hillsborough Community College 10/01/08 09/30/10 $170,236 

Development of Phase Change Materials Joseph Temptroll, LLC 12/01/08 08/31/10 $62,500 

Oxygen Diffusion Characterization of Fiber 

Reinforced Composites 

Biomechanical Studies in Hospital-Related Injury 

Situations 

Design of Product Manufacturing Facilities for 

Non Woven Textiles 

Design and Development of Products that have a 

Self Sustained Temperature Modulation Feature 

Synthesis Development and Characterization of 

Phase Change, Self Assembly and Reacting 

Systems for Temperature Modulation 

Development and Characterization of Organic- 

Inorganic Nanocomposite Foams 

Rajan Sen (PI) 

Bhethanabotla (co-PI) 

Lee 

National Science Foundation 07/01/05 07/31/09 $300,000 

James A. Haley Veterans Research 

and Education Foundation 

08/03/09 08/02/10 $22,000 

Sunol Misty Development, LLC 09/01/09 08/31/10 $100,000 

A. Sunol High Tech Corridor 05/15/07 03/31/10 $368,000 

S. Sunol (PI) 

Joseph (co- PI) 

Temptroll, Florida High Tech 

Corridor 

A. Sunol Advanced Materials Technology, 

Inc. 

05/15/07 03/31/10 $50,000 

10/12/09 12/31/10 $33,000 

Development of Temperature Modulated Products A. Sunol Temptroll, LLC 12/01/08 08/31/10 $62,500 

Hydrogen Storage in Complex Metal Hydrides 

Non-Thermal Helium Plasma for In Vivo Gene 

Delivery for Vaccines and Cancer Therapy 

Electro-Gene-Transfer for Coronary and 

peripheral Artery Disease 

Novel Islet Sertoli Cell Hybrid Construct that is 

Immunoprotected and Secretes Insulin 

Engineering and Computer Science Scholars 

Targeted for Academic, Retention, Success 

(STARS) 

Stefanakos (PI) 

Goswami (PI) 

Bhethanabotla (co-PI) 

Jaroszeski(PI) 

Jaroszeski(co-PI) 

Jaroszeski (PI) 

Gupta (co-PI), 

Kumar (PI), 

S. Thomas (co-PI), 

K. Reeves (co-PI), 

M. Trotz (co-PI), 

F. Pyrtle (co-PI), 

R. Perez (co-PI), 

B. Batson(co-PI) 

DOE 07/2006 07/2009 $120,000 

Florida Center of Excellence in 

Bimolecular Identification and 

Targeted Therapeutics Seed Grant 

05/01/08 04/30/09 $75,000 

NIH/National Heart Lung and Blood 09/09/08 09/08/10 $500,000 

Institute 

Florida Center of excellence in 02/10/09 02/09/10 $51,400 

Bimolecular Identification and 

Targeted Therapeutics Seed Grant 

National Science Foundation 10/2008 09/2011 $598,000 

Florida Energy Systems Consortium Goswami Florida State Legislature 9/2008 8/ 2011 $8,750,000 

27

Faculty and Academic Staff Statistics: 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

15 

10 

0 

5 

0 

Number of Faculty - Fall Terms 

(Funding Location) 

5 6 

9 8 

4 3 2 

11 11 11 

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 

Number of Staff - Fall Terms 

(Funding Location) 

30 30 

39 39 38 

2 2 2 2 2 

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 

2008/2009 Academic Year 

BS degrees granted/faculty 4.2 

Non-Tenure 

Track 

Tenure-Track 

Tenured 

Assistants 

Adjuncts 

Student Statistics 

Student Credit Hours (SCH) 

