Engineering Interfaces.
Research in our group focuses on applying fundamental engineering principles to understand and engineer interfacial processes. Interfaces are everywhere, so our research has applications ranging from creating biomimetic materials for drug delivery to stabilizing emulsions in the food and petroleum industry. We use well-defined model experiments to duplicate the essential physics of these intricate problems, building in complexity through a bottom-up approach as we go along. In the realm of biophysics, we’re interested in how information passes through the cell membrane and how particle/membrane interactions and material properties can be controlled and exploited. In colloid science, we’re imagining how particle size, shape and surface chemistry can be manipulated to create super-stable emulsions and develop novel nanomaterials. Our research is interdisciplinary, possessing strong intellectual overlap between chemical engineering, physics, biology, and materials science.
