Faculty and researchers in the College of Engineering made significant
contributions to their fields over the past quarter, publishing studies in highly regarded journals and securing funding for ongoing and future research.
Joshua
Agar, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical
engineering and mechanics,co-authored papers in
Advanced
Science and NPJ Computational Materials. The research examined how
artificial intelligence software can allow electron microscopes to
instantly analyze and adapt to samples, though optimizing this technology
poses challenges, as well as how imaging technology showed that exposing a
type of ceramic material to different gases and temperatures alters its
internal molecular arrangements in ways that can be rapidly assessed by
smart algorithms for uses in speeding up chemical reactions and generating
energy.
Nicolas Alvarez, PhD, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, published
"Highly stable petroleum pitches provide access to the deep glassy state"
in Soft Matter. The research showed how the fast aging dynamics
and tunable composition of petroleum pitches allows them to reach an
ultra-stable glassy state comparable to or faster than other fragile glass
materials.
Michel Barsoum, PhD, Distinguished Professor, authored or contributed to ten
papers with collaborators including
Christopher Li, PhD
, professor of materials science and engineering, in journals such as
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
, Ceramics International, Chemical Engineering Journal,
Energy Storage Materials, Journal Of Physical Chemistry C
, Matter and others. The research explored developing and
characterizing one- and two-dimensional titanium-based nanostructures,
evaluating their capabilities for high temperature creep resistance,
microwave absorption, energy storage, photocatalysis, metal-sulfur
batteries, and capturing actinides from wastewater.
Aaron Fafarman, PhD, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, published
"In-Operando FTIR Study on the Redox Behavior of Sulfurized
Polyacrylonitrile as Cathode Material for Li-S Batteries" in
Journal Of Physical Chemistry C
. The paper examined how lithium nitrate enables the SPAN cathode to retain
capacity in ether electrolytes by suppressing polysulfides and allowing the
carbon-sulfur bond and heteropolycyclic backbone to remain intact.
Amir Farnam, PhD, associate professor of civil, architectural and environmental
engineering;
Ahmad Najafi, PhD, PC Chou assistant professor in mechanical engineering and mechanics;
Christopher Sales, PhD, associate professor of civil, architectural and
environmental engineering; and
Caroline Schauer, PhD, Associate Dean for Faculty Advancement & Program Initiatives,
published "Development of a nature-inspired polymeric fiber (BioFiber) for
advanced delivery of self-healing agents into concrete" in
Construction And Building Materials
. The study focused on manufacturing a BioFiber with a hydrogel sheath
containing healing agents, a load-bearing core, and a damage-responsive
outer shell to integrate self-healing, crack control, and activation
functionalities into concrete.
Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Charles T. and Ruth M. Bach Professor,
authored or contributed to more than a dozen papers with collaborators
including
Ekaterina Pomerantseva, PhD, associate professor of materials science and engineering;
Yong-Jie Hu, PhD, assistant professor of materials science and engineering; and many
graduate students and professional colleagues. The papers appeared in
publications including 2D Materials, Advanced Materials,
Chemistry of Materials, Energy Storage Materials and
several journals of the American Chemical Society. The research encompassed
the synthesis of new MXene compounds, measurements of properties of various
MXenes, development of techniques to deposit MXenes on textiles,
exploration of composites containing MXenes and other nanomaterials, use of
MXenes for biomedical applications, and analysis of energy applications
based on MXenes.
E. Caglan Kumbur, PhD, professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics, published "A new
static mixer concept for enhanced desalination performance in
flow-electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI) systems" in
Desalination
. The research sought to address conductivity and pumping challenges
limiting FCDI performance through low carbon loading suspensions and a
membrane-assisted static mixer design.
James
Lo, PhD, associate professor of civil, architectural and
environmental engineering, published "A novel data-driven relationship
inference approach for automatic data tagging in building heating,
ventilation and air conditioning systems" in
Building And Environment
. The paper proposed a method using incremental classification,
clustering/correlation analysis, and deep learning to automatically tag
sensor measurements with equipment, zone, and relationship information in
HVAC systems.
Fei
Lu, PhD, assistant professor of electrical and computer
engineering, authored several papers in IEEE publications on power
electronics and energy conversion systems. The research focused on
improving direct current power distribution through solid-state circuit
breakers, enhancing wireless charging techniques such as inductive power
transfer for applications including autonomous vehicles, and analyzing
design methods to increase efficiency and fault tolerance.
Steven
May, PhD, professor and department head of materials science
and engineering, co-authored papers in ACS Nano and
ACS Applied Energy Materials
. In these papers, he and his colleagues explored how the surface stresses
in iron-oxide films on gold change during oxygen production reactions,
causing cracking and expansion, and how adding lanthanum impurities allows
reliable activation of extra-wide-bandgap tin-oxide films to make
high-voltage transistors for power applications.
Ahmad Najafi, PhD, PC Chou assistant professor in mechanical engineering
and mechanics, published "Microstructural fatigue fracture behavior of
glycated cortical bone" in
Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing
. The research investigated how higher advanced glycation end products
between microstructural features in diabetic bone can alter crack
initiation and growth under cyclic loading.
Ekaterina Pomerantseva, PhD, associate professor of materials science and engineering, authored papers
in ACS Applied Energy Materials and
Journal Of Power Sources
. The research explored how manipulating the structure of vanadium oxide
and molybdenum oxide materials by integrating them with graphene and
controlling lattice defects could enhance their ability to store and
conduct electricity efficiently for potential applications in improved
batteries and energy storage technologies.
