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Faculty Accomplishments


Faculty Accomplishments

A Brighter Horizon for Parkinson’s Patients

Individuals afflicted with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease – and even diabetes – might soon be looking forward to a brighter future.

With his atomic force microscope, chemical engineer Dr. Michael Sierks is looking deep into the causes of such diseases. In Parkinson’s patients, many dopamine-producing neurons in the brain that control motor function die off, and the remaining neurons are left with intracellular aggregates – “gunked-up proteins” known as lewy bodies. “Why these proteins are aggregating into lewy bodies instead of remaining as single soluble proteins is the big question.” When the proteins aggregate, Sierks explains, they can form highly toxic ‘oligomeric’ structures- assemblies containing from two to 15 or more molecules.

Sierks is focusing his research on targeting the toxic oligomeric form of proteins. Unlike the monomeric form – the single, functioning protein – the oligomeric structure of many different proteins can cause cell death. “We have developed a technique which allows us to isolate antibodies that recognize only the oligomeric structures – not the monomeric form which may be essential for cell function, or fibrillar forms that may not be toxic,” says Sierks.

The ultimate goal, says Sierks, is to develop novel therapeutics for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. “This work can be applied to other diseases as well, since each involves a misfolding of proteins that affect the brain.” Under the microscope, Sierks can distinguish between monomer, oligimer and fibril proteins, gaining a better understanding of protein morphology. He also can see the impact of antibodies he is testing, assessing whether they block toxicity. “We measure toxicity by adding oligomeric protein to a sample cell culture and seeing how many cells die,” explains Sierks.

His research is supported through a grant from the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission and through the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Sierks works in conjunction with Dr. Anne Messer in the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health.

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Professor Jerry Lin receives $2 million grant for hydrogen research

CHE Chair and Professor Jerry Y.S. Lin has received $2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to support a project on zeolite membrane reactors for production of hydrogen by water-gas. Zeolites are crystalline alumina-silicates having sub-nanometer pore openings as small as an angstrom. Although the project will focus on basic and/or feasibility research, the results will enable development of a large scale one-step membrane reactor process for cost-effective production of pure hydrogen. DOE granted more than $75 million in 2004 to researchers across the country for projects on hydrogen production, delivery and analysis. The projects address major technical and economic hurdles in renewable and distributed hydrogen production technologies that must be overcome to realize the goals of President Bush's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative. This DOE award is further recognition of Lin’s strength in inorganic membrane research and advances one of the primary goals of ASU: to promote research that benefits society and has meaningful economic impact. One of the major technological hurdles in the hydrogen economy is the cost-effective production of hydrogen from renewable sources such as biomass. In this new project, Lin and his collaborators will study novel molecular sieving crystalline silica membranes for effective separation of hydrogen at high temperatures. The membranes will be coupled with a water-gas-shift reaction to enable hydrogen production and product purification in one step.

The DOE award on hydrogen research will allow Lin and his collaborators to study fundamental issues related to new membrane synthesis as well as the membrane properties critical for development of cost-effective processes for hydrogen production. Co-principal investigators for this project are Peter Smirniotis from the University of Cincinnati, Henk Verweij of Ohio State University, and Junghan Dong of New Mexico Institute of Technology.

Lin's laboratory is also engaged in four other DOE-funded projects. These focus on improving the technology and application of inorganic materials as membranes and sensors for separation of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and other chemicals in combustion gases. In two other projects, funded by the National Science Foundation, Lin and colleagues are researching a new high temperature . temperature sorption process for air separation and production of oxygen-enriched carbon dioxide streams, as well as the synthesis of a nanostructured biomembrane reactor system for efficient production of valued-added biological products.

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Professor Joe Wang wins Electrochemist of the Year Award

Dr. Joseph Wang, director of the Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors in the Biodesign Institute at ASU, is the 2006 recipient of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Analytical Chemistry Cole Parmer Award in Electrochemistry. "This ACS award adds to many well-deserved honors that Joe Wang has received in recognition of his research excellence," says George Poste, director of the Biodesign Institute. "He is an international leader in electrochemistry and his innovative research has contributed greatly toward the advancement of biosensor technology, for purposes of human health monitoring, environmental sensing and national security."

