University at Buffalo (UB)
Tisch University Professor, Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Cornell University
Interests: Complex Fluids and Polymers, Liquid Crystals, Sensors and Actuators
Nicholas L. Abbott is the Tisch University Professor at the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering of Cornell University. His research interests revolve around colloidal and interfacial phenomena, including biomolecular interfaces, hydrophobic interactions, and liquid crystalline materials. Prior to joining Cornell University in 2018, Abbott was a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he served as department chair and director of the Wisconsin Materials Research and Engineering Center. Abbott is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and was Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science from 2012 to 2022. He has co-founded two companies based on his university research, Platypus Technologies and Imbed Biosciences.
Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez
Interests: soft materials, colloids, and interfacial phenomena
Claribel Acevedo-Vélez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez (UPRM). Her research interests revolve around colloids and interfacial phenomena, focusing on the study of the interactions and assembly of surface-active materials and chemically tailored nanoparticles at interfaces to generate knowledge that can be useful for the design and development of functional materials. She currently serves as an interdisciplinary research team leader within the NSF-funded Wisconsin-Puerto Rico Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM). Before joining UPRM in 2017, she worked within the R&D organization of The Dow Chemical Company (2012 – 2017) as a research scientist and project leader. At Dow, she specialized in surfactant product and formulation development for multiple applications, including consumer products and crude oil recovery; her work led to 4 granted patents.
Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry
University of Toronto
Interests: colloids, complex fluids and formulation engineering
Edgar J. Acosta received his B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering (Summa Cum Laude) from the Universidad del Zulia (Venezuela) in 1996, and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 2000 and 2004, respectively. He is a Professor of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry of the University of Toronto. Dr. Acosta received the Provost Dissertation Award from the University of Oklahoma (2005), the Akzo-Nobel “Ralph Potts” award (2002), and the AOCS S&D best paper award (2004, 2008 and 2012), the AOCS Young Scientist Award (2010), and the Syncrude Innovation Award (2012). Dr. Acosta has published over 130 research articles, 10 book chapters, and 6 patents and has been the author or co-author of over 200 presentations at international conferences. His research encompasses the area of colloids, complex fluids and formulation engineering.
Distinguished Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Environmental Engineering (adjunct)
Editor in Chief, Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY)
Interests: Self-assembly; complex fluids; polymers; surfactants; particles; PFAS; plastics recycling
Paschalis Alexandridis is a UB Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University at Buffalo (UB), The State University of New York (SUNY), where he has served as Director of the Materials Science and Engineering program and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education in the School of Engineering. He holds a PhD in chemical engineering from MIT and did postdoctoral research in physical chemistry at Lund University. Research in his group utilizes molecular interactions and supramolecular assemblies to develop products with desired properties and function, and processes that are energy efficient and environment friendly. Alexandridis is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). He has served as chair of AIChE Area 1C: "Interfacial Phenomena" and on the executive committee of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry, and has organized numerous symposia and sessions at AIChE, ACS, and AOCS (American Oil Chemists’ Society) meetings. Alexandridis is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology and the Review Editor for the Journal of Surfactants and Detergents. At UB, he has developed and taught courses on Product Design, Colloids & Surfaces, Polymers, and Petroleum Engineering.
Scientific Leader, Drug Product Development Steriles
GSK
Kris Angamuthu is a Scientific Leader in the Drug Product Development Steriles department at GSK, Pharma R&D, Collegeville, PA. With 10 years of industry experience, he currently leads the development of sterile injectables (colloidal suspensions) and combination drug product development for GSK’s small molecule assets. His work applies surface and colloid, surfactant, and interfacial principles to design and develop ready to use suspension formulations for long-acting injectable applications. Kris Angamuthu holds a PhD in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery from the University of Mississippi. His research interests include the characterization of flocculated suspensions, surfactant and surface-active polymer adsorption & interaction with a solid surface, prediction & modeling long-term stability (resuspendibility) of colloidal suspensions, and accelerated long-term resuspendibility assessment of colloidal suspensions.
