Cyrus Aidun

Cyrus Aidun

Cyrus Aidun

Professor

Dr. Aidun joined the Woodruff School as a Professor in 2003 after completion of a two-year period as program director at the National Science Foundation. He began at Tech in 1988 as an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology. Prior, he was a research Scientist at Battelle Research Laboratories, Postdoctoral Associate at Cornell University and Senior Research Consultant at the National Science Foundation's Supercomputer Center at Cornell. 

Dr. Aidun's research is at the intersection between fundamentals of the physics of complex fluids/thermal transport and applications to engineering and biotransport. He has a diverse research portfolio in fluid mechanics, bioengineering, renewable bioproducts and decarbonization of industrial processes. 

A major focus has been to understand the physics of blood cell transport and interaction with glycoproteins (e.g., vWF) with applications to cardiovascular diseases.

cyrus.aidun@me.gatech.edu

404-894-6645

Office Location:
Love Building, Room 320

Website

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    Research Focus Areas:
  • Biobased Materials
  • Biochemicals
  • Biorefining
  • Biotechnology
  • Conventional Energy
  • Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Biomechanics
  • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
  • Sustainable Manufacturing
  • Additional Research:
    Computational analysis of cellular blood flow in the cardiovascular system with applications to platelet margination, thrombus formation, and platelet activation in artificial heart valves. Thermal Systems. Chemical Recovery; Papermaking.

    IRI Connections:

    Victor Breedveld

    Victor Breedveld

    Victor Breedveld

    Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies
    Professor and Frank Dennis Faculty Fellow

    victor.breedveld@chbe.gatech.edu

    404.894.5134

    Office Location:
    Ford Environmental Science & Technology Building, Room 1222

    ChBE Profile

  • Website
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Biobased Materials
  • Bioengineering
  • Biomaterials
  • Biorefining
  • Biotechnology
  • Energy
  • Additional Research:
    Biofuels; Papermaking, Coatings & Barriers; Films & Coatings; Biomaterials; Structure and Reheology of Complex fluids; Rheology of Bioengineering Materials

    IRI Connections:

    Blair Brettmann

    Blair Brettmann

    Blair Brettmann

    Assistant Professor, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Material Science and Engineering
    RBI Co-Lead: Interface of polymer science and wood-based materials

    Blair Brettmann received her B.S. in chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in 2007. She received her Master’s in chemical engineering practice from MIT in 2009 following internships at GlaxoSmithKline (Upper Merion, PA) and Mawana Sugar Works (Mawana, India). Blair received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering at MIT in 2012 working with the Novartis-MIT Center for Continuous Manufacturing under Professor Bernhardt Trout. Her research focused on solid-state characterization and application of pharmaceutical formulations prepared by electrospinning. Following her Ph.D., Brettmann worked as a research engineer for Saint-Gobain Ceramics and Plastics for two years. While at Saint-Gobain she worked on polymer-based wet coatings and dispersions for various applications, including window films, glass fiber mats and architectural fabrics. Later, Brettmann served as a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago with Professor Matthew Tirrell. Currently, Brettmann is an assistant professor with joint appointments in chemical and biomolecular engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech.

    blair.brettmann@mse.gatech.edu

    404.894.2535

    Office Location:
    MoSE 31100P

    Website

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    Research Focus Areas:
  • Biobased Materials
  • Biochemicals
  • Biomaterials
  • Biorefining
  • Biotechnology
  • Drug Design, Development and Delivery
  • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
  • Sustainable Manufacturing
  • Additional Research:
    Pharmaceuticals, polymer and fiber, printing technologies, polymers, nanocellulose applications, new materials, wet-end chemistry, manufacturing, biotechnology, cellulosic nanomaterials, chemistry, biomaterials, aerogels and hydrogels, coating, coatings and barriers, films and coatings

    IRI Connections:

    Fani Boukouvala

    Fani Boukouvala

    Fani Boukouvala

    Assistant Professor

    Dr. Boukouvala is originally from Piraeus, which is the port of Athens in Greece. As the daughter of an airforce pilot, she travelled a lot with her family. Her first international move was actually to the USA, where she spent one year in Montgomery, Alabama. She later on lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Crete, Greece, before returning to Athens to get her B.S Degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University in Athens. In 2008, she moved back to the US to obtain a PhD in Chemical Engineering at Rutgers University in NJ. She then worked as a Postdoctoral Associate in both Princeton University and Texas A&M University. In August 2016, Dr. Boukouvala returned to the South East US, as an Assistant Professor in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. 