Undergraduate 2005/2006 2006/2007 2007/2008 2008/2009 

Lower Level 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 

Upper Level 3,203 3,331 3,656 3,413 

Undergraduate Total 3,203 3,331 3,656 3,413 

Graduate 

Grad I 645 807 769 638 

Grad II 448 660 632 542 

Graduate Total 1,093 1,467 1,401 1,180 

Total 4,296 4,798 5,057 4,593 

SCH Per Full-Time Instructional Faculty Headcount 

Undergraduate 2005/2006 2006/2007 2007/2008 2008/2009 

Lower Level 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 

Upper Level 228.8 256.2 281.2 262.5 

Undergraduate Total 228.8 256.2 281.2 262.5 

Graduate 

Grad I 46.1 62.1 59.1 49.1 

Grad II 32.0 50.7 48.6 41.6 

Graduate Total 78.1 112.8 107.7 90.7 

Total 306.9 369 388.9 353.2 

Degrees Awarded 

2005/2006 2006/2007 2007/2008 2008/2009 

Bachelor 35 43 29 55 

Masters 15 20 27 36 

Doctoral 4 2 9 4 

Total 54 65 65 95 

Degrees Awarded per FT Instructional Faculty 

Headcount 

2005/2006 2006/2007 2007/2008 2008/2009 

Bachelor 2.7 3.3 2.2 4.2 

Masters 1.2 1.5 2.1 2.8 

Doctoral 0.3 0.2 0.7 0.3 

Total 4.2 5.0 5.0 7.3 

MS degrees granted/faculty 2.8 

PhD degrees granted/faculty 0.3 

PhD students enrolled/faculty 3.23 

MS students enrolled/faculty 6.62 

REU students enrolled/faculty 0.31 

Undergraduate SCH Generated/faculty 262.5 

Grad I SCH generated/faculty 49.1 

Grad II SCH generated/faculty 41.6 

2009 ChBME Productivity Summary 

Journal Articles/faculty 3.07 

2009 Citations/faculty 4.08 

Presentations at National and International 

7.29 

Conferences/faculty 

Journal Editorships 4 

Patents 2 

Research Expenditures/faculty $133,862.13 

28

Faculty 

Babu Joseph stepped down as chair of the 

department and Venkat Bhethanabotla is 

named the new chair of the department of 

Chemical and Biomedical Engineering. 

Vinay Gupta is one of the two faculty 

members at USF to be honored with the 

Jerome Krivanek Distinguished Teacher 

Award. 

Babu Joseph was named Professor of the 

Year by the graduating seniors of Chemical 

and Biomedical Engineering. 

Venkat Bhethanabotla received the 

Outstanding Research Achievement Award 

for 2009. 

Carlos Smith’s textbook “Principles and 

Practice of Automatic Process Control” was 

recently translated into Spanish and 

Portuguese, as it is the most used controls 

book in Latin America and Portugal. 

Six faculty members were inducted into USF’s 

Academy of Inventors, October 5: Venkat 

Bhethanabotla, Richard Gilbert, Yogi 

Goswami, Vinay Gupta, Mark Jaroszeski, and 

Aydin Sunol. 

Graduate Students 

Cecil Coutinho (advisor: Vinay Gupta) earned 

an honorable mention in the materials 

Science Section at the March 2009 Annual 

Joint Symposium of Florida Chapter of the 

AVS Science and Technology Society and 

Florida Society of Microscopy in Orlando (FL). 

Pabitra Choudhury (advisor: Venkat 

Bhethanabotla) was selected by the faculty for 

the outstanding RA (Research Assistant) of 

the year award 2008/2009. 

Audrey Buttice was named TA (Teacher 

Assistant) of the year in April 2009. 

Ala’A Kababji received the top prize at the 

Power Up 2009 Energy Conference & Expo 

Steering Committee, for his research with 

cobalt silica-supported catalysts for Fischer- 

Tropsch synthesis. 

Syed Ali Gardezi was a winner for the 2009 

Green Expo Graduate Student Poster 

Competition for his poster titled “Metal/ 

Support interaction effects in Fischer-Tropsch 

synthesis: Significance of catalyst preparation 

for biomass to liquid conversion using 

Thermo-chemical process.” 

Undergraduates 

Nicole Hupalo (advisor: Norma Alcantar) and 

Shana Williams (advisor: Michael VanAuker) 

won awards in the Engineering and 

Biomedical Science section of the 2009 USF 

undergraduates research symposium. 