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
University of Delaware
Interests: Interfacial phenomena, additive manufacturing, micro/milli fluidics, screening
Alexandra Bayles started as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware in 2022. Her research group leverages microfluidics, interferometry, and advective assembly to study and manipulate mass transport near soft interfaces. Active projects aim to enhance multi-material additive manufacturing processes, ink formulation, and screening of multi-component formulations. Bayles has served on the programming committee of AIChE Area 1J: Fluid Mechanics, as a co-organizer of the Industry-Academia Dialogue Networking Forum at the 2024 ACS National Meeting, and as co-chair of various sessions at the Society of Rheology and ACS Colloids annual meetings. Since starting at UD, Bayles has taught Fluid Mechanics and developed a new elective on Soft Materials, Colloids, and Polymers which features live formulation demonstrations and K12 outreach-based assessment. She received the NSF CAREER award and was featured as a 2023 Rising Star in Chemical Engineering by ACS Engineering Au.
Staff Scientist, NIST Center for Neutron Research
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Dr. Peter Beaucage is a staff scientist at the NIST Center for Neutron Research and co-leader of the Autonomous Formulation Laboratory project, which seeks to develop tools for the broad application of AI/ML to bridge industrial formulation engineering with x-ray and neutron science in close collaboration with industry, government, and academic partners. His other interests include the development and application of resonant soft x-ray scattering (RSoXS), particularly for macromolecular solutions and biomolecules and the application of autonomous and high-throughput scattering to materials challenges in energy, water, and climate.
Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Materials Science & Engineering
University of Utah
Interests: multiscale modeling of soft-condensed matter systems that exhibit complex, multiscale structure often arising from molecular and super-molecular self-assembly
Dmitry Bedrov received his Ph.D. in Chemical & Fuels Engineering in 1999 and has been working in the area of multiscale modeling of materials for more than 25 years in several interdisciplinary multiscale modeling centers in academia and industry. Currently Dr. Bedrov is a Professor and Associate Chair in the Materials Science & Engineering Department at the University of Utah. He has extensive expertise on atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of surfactants and polymers in solution and on surfaces. Recently his group has been focusing on understanding the mechanisms of formation and stability of PFAS supramolecular assemblies and their behavior at interfaces. He has over 175 publications in peer-reviewed journals that have over 11000 citations. His awards include the prestigious Fellowship for Experienced Researchers from German Humboldt Foundation and recognition by the University of Utah for Extraordinary Research Accomplishments.
Robert D. and Adele W. Anding Endowed Professor, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering
Louisiana State University
Interests: colloid and interface science, microplastics, directed assembly, active matter
Bhuvnesh Bharti is an Anding Endowed Associate Professor in the Cain Department of Chemical Engineering at Louisiana State University. He received his B.S. (Hons. School) and M.S. (Hons. School) from Panjab University Chandigarh, India. He obtained his PhD at Technische Universität Berlin, Germany in 2012, which was followed by postdoctoral research at Shinshu University and North Carolina State University. Bhuvnesh is the recipient of several awards including NSF-CAREER (2020), LSU Rising Faculty Research Award (2021), Soft Matter Emerging Investigator Award (2023) by Royal Society of Chemistry. His research group investigates structure-property-function relationships in colloidal dispersions and develops methodologies to program their equilibrium and non-equilibrium behaviors. His present research interests include interfacial adsorption, active matter, directed assembly, and fundamental investigations on environmental colloidal pollutants such as microplastics and PFAS.
