2010 - Chemical & Biomedical Engineering - University of South ...

Chemical & Biomedical Engineering
Newsletter, Spring 2010
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Message from the Chair p2
Dr. Gupta - Engineering Novel Hybrid and
Composite Materials p3
Dr. Sagüés – Joint Appointment p4
Dr. Yogi Goswami Joins Pan American Academy of
Engineering p5
Advisory Board Meeting April 24th
2009 Engineering p5
Research Day Travel Awards p5
Professor Babu Joseph Elected Fellow of the
American Institute of Chemical Engineers p6
Biomedical Engineering Society p6
Cay Pelaez: Retirement p7
USF Engineering Expo p7
AIChE Student Chapter News p8
Dr. John Kuhn - New Faculty Member p8
Kudos p9
Karen Bray New Office Staff Member p9
Faculty and Staff p9
Featured Alumni: Mario and Tasha Camps p10
News From Dr. Carlos Smith–Special Request p11
NNRC and the Clean Energy Research Center p11
Dr. Campbell Receives NSF STEP Grant p11

p2
Message From The Chair
Dear Alumni, Students, and Friends,
This is my first letter as Chair of the Chemical & Biomedical Engineering Department. I
started in this position in May 2009. As many of you know, I have been a faculty member in
this department for many years, and am glad to be in this present role.
This newsletter is full of information and the positive contributions of our faculty, students,
and staff. I trust as you read it, you will be happy to learn of the many accomplishments
we have had over the past year.
We are in a significant growth phase at this time, especially in our Biomedical Engineering
technical area. We are excited to have the opportunity to develop this field. Over the next
couple of years, we will be hiring additional faculty as well as, admitting increasingly more Biomedical
Engineering graduate students.
We are presently working in collaboration with the College of Behavioral & Community
Sciences. USF is conducting a cluster hire of Audiology/Hearing and Deafness Faculty from the
University of Rochester. Our department is currently speaking with one of these senior faculty
members, Dr. Robert Frisina, Jr., Professor and Associate Chair for Research. His major fields include
Bioengineering, Neuroscience, and Physiology. Dr. Frisina has numerous published articles,
books, reviews, chapters and monographs, as well as patents.
In Fall of 2009, we hired John Kuhn as an Assistant Professor in our department. John
comes to us most recently from his postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley. His research areas here will be focused
on Material Chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis. We welcome John and are glad he has joined us!
We have also been conducting a national search for an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering. We hope to make an
offer in late February and have the new faculty on board for the Fall of 2010.
Dr. Alberto Sagüés has joined us in a joint appointment with our department. He is a Distinguished University Professor with
the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. His expertise areas 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. We welcome Alberto to our department.
Other notable achievements by our faculty include Dr. D. Yogi Goswami’s induction into the Pan American Academy of Engineering
for his work in solar energy utilization; Dr. Babu Joseph’s election as a prestigious Fellow of the American Institute of
Chemical Engineers in May 2009; and Dr. Scott Campbell who received an NSF STEP Grant.
In May 2009 the department hosted a workshop and meeting on improving undergraduate education. The workshop was
held on our campus and we had sixteen faculty visitors representing universities across the US attend; of these, seven hold Chair
positions. The discussions at this workshop were regarding on-going improvements in engineering pedagogy.
On February 15th, we hosted a visit from the President, Provost, and Dean. They indicated that they were very interested in
our research areas; and assured us that we are heading in a positive, growth-oriented direction for our department.
We also have experienced many changes with our staff over the past year. Cay Pelaez retired in early December, after spending
ten years with the department. We wish her a very happy retirement.
Sandy Van Etten was a tremendous assistance with the transition between Cay’s departure and Karen Bray’s arrival. Karen is
the Academic Services Administrator. She will support the academic activities related to planning, recruiting, marketing and assessing
the undergraduate and graduate programs.
Ed Van Etten was awarded the Quiet Quality Award this past year. It is with sadness that we see Ed transition to working in
Technical Specialist Services for the College of Engineering at this time. We thank him for all that he has accomplished for our students,
staff, and faculty over the years.
Alyssa Reilly continued on in her second year as a student assistant for us and is responsible for creating this newsletter. We
thank her for her good work! Katie Lunday worked for us in the fall term as an assistant and continues to work this spring term
with CERC. We also welcome Ivory Curry as one of our newest student assistants.