Judith Landis was a winner for the 2009 

Green Expo Undergraduate Student Poster 

Competition for her poster titled “Simplified 

Extraction Process for Cactus Mucilage.” 

2009 AIChE Scholarship Winners 

Philip Thomley 

Other Scholarships 

Violeta Kukenska received the William Miasel 

Scholarship- This scholarship is awarded 

periodically in memory of William (Bill) Miasel, 

an active member of the local section and 

past section Chair. It is awarded to a student 

who is supporting a family while working their 

way through school. 

The Engineering Alumni Society presented 

Conference Presentation Grants ($400 each) 

to the following ChemE Students: Pabitra 

Choudhury, Sanchari Chowdhury, Bradley 

Ridder, Nianthrini Balakrishnan, Nicole 

Hupalo and Harry Helmich. 

AIChE USF 

Chapter: 

Officers 

President: 

Jennifer Burnham 

Vice President: 

Jessica Torrivilla 

Secretary: 

Summer Konja 

Treasurer: 

Ana Rioja 

Special Events Officer: 

Daniel Hampton 

Expo Chair: 

Arash Nozartash 

Lindsey Loutzenhiser 

Fundraising: 

Heather White 

Marialbys Hernandez 

The AIChE USF Student Chapter is 

an organization of Chemical 

Engineering students at the 

University of South Florida. 

Our Chapter's mission is to 

promote the professional 

development of its members by its 

programs, its relations with other 

Student Chapters, and its relations 

with the parent body, the American 

Institute of Chemical Engineers, 

and to contribute to the 

development of chemical 

engineering at the University of 

South Florida through activities 

involving faculty and student 

members. 

29

M.S. in Chemical Engineering 

Buttice, Audrey. 

Major Professor: Alcantar, Norma. 

“Reducing Sediment and Bacterial Contamination in Water Using 

Mucilage Extracted from the Opuntia Ficus-Indica Cactus.” 

Monteparo, Christopher. 

Major Professor: Wolan, John. 

“Analysis of Single Fiber Pushout Test of Fiber Reinforced 

Composite with a Nonhomogeneous Interphase.” 

Richardson, Anthony. 

Major Professor: Bhethanabotla, Venkat. 

“Determination of Nanogram Mass and Measurement of Polymer 

Solution Free Volume Using Thickness-Shear Mode (TSM) 

Quartz Resonators.” 

M.S. in Biomedical Engineering 

Elsayed, Nada. 

Major Professor: Sunol, Aydin. 

“Leaching of Active Ingredients from Blueberries and Cranberries 

Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide and Ethanol as an Entrainer 

and Analyzing Using GC/MS.” 

Farelo, Fabian. 

Major Professor: Dubey, Rajiv. 

“Task Oriented Simulation and Control of A Wheelchair Mounted 

Robotic Arm.” 

Freilich, Rebekah. 

Major Professor: Dubey, Rajiv. 

“Biomechanical Model of Transhumeral Prostheses.” 

Hokenek, Selma. 

Major Professor: Alcantar, Norma. 

“Characterization of conductive Polycarbonate Films.” 

Kerrigan, Michael. 

Major Professor: Lee, William. 

“Evaluation of Advanced Materials to Protect Against Fall-Related 

Head Injuries.” 

Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering 

Chornokur, Ganna. 


“Photoluminescense Spectroscopy of Bioconjugated Quantum 

Dots and Their Application for Early Cancer Detection.” 

Choudhury, Pabitra. 


“Theorectical and Experimental Study of Solid State Complex 

Borohydride Hydrogen Storage Materials.” 

Coutinho, Cecil. 

Major Professor: Gupta, Vinay. 

“Multi-Functional Composite Materials for Catalysis and Chemical 

Mechanical Planarization.” 

Kababji, Ala’a. 


“Effects of Diluent Addition and Metal Support Interactions in 

Heterogeneous catalysis: SiC/VPO Catalysts for Maleic 

Anhydride Production and Co/Silica Supported Catalysts for 

FTS.” 

Singh, Reetu. 


“Development of Three Dimensional Fluid-Structure Interaction 

Models for the Design of Surface Acoustic Wave Devices: 

Application to Biosensing and Microfluidic Actuation.” 