Wang is an academic "triple threat" at ASU, having been recruited in 2004 to the Biodesign Institute to lead a new center and serving a joint appointment as professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering (CME) at the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering and the Department of Chemistry in the School of Life Sciences.

"Joe Wang is one of the most creative scientists I have known in my technical life," says Subhash Mahajan, CME chair. "His understanding and intuition of electrochemistry is so excellent that he can apply to it to a multitude of technologies. He can reduce complex problems to an aggregation of simple ones, resulting in sophisticated biosensors and nanowires with unique properties."

Wang's research interests include the development of microfluidic ("lab-on-chip") devices, biosensors, DNA recognition and diagnostics, and nanomaterials-based sensors that can operate at the scale of single-molecule detection limits.

"Joe Wang has been a pioneer in the development and use of electrochemistry in sensor technology, which is used in an enormous number of chemical, medical and environmental applications," says Bob Blankenship, chair of the Department of Chemistry. "This very prestigious national American Chemical Society award is an acknowledgment of his enormous contributions in these areas."

During his career, Wang has written 685 papers, seven books and 24 chapters and received 14 patents to his credit, including involvement in the development of the first noninvasive biosensor for diabetes, the Food and Drug Adminstration-approved Gluco Watch, which monitors glucose levels through human sweat. "It is very gratifying and a great honor to be recognized by one's peers and the award committee, as there are many other deserving candidates," Wang says.

Professor Bruce Rittmann receives several new grants

Dr. Bruce Rittmann, ChE affiliate faculty member, has recently received the following grants:

The Intestinal Microbial Ecology in Normal Weight and Morbidly Obese Individuals
ASU-Mayo Program
B.E. Rittmann, PI; J. DiBaise (Mayo) co-PI
$37,625

Biological Fate and Electron Microscopy Detection of Nanoparticles in Wastewater Treatment
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P. Westerhoff, PI; B. E. Rittmann and T. Alford, co_Pis
$399,000

Assessment of the Natural Attenuation of NAPL Source Zone and Post-Treatment NAPL Source Zone Residual
ESTCP (DoD)
P. Johnson, PI; B.E. Rittmann, co-PI
$850,000

Intimate Coupling of Photocatalysis and Biodegradation in a Photocatalyti Circulating-Bed Biofilm Reactor
National Science Foundation
B.E. Rittmann, PI
$425,000

Professor Joe Wang receives honorary degrees

Dr. Joseph Wang, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Director of the Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors has been awarded Honorary Professor Degrees from two European universities this June. Complutense University of Madrid (Spain’s largest university), and the National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana, Slovenia recognized Wang’s lifetime contributions to the fields of science and engineering. Wang is the author of 725 papers and 10 books and has been recognized by the ISI as the “Most Cited Scientist in the Engineering World” (1991-2001) and was ranked number four on the ISI’s list of “Most Cited Researchers in Chemistry” (1996-2006). The photos below show Dr. Wang receiving his honorary degrees from Slovenia (left) and Spain (right), respectively.

Journal article listed on ScienceDirect's Top25 hottest articles

A recent article co-authored by Dr. Daniel E. Rivera (associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering), Jay Schwartz (current ChE graduate student), and Wenlin Wang (recent ChE Ph.D. alumnus), has appeared in ScienceDirect's Top25 hottest articles list for the journal Automatica. The article, "Simulation-based optimization of process control policies for inventory management in supply chains", was the number one most downloaded article by ScienceDirect during the first three months of publication (July - September 2006) and ranked fifth in the overall category of Decision Sciences. Automatica is the top journal of IFAC, the International Federation of Automatic Control. During the most recent evaluation period (October - December 2006) the paper remained within the Top 25, at number 14. For additional information, please visit ScienceDirect's Top25 Hottest Articles service at http://top25.sciencedirect.com/?journal_id=00051098.

Professor Joe Wang has developed a new technology to rapidly detect liquid peroxide explosives

The thwarted 2006 London airline bomb plot not only heightened summer travel fears and created new passenger screening inconveniences, but it also greatly underscored the urgent need for improved national security measures.