As you can see, we have dynamic growth and change within our department. We are fortunate to have these positive challenges.
We look forward to hearing from you and wish you the very best in your endeavors.
Best regards,
Venkat Bhethanabotla

Technological solutions have
to be developed that are
efficient, environment
friendly, and can be
economically implemented
in large-scale processes.
Dr.Vinay Gupta’s research group
left to right:
Bijith Mankidy,
Chhavi Manocha,
Cecil Countino,
Kristina Tran,
Dr. Gupta,
Rashima Harrinauth,
Fedena Fanord and
Alisha Peterson.
Dr. Gupta - Engineering Novel Hybrid and
Composite Materials
Removal of chemical contaminants
in aqueous streams is a critical challenge
faced by society. Technological solutions
have to be developed that are efficient,
environment friendly, and can be economically
implemented in large-scale
processes. Nanoparticles of metals and
mineral oxides have made it possible to
design and develop improved substrates
for efficient removal of organic and inorganic
contamination, either by sorption
or sequestration mechanisms, or as
a catalyst. The high surface area to volume
ratio due to nanometer size of the
particles and the accompanying physical
and chemical enhancement of surface
properties is one of the key factors behind
the efficiency in remediation. A
major bottleneck in the use of nanoparticles
is that the size of the particle affects
the remediation technology. For
example, in fixed bed reactors the packing
material must not easily clog; similarly
for treatments that use fine
particles in a batch type reactor, a filtration
system is needed to recover the
particles from the liquid effluent. The
nanoparticles, while advantageous for
organic decontamination, rapidly become
an expensive liability due to increased
process complexity, need for
critical process control, and an increased
potential for environmental pollution as
well as cost of chemicals due to incomplete
or inefficient recovery of the
nanoparticles. Strategies such as coatings
of nanoparticles on walls, plates, or
beads are of limited use as they reduce
surface availability of the particles and
pose limitations on transporting contaminants
to the particle surface. Challenges
such as these are being
addressed at the University of South
Florida in the research program led by
Dr. Vinay Gupta. The focus is on engineering
novel materials and constructs
by combining polymers with metallic or
oxide nanoparticles using interfacial
modifications and assimilating the
unique properties of each component.
To eliminate the bottleneck in using
nano-sized photocatalyst for the remediation
of contaminated waters, Gupta’s
research has established a novel and
unique approach where transparent,
cross-linked, porous polymer microspheres
are impregnated with photocatalytic
titanium dioxide (or titatnia)
nanoparticles. Using a simple and easy
mixing technique allows for the preparation
of the microcomposites in an economically
feasible manner and allows the
loading of titatnia to be controlled (J.
Colloid & Interface Science, 116-122,
2007; patent pending). These microcomposites
show rapid sedimentation in minutes,
which is useful for gravity
separation of these particles in applications
such as remediation. The photograph
(right) illustrates photodegradation
of a model contaminant, an organic
dye, using both the microcomposites and
the free titatnia nanoparticles. The photodegradation
is achieved using a commonly
available BLB light bulb that
simulates light in the UVA range (~365 nm),
which is readily available in sunlight. After
the degradation of the dye into carbon
dioxide and water, the free titatnia
nanoparticles remain suspended in the
water but the microcomposites settle rapidly,
which makes them suitable for use in
large-scale clarifiers and sedimentation
tanks. In addition to the practical applications,
Gupta’s research group has also fundamentally
studied the settling behavior of
these microgel-titatnia composites as these
permeable particles provide an interesting
contrast to the sedimentation of solid, impenetrable
spheres (Colloids & Surface A,
111-121, 2008). These particles provide a
suitable experimental system to gain insights
into sedimentation behavior of complex
systems such as permeable particles
and flocs of fine particles held by organic
matter that are of practical significance in
diverse areas such as marine geology,
coastal and ocean science, hydraulic engineering,
and solid-liquid separation technology.
p3

p4
Curriculum Reform Workshop
Research One Week 2009
Advisory Board 2009
Dr. Sagüés – Joint Appointment
In addition to his recent Joint Appointment
at the Department of Chemical
and Biomedical Engineering Dr. Alberto A.