Matthew Reichenbach, PhD, assistant teaching professor of civil, architectural and environmental
engineering, contributed to "Experimental Fatigue Evaluation of Typical
Cross-Frame Details in Steel I-Girder Bridges" in
Journal Of Bridge Engineering
. The experiments revealed the poor fatigue resistance in many prevalent
cross-frame connection details in steel bridges compared to proposed
improved details.
Christopher Sales, PhD, associate professor of civil, architectural and environmental
engineering, published "Estimating impacts of LCRR's fifth-liter sampling
and find-and-fix requirements on large water systems" in
Environmental Science-Water Research & Technology
. The study presented a data-driven method to estimate the Lead and Copper
Rule Revisions' impacts on water lead levels and infrastructure using
utility sampling data.
Ioannis Savidis, PhD, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, published
"Hidden Costs of Analog Deobfuscation Attacks" in
IEEE Transactions On Very Large Scale Integration (Vlsi) Systems
. The study analyzed the adverse effects on analog attack algorithms when
an attacker does not have access to the full circuit netlist,
specifications, and bias information needed to successfully deobfuscate an
analog circuit.
Joshua Snyder, PhD, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, published
"Top-Down Electrochemical Synthesis of Nanoporous Metal Nanosheets from
Nonlayered Alloy Precursors" in Advanced Engineering Materials.
The research showed forming nanoporous iridium nanosheets through
electrochemical dealloying by simultaneously inducing nanoporosity in an
alloy precursor and exfoliating the porous structure into 2D flakes.
Jonathan Spanier, PhD, professor and department head of mechanical engineering and mechanics,
published "Ultrahigh Bulk Photovoltaic Effect Responsivity in Thin Films:
Unexpected Behavior in a Classic Ferroelectric Material" in
Solar RRL
. The study demonstrated obtaining a high bulk photovoltaic response in
ordinary BaTiO3 thin films by tuning the ferroelectric polarization,
reaching the highest reported responsivity to date for this material.
Masoud Soroush, PhD, professor of chemical and biological engineering, published
"Liquid-Templating Aerogels" in Advanced Materials. The study
introduced an approach to engineer lightweight, tunable aerogels by
freezing particle-stabilized liquid templates with controllable structure
and composition into hierarchical porous networks with advanced
functionality.
Wei
Sun, PhD, Albert Soffa Chair Professor in mechanical
engineering and mechanics, authored five papers during the fall term,
working with a number of international colleagues, in
ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering
, Biofabrication, Biomedical Materials and the
International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
. The research covered the development and testing of novel hydrogel-based
biomaterials and 3D bioprinting techniques for applications in tissue
engineering, wound healing, and disease modeling.
Michael Waring, PhD, professor and department head in civil, architectural and environmental
engineering, published two papers in EnvironmentalScience. These
studies used computer models to explore how cooking fumes create oily films
that accumulate on indoor surfaces over years, and developed improved ways
to quantify how much gunk is emitted while cooking.
Jin
Wen, PhD, associate dean for research and innovation, published
"Performance assessment of a real water source heat pump within a
hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing environment" in
Science And Technology For The Built Environment
. The research introduced the design and uncertainty analysis of a novel
testbed enabling a water-source heat pump to interact with simulated
building thermal loads, occupant behaviors, grid signals, and ground loop
conditions.
Sponsored Research
Joshua
Agar, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical
engineering and mechanics, has obtained funding from National Science
Foundation's Major Research Instrumentation program for "Track 2
Development of a Platform for Accessible Data-Intensive Science and
Engineering." The project will develop an innovative platform to
automatically curate, search, efficiently compute on, and publicly share
research data to advance reproducible science and data-intensive research
across scientific disciplines.
Megan Creighton, PhD, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, has received
support from Drexel's Areas of Excellence & Opportunity (AEO)
Initiative for "Responsible Development and Scaling of Advanced Titania
Ceramics for Treating Textile Effluent Wastewater." The research will
explore using newly discovered nanostructured titania materials as highly
efficient photocatalysts for removing dyes and treating wastewater from the
textile industry to help address global water scarcity.
Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Charles T. and Ruth M. Bach Professor, has
obtained funding from Murata Manufacturing Co. for "CVD Synthesis of
MXenes." The project aims to build a chemical vapor deposition system for
the direct, bottom-up synthesis of MXene 2D transition metal carbide and
nitride materials, which have promise for electronics, energy storage, and
other applications.
Additionally, Gogotsi received support from Ballydel Technologies for "STTR
Phase II MXene-based Coatings for Aerospace Applications." His group will
investigate mechanisms and scale-up potential for the dry synthesis of
MXenes, evaluating their properties and applications as coatings.
Charles Haas, PhD, LD Betz Professor of Environmental Engineering, has received an award
from Environmental Protection Agency for "Winning the Race Against
Competing Risks: Optimizing Drinking Water Disinfection to Minimize
Opportunistic Pathogen & DBP Risks.” He will advise a multi-university
team on risk assessment best practices for comparing disinfection byproduct
and pathogen risks in treated drinking water.
Steven
May, PhD, professor and department head of materials science
and engineering, has obtained funding from Department of Energy for
"Controlling magnetism via charge-modifications in quantum material
heterostructures.” The project utilizes neutron scattering to understand and
control magnetism in promising new quantum material heterostructures by
modifying charge density.
May also received support from the AEO Initiative for "Responsible
Manufacturing of Oxide Semiconductors.” The research investigates societal
and environmental impacts of semiconductor manufacturing processes and
materials.
Matthew Stamm, PhD, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was also
awarded funding through AEO for "Defending the Real: Protecting Against
Emerging Generative AI Cybersecurity Threats". The project seeks to address
emerging cybersecurity threats like AI-generated fake media, adversarial
attacks on AI systems, and AI-based malware.