Zhang, Ying. 

Major Professor: Sunol, Aydin. 

“Synthesis of Local Thermo-Physical Models Using Genetic 

Programming.” 

Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering 

Gutierrez, Sergio. 

Major Professor: Lee, William. 

“The Biomechanics of Reverse Shoulder Arthroplasty.” 

Mondy, William. 

Major Professor: Piegl, Les. 

“Data Acquisition for Modeling and Visualization of Vascular 

Tree.” 

30

SPRING 2009 

B.S. in Chemical Engineering 

Ayala, Rosanna 

Brandon, Patrick 

Buttice, Audrey 

Chai, Maytal 

Cherizard, Rene 

Comiskey, Charles 

DeLoach, Michael 

Elsayed, Nada 

Fairbairn, Korie 

Finch, Robert 

Foley, Patrick 

Freeman, Cameron 

Gates, Timothy 

Henry, Zachary 

Hodzic, Jasmina 

Hough, Daniel 

Leath, Violeta 

Manhin, Norman 

Martin, Ian 

McMenemy, Erincolleen 

Monteparo, Christopher 

Nguyen, Minh 

Page, Alexander 

Patamasank, Jaren 

Patel, Dharini 

Sadhi, Shaur 

Shamseddine, Nabila 

Simon, Kimberly 

Smith, Craig 

Whitman, Chase 


Balasubramanian, Divyalakshmi 

Elsayed, Nada 

Fairbairn, Korie 

Hough, Daniel 

Javvaji, Girija Manohar 

Matteo, Jennifer 

Raghavan, Harini 



Monteparo, Christopher 

M.S. in Engineering Science 

Hokenek, Selma 

Master of Chemical Engineering 


Page, Alexander 

Master of Engineering 

Patel, Rupal 


Chornokur, Ganna 

SUMMER 2009 


Colon, Marlyn 

Dickinson, John 

Koulogianes, Seth 

Martin, Lian 

Reyes, Efrain 

Tran, Kimi 


Kerrigan, Michael 

Lee, Thea 


Martin, Lian 

Master of Engineering 

Smith, Craig 


Coutinho, Cecil 

Gutierrez, Sergio 

Kababji, Ala’a 

Mondy, William 

Zhang, Ying 

FALL 2009 


Awoniyi, Adewale 

Bell, Jr., Henry 

Coleman, Jason 

LaBombard, Paul 

Richardson, Anthony 

Smith, Allan 


Ambati, Venkata 

Farelo, Fabian 

Freilich, Rebekah 

Nelson, Renee 


Richardson, Anthony 


West, Jennifer 


Choudhury, Pabitra 

Singh, Reetu 

31

ChBME Industrial Advisory Board Members 

W. Doug Belle 

Senior Consultant 

Hatch Associates Consultants, Inc. 

Tampa, FL 

Charles R. Black, P.E. 

Retired CEO 

Tampa Electric Company 

Lutz, FL 

Thomas Brookins 

Engineering Solutions 

The Dow Chemical Company 

Freeport, TX 

Don Clark 

Retired Vice President, Research and Development 

Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC 

Lutz, FL 

Kathy Deer 

Quality Assurance manager 

ConMed Linvatec 

Largo, FL 

Christopher Dennis 

Process Engineer 

Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC. 

Riverview, FL 

James A. Donovan 

Chariman of Donovan Industries Inc. 

& CEO of TempTroll, LLC 

Tampa, FL 

Kevin J. Dorsey 

Senior Territory Manager 

Marathon Petroleum Company LLC 

Tampa, FL 

Tim Fawcett, Ph.D. 

Director of Research & Development 

Hydrogen Technology Applications, Inc. 

Clearwater, FL 

G. Jeff Fleming 

Senior consultant 

Fleming Solutions Inc. 

Sterling, VA 

John Griffith, Jr., Ph.D., P.E. 

Professor of Chemical Engineering 

McNeese State University 

Lake Charles, LA 

Michael L. Hanks, Ph. D., P.E. 

Senior Consultant 

Engineering System Inc. 