Sagüés, Distinguished University Professor
at the Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, University of South
Florida. Previously he held positions at the
Kentucky Center for Energy
Research of the University of
Kentucky, Argonne National
Laboratory, Juelich Nuclear
Research Center in Germany
and Columbia University. He
also was appointed by President
Clinton as a Member of
the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical
Review Board from 1997-
2002. He is a Member of the
Editorial Board, Corrosion
Journal. Dr. Sagüés received his Ph.D. in
Metallurgy from Case Western Reserve
University and his Licentiate in Physics
from National University of Rosario, Argentina,
and is a Registered Professional
Engineer in Florida. His areas of expertise
are Corrosion of Engineering Materials,
Electrochemical Assessment, Concrete, Materials
for Infrastructure, Materials for Energy
Systems, Durability Forecasting,
Physical Metallurgy and Nuclear Waste Disposal.
His current research uses 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
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.

Dr. Yogi Goswami Joins
Pan American Academy of Engineering
University of South Florida professor and pioneering energy researcher Yogi Goswami
has been inducted into the Pan American Academy of Engineering in Mexico City in recognition
of his outstanding contributions to the field of engineering.
Goswami was noted for his ground-breaking work in the area of solar energy utilization.
Goswami, who is co-director of USF’s Clean Energy Research Center, was presented
with the academy’s Member Medallion at a recent ceremony. The Pan American Academy
of Engineering (Academia Panamericana de Ingenieria) was founded in Panama in 2000, by
the Pan American Federation of Engineering Societies in recognition that in the Americas,
social progress and economic welfare depends largely on the intelligent use of technology.
From left to right:
Rosanna Ayala, Dr. Aydin Sunol,
Dharini Patel and
Justin Stewart
Advisory Board Meeting April 24
Our annual Advisory Board Meeting was held at the Alumni Center on the Tampa Campus,
April 24, 2009. The Senior Class directed under Dr. Aydin Sunol presented poster projects
based on subjects they learned throughout the semester. Advisory Board Members, as well
as, graduate students and faculty went around judging the posters while interacting with
the students. The judges picked winners in various categories as follows:
Best Product Design:
Justin Stewart, Dharini Patel,
Rosanna Ayala
Best Process Design:
Marlyn Colon, Ryan Cates,
Michael Deloach, John Jones
Best Design Presentation:
Violeta Kukenska, Nabila Shamseddine,
Chase Whitman, Marcos Garibay
From left to right:
Marlyn Colon, Michael Deloach, John
Jones, Dr. Aydin Sunol, and
Not Pictured Ryan Cates
From left to right:
Violeta Kukenska, Nabila Shamseddine,
Dr. Aydin Sunol, Chase Whitman and
Marcos Garibay
2009 Engineering
Research Day
Travel Awards:
Michael Celestin, Tunnel Diodes
Fabricated Using Self-Assembled
Alkanethiol Films on Au, Advisors:
Yogi Goswami and Shekhar
Bhansali
Fedena Fanord,
Surface Modified Gold Nanoparticles
to Study Perthes Disease,
Advisor: Vinay Gupta
Jeffy Jimenez,
Action of Anti-Aß Monoclonal
Antibodies on Amyloid Beta Peptide
Fibrils,
Advisor: Norma Alcantar
Alisha Peterson,
Synthesis and Characterization of
Novel Nanomaterials,
Advisor: Vinay Gupta
Senior Class Industrial Advisory Board Members
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p6
Professor Babu Joseph Elected Fellow of the
American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Dr. Babu Joseph was elected a Fellow
of the American Institute of Chemical
Engineers in May, 2009. This honor is
reserved for 1% of the society members
based on professional contributions and
service to the profession.
Dr. Joseph is currently a Professor in
the Department of Chemical and
Biomedical Engineering at University of
South Florida in Tampa. His current
research interests are in the areas of
modeling and simulation at the electronic,
molecular and macro scale. Dr. Joseph
obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering
from Case Western Reserve University in
1975. He then joined the Aspen Project at
MIT where he worked with Dr. L.B. Evans
on the development of a third generation
chemical process simulator. He joined the
Biomedical Engineering Society
The Biomedical Engineering Society
(BMES) is comprised of a group of very
talented individuals that have very diverse
Backgrounds including biomedical
sciences such as biophysics, biology, medicine,
chemistry as well as electrical, mechanical
, chemical and biomedical engineers.
The diversity of the knowledge
and ethnic backgrounds are what enhances
the essence of the Biomedical Engineering
Society.
The purpose of the of the BMES student
chapter at USF is to encourage the
interaction between biomedical and engineering
fields and to provide a forum
for students and faculty in the area to interact
and exchange ideas. The society
aims at achieving this by:
- Inviting experienced biomedical professionals
to talk to our students regarding
their experiences and skills.
faculty of Chemical Engineering in
Washington University in St. Louis in 1978
where he became the Edward C. Dicke
Professor in 2000.
During the year 1985-86 he was
visiting professor at the University of
California, Berkeley. In 2002 he moved to
become chair at USF. He is the author of
two books “Real Time Personal Computing
for Data Acquisition and Control,”
Prentice-Hall, 1989 and “Techniques of
Model Based Control” co-authored with
Dr. C.B. Brosilow, Prentice-Hall, 2002, and
over 200 technical publications. Together
with Dr. R.L. Motard, he is co-editor of a
book titled “Wavelet Applications in
Chemical Engineering,” Kluwer Academic,
1995. He has been on the faculty of AIChE
Continuing Education Series.
- Organizing visits to leading biomedical
companies in the Tampa Bay region
for students to acquaint themselves
with the needs of the industry.
- Organizing social events for students
and faculty to collaborate informally
and exchange valuable research ideas
and experiences.
At the University of South Florida, the
Biomedical Engineering program currently
includes research in the areas of:
- Understanding basic biochemical and
physiological processes.
- Designing and analyzing medical diagnostics
and procedures.
- Valuation and design of health care
systems and facilities.
- Design and evaluation of prosthetic
devices.
- General biomedical product development
AIChE Board of Directors approved
his election as a Fellow
of the American institute of
Chemical Engineers, the highest
grade of membership. The
honor testifies to the high esteem
in which he is held by his
peers for his distinctive professional
accomplishments and
contributions.
From left to right:
Justin Stewart, President;
Ana Rioja, Vice President;
Julie Kahn, Secretary;
Valerie McManus;
Karim Hamidi, Treasurer.
- Use of molecular biology and gene expression
studies to understand disease
biology.
The BMES extends a sincere farewell to
its former president, Korie Fairbairn. Korie
donated a lot of her time to ensure
the success of BMES. We are grateful to
her. Following her graduation, a new
team was assembled including: Justin
Stewart (President), Ana Rioja (Vice–
President), Karim Hamidi (Treasurer),
Julie Kahn (Secretary) and Valerie Mc-
Manus (Fundraising Chair). There are
several projects this team is currently
working on including T-Shirts to represent
our society, fundraisers to help raise
money for scholarships and conferences
for students; updating the website, inviting
guest speakers and coordinating
company tours and. last but definitely
not least, trying to obtain corporate
sponsorships to provide better resources
for our students.

Cay Pelaez: Retirement — 3.11.87 - 12.9.09
As I look over the past 23+ years at USF, having built many meaningful relationships with faculty,
students and co-workers, I take with me into retirement the many rewards of the past years at
USF as they have been outstanding and memorable. I was employed by FMHI: Center for
Prevention of Child Molestation, Computer Science & Engineering and for the last ten years, in
Chemical & Biomedical Engineering, a career of lifelong fantastic memories. I want to take this
opportunity to thank YOU for allowing me to be a small part of the department’s development
and growth. The faculty and students are terrific individuals making this department very
enjoyable to work in, and I couldn’t have done it without my great co-workers. I know this
department is one of the greatest at USF! I am excited about traveling in the near future and
have planned several trips, and thanks to all who have contributed to the “gas fund” to get me
across the country ...USA bound! Again, my thanks to YOU.
- Cay Pelaez
USF Engineering Expo
The Engineering Expo is a yearly
event that educates students from
kindergarten all the way to high school,
about several different science and engineering
topics. Many students from the
engineering societies here at USF take
time to organize activities or presentations
for the event.
The three events
that draw the
biggest crowds every
year are the physics
show, the laser light
show, and the chemistry
magic show.
Like many times before,
the AIChE
planned and ran a
successful chemistry
magic show. This
year’s show consisted
of six experiments:
color changing water, elephant
toothpaste, liquid nitrogen, the white
light, the whoosh bottle, and the exploding
gummy bear. The color changing
water demonstrated how chemistry uses
color indicators to know the acidity of a
solution. This was accomplished by showing
how “ordinary” water would change
into different colors based on the small
changes of acid and base inside of the
chemical solution. The elephant toothpaste
showed that by mixing a strong
acid, a base and some ordinary liquid detergent
with a little color agent, enormous
amounts of colored foam would
come out. For the third experiment, we
showed how temperature affects materials
more than one would possibly think.
We dipped bananas, flowers, and badminton
balls into the liquid nitrogen, let
it rest for a few minutes, and then
showed how easily they shattered. The
white light experiment was more of a
light effect. Magnesium was burnt inside
of two cubes of dry ice, creating this
spectacular iridescent
light.
The whoosh
bottle explained
the
concept of
volatile liquids.
Ethanol was
placed into a
large water jug
and moved
around so the
ethanol would
coat the walls.
As it was being
moved, the crowd was chanting whoosh.
Afterwards a lighter was placed into the
opening and a fire “whooshed” out of
the bottle.
The exploding
gummy bear experiment
was our last and flashiest
of experiments.
It involved the reaction of a molten
salt with a gummy bear. The amount of
color, energy, and steam released left the
crowd in awe of the unexpected reaction.
Overall, all of those who attended
loved the show and couldn’t wait for
next year’s Expo.
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p8
AIChE Student Chapter News
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. We hold
monthly meetings where
speakers from industry
come in and discuss chemical
engineering topics relevant
to new engineers and
emerging technologies.
The USF Chapter of
AIChE started off this
school year volunteering at
the Central Florida Chapter
of AIChE’s Annual Clearwater
Conference in June. Students
spent two days
helping at the conference and got the opportunity
to network with professionals.
Our annual fall picnic took place at Riverfront
Park on October 17. Dr. Joseph and
Dr. John Kuhn - New Faculty Member
Dr. Kuhn received a Ph.D. in Chemical
Engineering from Ohio State University in
2007. Prior to joining the faculty at USF,
he did postdoctoral work in the Chemistry
Department at the University of California,
Berkeley. He teaches numerical
methods for chemical engineers. Dr.
Kuhn’s research interests include heterogeneous
catalysis and structure and properties
of metal and metal oxide
nanoparticles.
Dr. Kuhn’s research will be workinging
with 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.
The research will entail synthesis of welldefined
metal and metal oxide nanopar-
Dr. Gupta and his family joined the students
for burgers, hot dogs and volleyball. We
made slime at “oobleck” at
Mosi’s Day of the Scientist
in September where 1200
elementary school students
from around Tampa attended
and explored science
and engineering
principles.
Our Chem-E-Car team
went to the AIChE National
Student Conference in November
to compete against
30 other universities with
their car The Hydro Project.
They placed 5th at the Regional
Competition in April
2009 that qualified them to
compete at the National
Competition. The conference
was held at the Gaylord
Opryland in Nashville,
TN. The team will be building
a new car for the Regional
competition in April
2010 at NC State. The team
that traveled to Nashville consisted of Summer
Konja, Marialbys Hernandez, Heather
White, Jesse Parks, Harry Helmich, and Jennifer
Burnham.
ticles, 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.
John Kuhn, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of
Chemical and Biomedical
Engineering
Current AIChE Officers
President: Jennifer Burnham
Secretary: Summer Konja
Vice President: Jessica Torrivilla
Treasurer: Ana Rioja
Special Events Officer:
Daniel Hampton
Expo Chair: Arash Nozartash and
Lindsey Loutzenhiser
Fundraising: Heather White and
Marialbys Hernandez
Chem–E-Car: Harry Helmrich
Public Relations: Jessica Ewbank
Historian: Nicole Hupal
The AIChE student chapter participated
in a Fundraiser soccer tournament
organized by the Society of
Hispanic Professional Engineers
(SHPE) in November.
- Jennifer Burnham

Kudos
Undergraduates
• Nicole Hupalo (advisor Dr. Alcantar) and Shana Williams (advisor: Dr. 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 Winner:
• 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.
Graduate Students:
• 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
(FL)
• Pabitra Choudhury (advisor: Dr. 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.”
Faculty and Staff
• Dr. Babu Joseph stepped down as chair of the department and Dr. Venkat
Bhethanabotla is named the new chair of the department of Chemical and
Biomedical Engineering.
• Dr. Vinay Gupta is one of the two faculty members at USF to be honored with the
Jerome Krivanek Distinguished Teacher Award.
• Dr. Babu Joseph was named Professor of the Year by the graduating seniors of
Chemical and Biomedical Engineering.
• Dr. Venkat Bhethanabotla received the Outstanding Research Achievement Award
for 2009.
• Ed VanEtten was awarded the Quiet Quality Award.
• Dr. 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.
Karen Bray
New Office
Staff Member
Karen Bray is the new ASA (Academic
Services Administrator) in the
Chemical & Biomedical Engineering department.
Most recently she comes
from another SUS where she worked in
Engineering Student Affairs. Her work
involved coordinating programs and
services for the undergraduate engineering
student population. Her duties
included recruitment and outreach, academic
advisement, first-year retention
programs, a transfer transition program,
networking with student engineering
societies and employers, and
assisting with student graduation
awards, as well as, the undergraduate
engineering commencement ceremony.
Prior to this, Karen worked seven
years in Student Affairs. Functional
areas she facilitated included orientation,
disability services, career services,
Veteran Affairs, student government
and clubs/organizations. She also spent
ten years at both public and private universities
employed in Housing & Residence
Life.
Karen originally comes from western
New York State and enjoys Big East
Basketball, having spent time in the
‘Cuse with the Syracuse Orangemen!
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Tasha and Mario Camps
Mario is currently the president
of the largest anesthesiology
group in Brevard County Florida,
Brevard Anesthesia Services. He
is certain that his interest in
quality control, patient safety
and continuing academic
endeavors have been key factors
in his success there.
Featured Alumni:
Mario and Tasha Camps
While Mario was at USF, he was in
the Honors program (at its early stage
when it was just a few rooms),
working on his Chemical Engineering
degree, Biomedical Engineering
certificate. He became interested in
medicine while doing research with Dr.
Bill Lee. At that time, the certificate in
Biomedical Engineering was just being
developed. They worked on texture
and taste studies, as well as blood flow
studies. Some of their work was
published prior to Mario’s graduation.
Tasha and Mario met while he was
simultaneously taking plant design
and his pre-med classes. Tasha was also
a pre-med major at that time and had
not been exposed to much
engineering. As they grew closer Tasha
became interested in engineering and
changed her major.
Mario graduated from USF
Chemical Engineering in 1991 under
the honors program. He worked at
Badger Engineering in Tampa, now a
division of Raytheon from 1991-1992.
While he was there Mario worked on
polymers, oil and wax plants, and
flares. He applied to medical school
and was accepted to the USF College
of Medicine and attended medical
school from 1992-1996. Mario won
honorable mention for his solution of
the National AIChE Student Design
Contest Problem in his senior year at
USF. While at the USF COM, Mario
continued to pursue his research
interest and published and presented
a few papers. Many of them involved
some aspects of engineering with
topics including flow through portal
caval shunts (blood flow in the veins of
the liver), protocols for treating stab
wounds in trauma patients and the
loss of staple line integrity after
obesity surgery. Tasha and Mario
married just after Tasha graduated
with her Chemical Engineering
degree in 1994. While Mario was still
in school in Tampa, Tasha worked for
Brown and Root Engineering in
Clearwater. While there, she designed
soil and ground water clean up
solutions. In 1996, they moved to
North Carolina where Tasha worked
for Law Engineering and continued to
advance her career in the
Environmental Engineering field.
Mario believes his engineering
background provided a great
advantage for himself in pursuing his
career in Anesthesiology. An
anesthesiologist must be very
comfortable with complicated
medical equipment, the flow of gases
and fluids, pharmacology and
physiology. Additionally, he feels his
engineering and research background
was strongly considered when Mario
was accepted into one of the top
anesthesia residency programs in the
country. Mario did residency at Wake
Forest University where he was chief
resident. While there he continued to
work on clinical research and
presented the results of his studies in
pain control in children at a national
meeting in Hawaii. Mario is currently
the president of the largest
anesthesiology group in Brevard
County Florida, Brevard Anesthesia
Services. He is certain that his interest
in quality control, patient safety and
continuing academic endeavors have
been key factors in his success there.
Tasha and Mario are the proud
parents of three active boys Garrett
12, Austin 10, and Christian 9. All
three profess to love math and
science and at this stage look like
they’re engineers of the future. If
one goes on to be a chemical
engineer that would make 3
generations, as Mario’s father is a
chemical engineer still practicing as
a consultant.

News From Dr. Carlos Smith–
Special Request
Dear All,
Since about 1990, I’ve been communicating with you
in these newsletters giving you news about the University,
College and Department. The news has been good–
showing our progress from a local teaching university to
a recognized teaching/research university. However, I
don’t think any previous communication was as important
as this brief request.
The issue is related to our graduating seniors. As we
know, the economy is not doing well and jobs are very
scarce. Our seniors, as well as other seniors around the
country, are having a very difficult time obtaining job offers. It breaks my heart to see these very
well educated individuals graduate– reaching their life’s goal as you did a few years earlier– and
not being able to find a job that makes use of their skills and knowledge. We try to help them
by telling them that they should try to co-op, or look for any other kind of internship, as
companies are first hiring from those ranks. The fact is that there are not enough of these
positions available, and we don’t have contact with enough companies to increase these
possibilities. Here is what you can do to help us– a few of you have already done it. Please let
us know of any possibilities in your company for co-op, internship, and permanent positions.
This is something the USF Bulls can do to help one another. You can contact me at
csmith@eng.usf.edu, or Scott Campbell at Campbell@eng.usf.edu, and we will get the word
out. Thank you for your help, and have a great healthy and blessed 2010!
~ Carlos
Dr. Campbell Receives
NSF STEP Grant
Scott Campbell is one of a group of mathematics,
engineering and science faculty that received a $2million
grant over five years through the National
Science Foundation’s STEP (STEM Talent Expansion)
program. The group, which also consists of
Kandethody Ramachandran, Arcadii Grinshpan,
Catherine Beneteau (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. The only requirements are that it be a problem related to
their major and that it requires the use of calculus in its solution.
Although some students come up with their own idea for the project, most have not
taken a course in their major and must receive a problem from someone. Some of these
students are given ideas by their co-op or internship supervisors. For the others, 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.
He’s having great fun coming up with projects but can always use more ideas. If you
are a practicing engineer and have an idea for a small project that uses some calculus,
please feel free to email him at Campbell@eng.usf.edu or give him a call at 813-974-3907.
You would also be asked to consult with the student as he/she works through the project.
Previous experience suggest a time commitment of about three hours. If you do this, we
will include your name and idea on our program website and, who knows, you might
enjoy working with a student.
NNRC and the
Clean Energy
Research Center
Dr. John Wolan is an Associate
Professor of Chemical and
Biomedical Engineering. He is a
faculty research member of NNRC
and the Clean Energy Research
Center. Dr. Wolan’s research
group focuses on advancing the
fundamental understanding of
atomic scale processes occurring
during the synthesis of catalysis,
thin films, and Superlattice material
systems. These include studies
of surface and bulk chemical/enzymatic
reactions & kinetics, thermodynamic
driving forces and
quantum phenomena. Special
emphasis is given toward sustainable/renewable
applications.
One research front includes
the conversion of biomass to liquid
fuel utilizing Fischer Tropsch
Synthesis (FTS). Understanding
of catalyst morphology and performance
can lead to significant
improvements in FTS efficiency.
Global Venture Challenge, a competition
organized by Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, recognized
the potential of this research and
selected our team as a national
Semi-Finalist. The team will compete
in March in the Advanced
Materials for a Sustainable Energy
Future track, sponsored by
the US Department of Energy.
p11

Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
University of South Florida
4202 E. Fowler Ave ENB 118
Tampa, FL 33620
Chemical & Biomedical Engineering
We would like to thank all of our alumni and donors for their generosity in contributing to Chemical and Biomedical
Engineering during 2009
LIST OF DONORS:
American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Donald and Rebekah Griffith
Thomas and Roberta Brookins
Babu and Philomina Joseph
Manuel and Eva Bueno
Kerstin Kenty
Chevron Texaco Matching Gift Program
King Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Fermenich Citrus Center
Brian and Meghan Martin
David and Jerra Foster
Kevin O’Neal
Dharendra and Lovely Goswami
Prado Technology Corporation
Severn Trent Water Purification Inc.
Alumni Comments/Notes to Chemical & Biomedical Engineering Department Form
Detach and Mail to Chair, University of South Florida, CHE Dept ENB 118, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa, FL 33620 or email to
venkat@eng.usf.edu
Name: ___________________________________________________________
Year of Graduation and Degree Obtained: ____________________________________________________________________________
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