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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Department of Chemical Engineering
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251102T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251102T160000
DTSTAMP:20260423T181229
CREATED:20251010T185615Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251010T185615Z
UID:5816-1762074000-1762099200@che.northeastern.edu
SUMMARY:2025 AIChE Annual Conference Student Recruitment Fair
DESCRIPTION:Join CHME Faculty and Staff at the 2025 AIChE Annual Conference in Boston\, Massachussetts! Ask your questions about our Master’s and PhD programs at our recruiting booth! We’ll be in Hynes Convention Center\, Exhibit Hall A\, Booth #26. We look forward to meeting you there!
URL:https://che.northeastern.edu/event/2025-aiche-annual-conference-student-recruitment-fair/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251103T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251103T213000
DTSTAMP:20260423T181229
CREATED:20251010T185646Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251010T185646Z
UID:5818-1762198200-1762205400@che.northeastern.edu
SUMMARY:2025 AIChE Annual Conference CHME Reception
DESCRIPTION:Join CHME Faculty and Staff at the 2025 AIChE Annual Conference in Boston\, Massachussetts! \nWe’ll be hosting our department reception in Hynes Convention Center\, Room 204. Stop by to network with our faculty and visiting alumni. Light snacks and refreshments will be offered. We look forward to meeting you there!
URL:https://che.northeastern.edu/event/2025-aiche-annual-conference-chme-reception/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251112T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251112T130000
DTSTAMP:20260423T181229
CREATED:20250917T003743Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251202T204317Z
UID:5747-1762948800-1762952400@che.northeastern.edu
SUMMARY:Chemical Engineering Fall Seminar Series: Micheál Scanlon
DESCRIPTION:Seminar Title: Electrosynthesis of Conducting Polymer Thin Films at a Polarizable Liquid | Liquid Interface \nLocation: 108 Snell Engineering Center \nAbstract: The broken symmetry of a liquid|liquid interface is ideal for the electrosynthesis of dimensionally confined nanomaterials\, i.e.\, thin films. Certain liquid|liquid interfaces are electrochemically active. Tuning the electric field provides a powerful external stimulus to overcome kinetic barriers to interfacial electrosynthesis. For example\, the rate of thin film formation can be controlled by electric field driven motion of ions (such as the oxidant) to the interface. In this presentation\, I will discuss recent breakthroughs in the electrosynthesis of commercially vital conducting polymer thin films\, such as biocompatible poly(3\,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT) [JACS\, (2024)\, 146\, 28941; JACS\, (2022)\, 144\, 4853]\, as well as metallic nanoparticle/PEDOT and carbon nanotube/PEDOT nanocomposites\, at a polarized liquid|liquid interface. The concept involves controlling interfacial electron transfer between an aqueous oxidant\, such as Ce4+\, and an organic soluble monomer\, such as EDOT\, at the liquid|liquid interface. Such control is possible by using (i) a 4-electrode electrochemical cell in conjunction with a potentiostat or (ii) an electrodeless approach by chemically establishing a distribution potential. The latter allows ease of scale-up of the thin films. Once formed\, the free-floating thin films can be transferred to any solid surface for ex situ applications\, for example in supercapacitor devices for energy conversion and storage or as biocompatible substrates in cell- and organoid-related studies for tissue engineering. \n\n Professor Micheál D. Scanlon graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from University College Cork (UCC)\, Ireland\, in 2005. He then went on to do a PhD in electrochemistry (2005-2009) at the Tyndall National Institute\, Cork\, Ireland\, under the mentorship of Professor Damien W.M. Arrigan. Following that he carried out postdoctoral research under the supervision of Professor Edmond Magner at the University of Limerick (UL)\, Ireland from 2009 to 2011\, and under the supervision of Professor Hubert H. Girault at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)\, Switzerland\, from 2011 to 2014. He established his own independent research group in 2014 in the Department of Chemistry at UCC upon winning a Science Foundation Ireland Starting Investigator Research Grant. He was awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant in 2016. Subsequently\, he was hired as an Associate Professor B in the Department of Chemical Sciences at UL in 2017 and joined the Bernal Institute at UL as a principal investigator. He has since been promoted to Associate Professor A (2020) and Professor (2022). At UL he has built an activity around electrochemistry at polarizable liquid | liquid interfaces to pioneer new approaches to the (photo)electrocatalysis of energy related reactions\, the electrosynthesis of conducting polymer thin films and their nanocomposites\, and the bioelectrochemistry of the model enzyme Cytochrome c (for more details see https://www.scanlonelectrochemlab.com/). He has published 1 book chapter and over 70 articles to date\, in leading journals such as the Journal of the American Chemical Society\, Chemical Science\, Science Advances\, and Angewandte Chemie International Edition. He is currently the Irish regional representative of the International Society of Electrochemistry.