Norcross, GA 

Jack Hipple 

Principal 

Innovation-TRIZ 

Tampa, FL 

Brad Mierau 

Chief Technical Officer 

Bulova Tech Labs 

Clearwater, FL 

Gordon L. Miller 

Senior Recruiting manager 

Proctor & Gamble 

Cincinnati, OH 

Faustino Prado 

President 

Prado and Associates Consulting Engineers 

Tampa, FL 

Doug Royster 

Plant Manager 

Innovative and Value Added Solutions 

Tampa, FL 

Christopher Schemel, Ph. D. 

Senior Vice President 

Chemical& Fire Safety Engineering 

Packer Engineering, Inc. 

Macro Island, FL 

Karen Sheffield 

Director-Polk Power Station 

Tampa Electric Company 

Tampa, FL 

Deborah Stetka 

Process Engineering Group 

Mustang of Tampa Inc. 

Tampa, FL 

32

Cay Pelaez 

Cay Pelaez retired 

in December of 

2009. She was the 

Chemical and 

Biomedical 

Engineering 

Department Office 

Manager for 10 years. Cay was the 

administrative assistant to the Chair, 

and the main liaison between the 

department and the University. She 

processed faculty assigned duties and 

faculty evaluations. She was also 

responsible for student registration of 

classes, class rolls, unofficial 

transcripts, setting appointments 

between students and appropriate 

advisor, and general assistance with 

the graduate program. Cay will be 

greatly missed in our department. 

Sandra 

Van Etten 

Sandra Van Etten 

is the Academic 

Program Specialist. 

Sandy is responsible 

for routine 

office procedures, 

student registration, SASS 

reports, unofficial transcripts, grade 

changes, maintaining student/faculty 

records and databases, non-employee 

travel, seminar procedures, and 

publications of the newsletter as well 

as the annual report. 

Contact: svanette@usf.edu, 813-974- 

3997, ENC 3400 

Karen Bray 

Karen Bray is the Academic Services 

Administrator. She leads and/or 

supports academic activities related to 

the planning, recruitment, 

marketing, and assessment functions 

of the undergraduate and graduate 

programs offered by ChBME. 

Contact: karen11@usf.edu, 813-974- 

5855, ENC 3404 

Edward Van Etten 

Edward Van Etten was Chemical 

&Biomedical Engineering Department’s 

Information Technology Support 

Specialist. Ed now works for Technical 

Support Services. Ed was responsible 

for the evaluation and maintenance of 

faculty and departmental equipment, 

ordering lab and other supplies, 

assisting in various lab projects, 

maintaining security ,ordering 

equipment in the labs, and being the 

departmental safety officer. After 

graduating in 1967 with a B.S. in 

Physics, Ed started a 34-year civil 

career with the United States 

Department of Defense. Ed and his 

wife, Sandy, have 

six children and 

31 

grandchildren. 

Contact: 

vanetten@usf.edu, 

813-974-1624, 

ENB 353 

Other Faculty: 

Emeritus Faculty 

Carlos Smith 

csmith@usf.edu, 813-974-5859 

Carlos Busot 

busot@usf.edu, 813-974-2141 

Anthony Llewellyn 

ynot3142@gmail.com 813-974-1780 

Adjunct Faculty 

Timothy Fawcett 

Faustino Prado, PE 

Research Faculty 

Sermin Sunol 

Courtesy Appointments 

Steven Eschrich 

Mark Frankle 

Akbar Ghaneh-Fard 

Loree Heller 

Richard Heller 

Ravi Kothapalli 

Stan Kranc 

Donald McMillan 

Eric Persson 

Brian Schulz 

Joint Appointments 

Alberto Sagüés 

33

Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering 

College of Engineering 

University of South Florida 

Mailing Address: 

4202 E. Fowler Ave., ENB 118 

Tampa, FL 33620 

Physical Address: 

3824 Alumni Dr., ENC 3400 

Tampa, FL 33620 

Phone: (813) 974-3997 

Fax: (813) 974-3651 

http://che.eng.usf.edu 

34

2009 - Chemical & Biomedical Engineering - University of South ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?