    Her research interest in Process Systems Engineering (PSE) started during her PhD years, where she worked under the supervision of Dr. Marianthi Ierapetritou, on modeling and optimization of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing. Her background on optimization and data-driven modeling was enhanced during her years as a postdoc with the late Christodoulos A. Floudas. Dr. Boukouvala is a proud 4th generation member of the academic family tree of the father of PSE, Roger Sargent.

    fani.boukouvala@chbe.gatech.edu

    (404) 385-5371

    Website

    University, College, and School/Department
    Research Focus Areas:
  • Biobased Materials
  • Biochemicals
  • Biorefining
  • Biotechnology
  • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
  • Sustainable Manufacturing
  • Use & Conservation
  • Additional Research:
    System Design & Optimization; Energy; Sustainability

    IRI Connections:

    Mark Losego

    Mark Losego

    Mark Losego

    Associate Professor, MSE Faculty Fellow, and Dean’s Education Innovation Professor
    IMS Initiative Lead, AI for Chemicals and Materials Discovery

    Mark D. Losego is an associate professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech. The Losego research lab focuses on materials processing to develop novel organic-inorganic hybrid materials and interfaces for microelectronics, sustainable energy devices, national security technologies, and advanced textiles. The Losego Lab combines a unique set of solution and vapor phase processing methods to convert organic polymers into organic-inorganic hybrid materials, including developing the science to scale these processes for manufacturing.  Prof. Losego’s work is primarily experimental, and researchers in his lab gain expertise in the vapor phase processing of materials (atomic layer deposition, physical vapor deposition, vapor phase infiltration, etc.), the design and construction of vacuum equipment, interfacial and surface science, and materials and surface characterization. Depending on the project, Losego Lab researchers explore a variety of properties ranging from electrical to electrochemical to optical to thermal to sorptive to catalytic and more.

    losego@gatech.edu

    404.385.3630

    Research Website

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  • Research Focus Areas:
  • Biobased Materials
  • Biochemicals
  • Biorefining
  • Biotechnology
  • Electronic Materials
  • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
  • Sustainable Manufacturing
  • Additional Research:
    Catalysis; Cellulose Nanomaterials; Coatings; Coatings and Barriers; Corrosion & Materials Engineering; Corrosion and Reliability; Energy; Films and Coatings; Microporous Materials; Nanocellulose Applications; Nanomaterials; New Materials; Polymers; Vapor Phase Processing

    IRI Connections:

    Zhiqun Lin

    Zhiqun Lin

    Zhiqun Lin

    Professor, Materials Science and Engineering

    Zhiqun Lin is currently Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research focuses on nanostructured functional materials (NanoFM). An extensive list of materials currently under investigation in his group includes polymer-based nanocomposites, block copolymers, polymer blends, conjugated polymers, quantum dots (rods, tetrapods, wires), magnetic nanocrystals, metallic nanocrystals, semiconductor metal oxide nanocrystals, ferroelectric nanocrystals, multiferroic nanocrystals, upconversion nanocrystals, thermoelectric nancrystals, core/shell nanoparticles (nanorods), hollow nanocrystals, Janus nanocrystals, nanopores, nanotubes, hierarchically structured and assembled materials, and semiconductor organic-inorganic nanohybrids.

    The goal of his research is to understand the fundamentals of these nanostructured materials. His group intends to create these nanostructures in a precisely controllable manner and to exploit the structure-property relationships in the development of multifunctional materials for potential use in energy conversion (e.g., solar cells, photocatalysis, and hydrogen generation) and storage (e.g., batteries), electronics, optics, optoelectronics, magnetic materials and devices, nanotechnology, and biotechnology.

    zhiqun.lin@mse.gatech.edu

    404.385.4404

    Office Location:
    MOSE 3100K

    MSE Profile Page

  • Nanosctructure Functional Materials Group
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    Research Focus Areas:
  • Energy Generation, Storage, and Distribution
  • Materials for Energy
  • Additional Research:
    Nanocomposites; Polymeric Composites; Polymers; Nanocrystals; Self-Assembly; Solar Cells; Batteries; Composites; Nanostructures; Electronics; Energy Storage

    IRI Connections:

    Elsa Reichmanis

    Elsa Reichmanis

    Elsa Reichmanis

    Professor Emeritus

    Elsa Reichmanis is Anderson Chair in Chemical Engineering in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Lehigh University. Prior to joining Lehigh, she was Professor and Pete Silas Chair in Chemical Engineering in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She started her independent career at Bell Labs where she was Bell Labs Fellow and Director of the Materials Research Department. She received her PhD and BS degrees in chemistry from Syracuse University. Her research interests include the chemistry, properties, and application of materials technologies for photonic and electronic applications. She has had impact in the design of new imaging chemistries for advanced lithographic applications, and designed one of the first readily accessible and manufacturable polymers for advanced silicon device manufacturing using 193 nm lithography. 

    The Reichmanis research group is currently exploring polymeric and hybrid organic/inorganic materials chemistries for a range of device and electronic and sustainable energy applications. Her research, at the interface of chemical engineering, chemistry, materials science, optics, and electronics, spans from fundamental concept to technology development and implementation, with particular focus on polymeric and nanostructured materials for advanced technologies. Currently, efforts aim to identify fundamental parameters that will enable sub-nanometer scale dimensional control of organic, polymer and/or hybrid materials for applications including transistor devices, photovoltaics, and high-capacity energy storage. 