Now, Professor Joe Wang, director of the Center for Biosensors and Bioelectronics at the Biodesign Institute at ASU, has developed a highly sensitive technology to rapidly detect liquid peroxide explosives in as little as 15 seconds. The results are published as a research communication online in the leading international analytical journal, the Analyst.

“Previously, there have been no effective sensing technologies that can detect these compounds in a rapid and sensitive manner, so this is an important first step in trying to stay ahead of the terrorists who are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their methods,” says Wang...

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Professor Joe Wang receives Faculty Achievement Award from Arizona State University

Dr. Joseph Wang is an inaugural recipient of ASU's Faculty Achievement Award in Defining Edge Research in Natural Sciences & Math. This award recognizes Wang's impressive scholarly contributions to the sciences and math. He, along with other awardees, received special recognition at an awards ceremony hosted by ASU's Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost.

Dr. Jeff Heys receives Fulton teaching award

Assistant Professor Dr. Jeff Heys is one of three Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering faculty to receive the school's Best Teacher Award for 2007. Dr. Heys currently teaches CHE 211 (Introduction to Chemical Processing), CHE 331 (Fluid Dynamics), and CHE 527 (Advanced Applied Mathematics for Chemical Engineering). As to his teaching philosophy, Dr. Heys has the following to say: " My basic teaching philosophy has been inspired by the many wonderful and inspirational teachers that I have had the privilege of knowing. These teachers taught me that the most important things are that I care about the learners, come prepared to teach, bring enthusiasm and energy, and keep an open mind about alternative methods of teaching. All of the many teaching related activities that I participate in are, hopefully, a reflection of that philosophy."

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Dr. Rittman appointed Chair of the Leading Edge Technology (LET) conference

Professor Bruce Rittmann was appointed the Chairman of the Leading Edge Technology (LET) conference, the “signature” conference of the International Water Association (IWA). LET is the most prestigious and influential conference in the water industry, because it invites speakers who are the world’s leading scientists and engineers focusing on innovative technologies for treating water and wastewater. Dr. Rittmann was appointed the new Chairman at the 2007 LET conference, which was held in Singapore this past June. Dr. Rittmann is now organizing the program for the 2008 conference, which is to be held next June in Zürich, Switzerland.

Dr. Rivera appointed as Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on System Identification

Associate Professor Dr. Daniel E. Rivera has recently been been appointed by the IEEE Control Systems Society's Board of Governors to serve as Chair of the Technical Committee on System Identification and Adaptive Control. This committee is charged with promoting activities in these topical areas among the IEEE-CSS membership.

Journal article ranked 21st most cited paper in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research

Dr. Daniel E. Rivera's first-ever journal paper (published in 1987 in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research) was ranked as the 21st most cited paper in the journal since 1975. The journal will be 100 years old in 2008, and a list of the 100 most cited papers since 1975 has been developed as part of this centennial celebration. The list can be found at the following link:
http://pubs.acs.org/journals/iecred/promo/100th/100mostsited.html

Dr. Rivera serves as guest editor of a special section of the IEEE Control Systems Magazine

Daniel E. Rivera, associate professor of chemical engineering, served along with Mechanical Engineering Professor Spilios Fassois of the University of Patras-Greece as Guest Editor of a special section on applications of system identification that appeared in the October issue of the IEE Control Systems Magazine. The Special Section consisted of six feature articles covering a broad spectrum of system identification applications, among them vibration monitoring of aeronautical structures, electric load forecasting, control of industrial robots and high-purity distillation, stellar interferometry, and space weather forecasting. Authors included groups from France, Belgium, and various locations in the United States. A feature article entitled "High purity distillation: using plant-friendly multisine signals to identify a strongly interactive process," was co-authored by Professor Rivera along with chemical engineering Ph.D. alumni Hyunjin Lee (now at RPI) and Martin W. Braun (now at Intel Corp.) and Professor Hans D. Mittelmann of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Dr. Rivera featured in the leading control engineering journal in the Spanish-speaking world and on Spanish radio

Daniel E. Rivera recently wrote a tutorial article that headlined the October 2007 issue of the Revista Iberoamericana de Automática e Informática Industrial (RIAI), the leading control engineering journal in the Spanish-speaking world. The article is entitled "Una metodología para la identificación integrada con el diseño de controladores IMC-PID" (A methodology for integrated system identification with IMC-PID controller design). It can be found in http://riai.isa.upv.es/principal.html; once in this page one has to manually go to the link that says Ultimo Número (on the right-hand side) to reach the link with a PDF version of the manuscript.