URL:https://che.northeastern.edu/event/chemical-engineering-fall-seminar-series-micheal-scanlon/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251119T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251119T130000
DTSTAMP:20260423T181229
CREATED:20250917T003937Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251022T191757Z
UID:5749-1763553600-1763557200@che.northeastern.edu
SUMMARY:Chemical Engineering Fall Seminar Series: Marjan Rafat
DESCRIPTION:Seminar Title: The Role of Mammary Tissue Damage in Breast Cancer Recurrence and Metastasis \nLocation: 108 Snell Engineering Center \nAbstract: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) recurrence rates remain high despite aggressive therapeutic intervention\, including surgery\, chemotherapy\, immunotherapy\, and radiotherapy. Recent studies suggest that circulating tumor cell recruitment rather than persistent tumor cells in the irradiated surgical bed may enable recurrence. However\, the mechanisms that govern how the breast tissue microenvironment facilitates recurrence and metastasis are not well understood. In this seminar\, our recent efforts in studying the role of irradiated mammary tissue in influencing tumor cell behavior will be presented. Our novel decellularized extracellular matrix hydrogels derived from mammary glands as well as the contribution of stromal cells to tumor cell recruitment will be discussed. Our work reveals that radiation damage of breast tissue promotes a pro-tumor and immunosuppressive microenvironment through alterations in the structure and composition of the extracellular matrix. We also establish that radiation causes metabolic reprogramming in fibroblasts that supports tumor growth. Our studies represent an important step toward elucidating the impact of stromal cells in driving worse outcomes following therapy in patients with TNBC. Future research will utilize these results to engineer improved biomimetic in vitro tumor and tissue microenvironment models to probe the complex physical\, chemical\, and biological cues that regulate TNBC recurrence and metastasis. \n\n Dr. Marjan Rafat is an Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Vanderbilt University. She has courtesy appointments in the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Radiation Oncology and is a member of the Program in Cancer Biology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and the Breast Cancer Research Program at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. Among other recognitions\, she has received the NIH Pathway to Independence award\, the Young Innovator in Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering award\, Breast Cancer Alliance Young Investigator award\, Concern Foundation Conquer Cancer Now award\, METAvivor Early Career Investigator award\, and the American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant. She received a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from MIT\, a PhD in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University\, and was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University in the Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Rafat currently applies chemical and biomedical engineering concepts toward understanding the mechanisms driving breast cancer recurrence and metastasis. Her interdisciplinary laboratory at Vanderbilt examines and models the tumor and tissue microenvironment. She has contributed over 50 peer-reviewed publications\, 7 book chapters\, and over 85 conference presentations and proceedings.
URL:https://che.northeastern.edu/event/chemical-engineering-fall-seminar-series-marjan-rafat/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251124T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251124T133000
DTSTAMP:20260423T181229
CREATED:20251114T203718Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251114T203718Z
UID:5857-1763978400-1763991000@che.northeastern.edu
SUMMARY:ChE PhD Dissertation Defense: Su Sun
DESCRIPTION:Name:\nSu Sun \nTitle:\nToward Automated Reaction Mechanism Generation for Electrocatalytic CO2 Conversion\, Boron Nitride CVD\, and Beyond \nDate:\n11/24/2025 \nTime:\n10:00:00 AM \nCommittee Members:\nProf. Richard West (Advisor)\nProf. Francisco Hung\nProf. Qing Zhao\nProf. Peter Schindler\nDr. Harsha K. Chelliah \nLocation:\n157 Ryder Hall \nAbstract:\nThe advancement of sustainable energy and advanced material deposition technologies relies on a deep mechanistic understanding of chemical reactions governing electrochemical and heterogeneous catalysis processes. Computational modeling offers a powerful means to accelerate the design and optimization of these systems. However\, constructing detailed reaction mechanisms by manually enumerating all possible pathways is laborious and error-prone\, as comprehensive models can involve hundreds of chemical species and thousands of elementary reactions. In this dissertation\, I present advances toward automated reaction mechanism generation and simulation for complex chemical systems\, focusing on (i) electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction (CO2RR)\, (ii) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of boron nitride (BN)\, and (iii) the development of a modern MATLAB interface for Cantera that links automated mechanism generation with process-level modeling tools.\nBuilding upon the Reaction Mechanism Generator (RMG) framework and prior methodological developments for electrochemical kinetics\, I developed and modernized a prototype RMGElectrocat implementation that can automatically generate detailed mechanisms for CO2RR. I implemented a transport-coupled reactor interface\, in collaboration with colleagues\, to connect surface and solution-phase chemistry with mass transport at the electrode–electrolyte interface. I integrated ab initio thermochemical and kinetic parameters provided by collaborators into the RMG database\, and I introduced the first bimetallic catalyst surface\, Cu3Sn\, into RMG. Using these capabilities\, I constructed a comprehensive “Grand Model” for CO2RR on Ag\, Cu\, and Cu3Sn surfaces\, which includes 296 unique species and 1\,322 reactions\, among them 79 protoncoupled electron-transfer (PCET) steps. I performed Faradaic efficiency (FE) analyses to evaluate model predictions against experimental data and to identify key mechanistic pathways leading to C1–C4 products. Through this work\, I established a practical\, extensible workflow for automated generation and quantitative evaluation of electrochemical reaction mechanisms.\nTo extend automated mechanism generation toward materials synthesis\, I carried out preparatory work for BN CVD using RMG. I expanded the RMG database to include boron and Group III atom types and the associated functionalities required to describe B–N–H–Cl chemistry. I performed targeted ab initio calculations on key precursors and intermediates to benchmark quantumchemical methods for boron-containing species\, and conducted a preliminary group-additivity-value (GAV) fitting into the RMG database. I then generated a prototype gas-phase BN mechanism with 29 species and 101 reactions and conducted a proof-of-concept CVD reactor simulation to demonstrate its viability. These efforts established a foundation for future automated construction of detailed BN CVD mechanisms and illustrated the adaptability of RMG to emerging thin-film materials systems.\nFinally\, I developed a modern MATLAB interface for Cantera\, enabling robust and user-friendly access to advanced chemical-kinetics\, thermodynamics\, and transport models directly withinMATLAB. I built the interface usingMATLAB’s clibgen infrastructure to provide an objectoriented\, memory-safe API that maps directly onto Cantera’s application binary interface (ABI). I implemented automated build workflows and created a comprehensive suite of MATLAB Live Script tutorials to support educational and research use. This interface connects mechanisms generated by RMG with detailed reactor and process modeling in Cantera\, bridging automated mechanism generation with engineering analysis and simulation.
URL:https://che.northeastern.edu/event/che-phd-dissertation-defense-su-sun/
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