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New Faculty
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Aravind
Asthagiri
Dow Chemical Company Foundation Assistant Professor Aravind
Asthagiri's research involves the simulation of novel materials from an
atomistic level. He uses a multi-scale modeling approach to link
information on the atomic level to experimentally observable macroscopic
properties. The ability to simulate the properties of materials
accurately can be critical to gaining insight on the underlying
phenomena and ultimately the design of novel materials. Some of the
current areas he is exploring include organic molecules/mineral
surfaces, novel ferroelectric materials and the growth of nanostructured
materials. Aravind obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Chemical
Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2003, working in the
research group of David Sholl. He did his undergraduate studies at The
Ohio State University, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree
in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics in 1998. In his
doctoral research he examined the ability of chiral metal surfaces to
separate chiral molecules and the growth of thin chiral metal films on
metal oxides. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Carnegie Institution
of Washington from 2003 to 2005. There he studied the adsorption of
amino acids on chiral mineral surfaces and modeled the electromechanical
properties of complex Pb-based solid solution ferroelectric materials.
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Yiider Tseng
Associate Professor
Yiider Tseng is actively involved in the development and
characterization of molecular biomechanics. He is systematically
analyzing components associated with the cytoskeleton to further the
understanding of the physical mechanisms behind cell motility. Yiider
received his Ph.D. degree in Biophysics from the Johns Hopkins
University in 1999. He then joined the Department of Chemical and
Biomolecular Engineering of the Johns Hopkins University as a
post-doctorial fellow and later as an associate research scientist,
until joining UF in 2005. His extensive background in biology, physics,
and engineering enabled him to exploit biophysical methods to elucidate
novel aspects of biomechanical signaling. Yiider was co-author of the
first paper to introduce the method of multiple-particle tracking
microrheology, and he extended the method to living cell mechanics as
intracellular microrheology (ICM). ICM can directly measure the
viscoelasticity of living cells in real time, which he successfully used
to probe the intracellular molecular control mechanisms of migration
during wound healing and the molecular regulation of cytomechanical
response upon enzymatic activation. ICM is the first, and so far the
only, method that can be used to study intracellular micromechanics
quantitatively. Yiider also used ICM to reveal the micromechanics and
micro-organization of the interphase nucleus in living cells. Over the
past 6 years, Yiider has published more than 26 papers in prominent
journals, such as Physical Review Letters, Molecular Biology of the
Cell, Journal of Biological Chemistry, and Biophysical Journal. |
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Sergey Vasenkov
Assistant Professor
Sergey Vasenkov's research focuses on an understanding of various
transport phenomena in novel, nanostructured materials on all relevant
length scales. Recent development of microscopic techniques, which are
capable of monitoring molecular diffusion on nanometer and micrometer
length scales, opened a new gateway between nanosciences and chemical
engineering by allowing direct studies of the relation between structure
and transport in these materials. The main part of Sergey's research
work over the last six years has been aimed at the development and/or
finding ways for effective use of pulsed field gradient (PFG) NMR,
interference microscopy and IR microscopy, which are typical
representatives of such microscopic techniques. He has applied these
techniques for microscopic studies of molecular transport in nanoporous
solids, such as zeolites. Most recent advances in fabrication of novel
nanostructured materials possessing hierarchically organized porous
systems will, in the future, lead to a whole range of new applications,
especially in catalysis, molecular storage and optics where hierarchical
order results in useful properties. Sergey received his M.S. degree in
chemical physics from Novosibirsk University in 1989. He completed his
Ph.D. in physics and mathematics at the Institute of Chemical Kinetics
and Combustion (Novosibirsk) in 1994. Sergey was a postdoctoral fellow
at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley from
1995 to 1998 and was a member of the teaching and research staff of the
Department of Physics and Earth Sciences at the Leipzig University from
1998-2005. He has published more than 40 articles in leading
peer-reviewed journals and authored more than 10 review articles and
book chapters. |
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Kirk Ziegler
Assistant Professor
Kirk Ziegler’s research interests include physical chemistry and
applications of complex fluids, colloids, and interfaces for the
synthesis of nanomaterials exhibiting unique properties. His goal is to
understand and manipulate the properties of these nanomaterials, and
integrate them into critical new inventions and devices that will affect
microelectronics, manufacturing, healthcare, biotechnology, energy, and
materials science. Kirk graduated as a chemical engineer from the
University of Cincinnati in 1996. While at UC, he took part in the co-op
program, and worked as an environmental engineer at Mead Paper in
Chillicothe, Ohio and as an applications engineer at Siemens Energy and
Automation in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also studied the absorption of
proteins in ion exchange chromatography within the labs of Neville G.
Pinto. In 2001, Kirk completed his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at
Austin with Keith P. Johnston and Brian A. Korgel working on the
synthesis of nanoparticles in supercritical fluids. He then received the
Enterprise Ireland Post-doctoral Fellowship where he worked with Justin
D. Holmes at University College Cork in Cork, Ireland, continuing his
investigation of supercritical fluids for materials synthesis. The focus
of this work was on the synthesis of nanowire structures for
nanoelectromechanical systems and transistors. In 2003, Kirk moved to
Rice University where he worked with Richard E. Smalley until 2005
focusing on processes to cut micron long nanotubes into short segments
below 100 nm and then sort them by their length. |
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