Additionally, Dr. Rivera was recently featured on a 30 minute radio show that was broadcast October 24 through the Spanish National Public Radio network; a link to the show is:

The show was entitled, "Hacia una sociedad automatizada. A donde vamos?" (Towards an automated society: where are we headed?) and was hosted by Professor Sebastián Dormido of the Spanish National Distance Learning University (UNED) in Madrid. Dr. Rivera was featured along with Professor José Luis Guzmán of the University of Almería. In the show, he discusses the topics of control applications to supply chain management and adaptive interventions in behavioral health, which are among the principal areas of endeavor of his research group.

Dr. Andino receives a NASA Space Act Award

Associate professor Jean Andino has received a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Space Act Award for her role in the development of a new technology that purifies air and water in enclosed environments. The award, as described on NASA's web site, was established "to provide official recognition of, and to grant equitable monetary awards for, those inventions and other scientific and technical contributions that have helped to achieve NASA's aeronautical, technology transfer and space goals."

Dr. Rivera to serve as PI on two NIH grants focused on control systems approaches to behavioral interventions

Dr. Daniel E. Rivera has just received two separate awards from the National Institutes of Health.  The first, on which he is the sole PI, is a K25 Mentored Quantitative Research Development award.  Entitled “Control Engineering Approaches to Adaptive Interventions for Fighting Drug Abuse,” this award will provide $875k over five years to examine how control engineering can improve the analysis and design of interventions geared towards drug abuse prevention and treatment.  The second, on which he serves as a co-PI with Linda Collins of the Methodology Center at Penn State University, is a four-year R21 award entitled, “Dynamical Systems and Related Engineering Approaches to Improving Behavioral Interventions.”  The ASU share of this award is $510k.

Dr. Andino awarded second Space Act Award

Dr. Jean Andino recently received a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Space Act Award for her role in developing a new technology to be used by the federal agency. The award recognizes Andino's technical contribution to NASA's aeronautical and space goals. The invention — a chemical assisted photocatalyst oxidation system (CAPOS) — is based on the use of a photocatalytic material and a gas that can be used to remove pollutants from indoor environments. This is the second NASA Space Act Award recently awarded to Andino.

Research by Dr. Bryan Vogt sheds light on nanoscale details of the photolithography process

Research conducted by Dr. Bryan Vogt and colleagues from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has shed light on nanoscale details of the photolithography process.  A recent article co-authored by Dr. Vogt in the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology demonstrates that photoresists used in the manufacture of microelectronic chips do not behave as previously thought.  As highlighted in Semiconductor International magazine, Dr. Vogt and his NIST colleagues “made the first direct measurements of the infinitesimal expansion and collapse of thin polymer films used in the manufacture of advanced semiconductor devices. It’s a matter of only a couple of nanometers, but it can be enough to affect the performance of next-generation chip manufacturing. The NIST measurements, detailed in a new paper, offer a new insight into the complex chemistry that enables the mass production of powerful new integrated circuits.”

Lin to lead Department of Chemical Engineering

Jerry Y.S. Lin has been named chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering. He takes over a department with plans in place to add to its faculty and improve it academic rankings. Lin has been interim chair of the department since July 2006. “I’m optimistic about the future,” he says. “We have top-quality faculty who are devoted to excellence in education and who are working on cutting-edge research.” The department has hired several new faculty in the past several years and seen its graduate program improve in the U.S. News and World Report magazine rankings from 50 to 44 in the nation. Lin says he expects both undergraduate and graduate chemical engineering programs to earn improved rankings in coming years. “Professor Lin is an excellent researcher and technical leader,” says Deirdre Meldrum, dean of the Fulton School of Engineering. “We’re excited to have him on our... Read more

Grant to fund research on prostate cancer therapeutics

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.


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