    Reichmanis was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1995 and has participated in several National Research Council (NRC) activities. She was an elected member of the Bureau of the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC); and has been active in the American Chemical Society throughout her career, having served as 2003 President of the Society. Elsa Reichmanis is the recipient of several awards, including the ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials (2018), the ACS Award in Applied Polymer Science (1999), the ASM Engineering Materials Achievement Award (1996), and the Society of Chemical Industry’s Perkin Medal (2001). In other service, she is an Executive Editor of the ACS Journal Chemistry of Materials. 

    The Reichmanis Group works at the interface of chemical engineering, chemistry, materials science, optics, and electronics spanning the range from fundamental concept to technology development and implementation. Research interests include the chemistry, properties and applications of materials technologies for electronic and photonic applications, with particular focus on polymeric and nanostructured materials for advanced technologies. in paper-based battery applications as well. 

    ereichmanis@chbe.gatech.edu

    (404) 894-0316

    Website

  • Departmental Bio
  • Research Focus Areas:
  • Biobased Materials
  • Biochemicals
  • Biorefining
  • Biotechnology
  • Delivery & Storage
  • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
  • Renewable Energy
  • Sustainable Engineering
  • Sustainable Manufacturing
  • Additional Research:
    Energy Storage; Solar; Biochemicals; Chemical Feedstocks; New Materials; Coatings & Barriers; Biorefining; Energy & Water; Biomaterials

    IRI Connections:

    Andrew Medford

    Andrew Medford

    Andrew Medford

    Assistant Professor

    Dr. Medford is interested in leveraging materials informatics, statistics, and machine learning to maximize the practical impact of fundamental atomic-scale simulations in the field of surface science and catalysis. His research areas include heterogeneous catalysis, oxide surface chemistry, density functional theory, kinetic models, uncertainty quantification, and Bayesian optimization and inference.

    andrew.medford@chbe.gatech.edu

    (404) 385-5531

    Website

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Biobased Materials
  • Biochemicals
  • Biorefining
  • Biotechnology
  • Fuels & Chemical Processing
  • Hydrogen Production
  • Hydrogen Utilization
  • Materials & Manufacturing
  • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
  • Sustainable Manufacturing
  • Additional Research:
    Catalysis, Biochemicals, Biorefining, Chemistry, Sugars, Molecular Simulations, Computational Biology

    IRI Connections:

    Christopher Muhlstein

    Christopher Muhlstein

    Christopher Muhlstein

    Associate Professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering
    Associate Director, MPRL

    Muhlstein has worked as an engineering consultant at Exponent, Inc. (Failure Analysis Associates). In September, 2002 he joined the faculty in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University and was tenured and promoted to associate professor in 2008.

     Muhlstein’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of fracture and fatigue in bulk and thin film materials. Muhlstein is a member of Alpha Sigma Mu and Keramos honor societies and an NSF CAREER award recipient. In 2007 he was also named the Corning Research Faculty Fellow in Materials Science and Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. 

    christopher.muhlstein@mse.gatech.edu

    404.385.1235

    Office Location:
    Love 274

    MSE Profile Page

  • Mechanical Properties Characterization Facility
  • Research Focus Areas:
  • Biobased Materials
  • Biochemicals
  • Biorefining
  • Biotechnology
  • Materials and Nanotechnology
  • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
  • Sustainable Manufacturing
  • Additional Research:
    Fracture and Fatigue; Thin Films; Polymeric Composites; Advanced Characterization; Nanomaterials; Structural Materials; Paper & Board Mechanics; Biomaterials; Nanocellulose Applications; Biocomposites; New Materials

    IRI Connections:

    Kyriaki Kalaitzidou

    Kyriaki Kalaitzidou

    Kyriaki Kalaitzidou

    Rae S. and Frank H. Neely Professor, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
    Associate Chair for Faculty Development, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
    IMat Initiative Lead | Circularity of Biopolymers

    Kalaitzidou joined Georgia Tech as an assistant professor in the G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering in November of 2007. She also holds an adjunct appointment in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. She obtained her Ph.D. in manufacturing and characterization of polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) from Michigan State University and worked as a post-doctoral researcher on mechanics of soft materials in the Polymer Science and Engineering Department at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She was promoted to professor in 2019 and was also named a Rae S. and Frank H. Neely Professor in the same year. In November 2019 Kalaitzidou was named the Associate Chair for Faculty Development.

    kyriaki.kalaitzidou@me.gatech.edu

    404.385.3446

    Office Location:
    MARC Building Room 38

  • ME Profile Page
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    Research Focus Areas:
  • Biobased Materials
  • Biochemicals
  • Biorefining
  • Biotechnology
  • Materials and Nanotechnology
  • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
  • Sustainable Manufacturing
  • Additional Research:
    Additive/Advanced Manufacturing; multifunctional materials; Nanocomposites; Polymers; Surfaces and Interfaces; Manufacturing; Mechanics of Materials; Biomaterials

    IRI Connections: