Treating drug abuse and addiction has traditionally been the sole business of medical and behavioral health practitioners. Today, partnerships among experts in a range of sciences has led to research cross-pollination. Now, for instance, behavioral scientists work with chemical engineers on new approaches to social problems such as substance abuse. Daniel Rivera, an associate professor of chemical engineering in the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, is involved in one such a collaboration. Rivera, director of the Control Systems Engineering Laboratory, is leading two research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that focus on the application of control systems engineering to the practice of adaptive behavioral health interventions – used by medical and behavioral health professionals to treat behavioral issues such as drug dependency. Used widely in the fields of chemical, electrical, mechanical and aerospace engineering, and in computer science, control engineering principles can also be applied... Read more »

A grant of more than $360,000 from the National Cancer Institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health, will fund collaborative research on prostate cancer therapeutics at ASU. Kaushal Rege, assistant professor of Chemical Engineering (http://www.public.asu.edu/~krege/) and Sandwip Dey, professor in the School of Materials and the Department of Electrical Engineering will develop a multifunctional inorganic ceramic nanovector (i.e., a therapeutic carrier of nanometer length scale), which will be used to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs selectively to cancer cells. In addition to targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs, the nanomaterials will be used to image prostate cancer cells resulting in the multifunctional nature of the nanovectors. The researchers will evaluate the uptake, intracellular localization, efficacy, selectivity, mechanisms of cell death, and biocompatibility of the ceramic nanovectors.

Professor Jerry Y.S. Lin, chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, has been appointed editor of the Journal of Membrane Science. Published by Elesvier, the world’s largest publisher of medical and scientific research literature, the journal is among the most cited in the chemical engineering field. It focuses on significant contributions that advance the science and technology of  membrane processes and phenomena. In chemistry, a membrane typically refers to a thin sheet of natural or synthetic material that is permeable to substances. The journal puts primary emphasis on research into the synthesis, structure and function of nonbiological membranes, including organic and inorganic membranes for chemical separation, chemical reactions, sensors and fuel cells.

Nanotechnology research and education at Arizona State University and beyond will be boosted by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award recently won by Bryan Vogt, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering in the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering. It’s one of several prestigious NSF Career Awards received by engineering school faculty members in recent years. Vogt’s award will provide more than $405,000 over five years to support his research on expanding the capabilities of nanostructures and nanomaterials and fund instruction of undergraduates in the subject of the research. In addition, the award will support an effort to incorporate nanotechnology concepts in the chemistry curriculum at Estrella Mountain Community College in Maricopa County, and provide for tutorials in nanotechnology at a central Phoenix elementary school through ASU’s Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program for K-12 students. NSF Career Awards acknowledge researchers’ and educators’ accomplishments as well as... Read more »