William M. McCardell Professor in Chemical Engineering
Senior Associate Dean, George R. Brown School of Engineering
Rice University
Interests: colloids, surfactants, lipids, and polymers
Dr. Sibani Lisa Biswal is the William M. McCardell Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Senior Associate Dean in the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas. She leads the Soft Matter Engineering Laboratory, where she aims to connect a fundamental understanding of the interfacial forces and transport governing soft matter systems to identify new insights and ideas towards engineering new solutions for a variety of critical technological problems. She serves on the AIChE Area 1J programming committee, member of USNC/TAM, and Treasurer of Society of Rheology. She was selected as a 2020 Fellow in Drexel University’s Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering, and Science (ELATES) program and 2023 Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Global R&D Director, Battery
Alkegen
Andrew Bodratti is Global Director of R&D – Battery at Alkegen, a manufacturer of high-performance specialty materials designed to reduce pollution, conserve energy and enhance safety in dozens of markets. With 12 years’ experience, Andrew leads product design and development for Alkegen’s SiFAB® silicon anode, FyreWrap® LiB battery fire protection and Inovion® battery separator technologies. Wide variation in battery design demands flexible, tunable solutions that are achieved through rigorous formulation science. Establishing composition-structure-process-property relationships for broad classes of materials is a key tool for efficiently identifying viable battery solutions. Andrew holds Bachelor of Science (2010), Master of Science (2012), and Ph.D. (2019) degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. He enjoys participating in mentoring programs for undergraduate engineering students at his alma mater.
Technical Director
Stepan Company
Gregory P. Dado is a Technical Director at Stepan Company, Northfield IL, where he has enjoyed an R&D career of 25 years. In his 30 years of industry experience, he has held various positions as bench scientist, R&D manager, and technical director. His research interests include surfactant and polymer physical chemistry, structure-property relationships, synthesis, and manufacturing; predictive frameworks for surfactant formulation and emulsion systems, including hydrophililic-lipophilic deviation; and applications of surfactants across diverse markets, including laundry, hard surface cleaning, Ag chemicals, oilfield chemicals, and various other industrial applications. He currently serves as associate editor for the Journal of Surfactants and Detergents. Greg holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Eleanor and Howard Morgan Professor of Operations Research and Information Engineering
Cornell University
Interests: Bayesian optimization, materials design, biochemistry, drug discovery and medicine
Peter Frazier is the Eleanor and Howard Morgan Professor of Operations Research and Information Engineering at Cornell University. He is also a Staff Data Scientist at Uber. He develops machine learning and operations research methodology with a focus on methods for optimal dynamic collection of information, especially Bayesian optimization, active learning, and multi-armed bandits. He also works extensively in applications in materials and molecular design, engineering systems, and e-commerce. Within materials science and chemistry, his work has focused on using Bayesian optimization to accelerate the design of new materials including peptide-based biomaterials and perovskites. He is the winner of best paper awards from the ACM Conference on Economics and Computation, the INFORMS Applied Probability Society, the INFORMS Computing Society, and Winter Simulation Conference.
Application and Technical Service Scientist
BASF Corporation
Amir Ghayour is an Application Scientist in the Industrial Formulators group at BASF. His primary role at BASF is focused on agrochemical formulations, where he is responsible for designing and developing new formulations. Amir's expertise lies in the area of suspensions, emulsions, solvents, and the use of tools such as HLD and HSP to empower formulators. Prior to joining BASF, Amir worked as a Formulation Lead at Syngenta in Canada. Amir holds a MASc in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto. During his studies, he conducted research on the effect of polar oils on surfactant-oil-water systems. Amir is an active member of the AOCS, where he chairs sessions at the Surfactant & Detergents interest area, and he’s involved with SCI Canada.
Professor and Douglas and Hilda Bourne Chair in Chemical Engineering
Director, Institute for Applied Surfactant Research
University of Oklahoma
Interests: Surfactant Adsorption, Polymer Nanostructures on Solid Surfaces, Polymer Blends, Carbon Nanotube Composites, Ion-Containing Polymers
Brian Grady is the Douglas and Hilda Bourne Chair of Chemical Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. His research interests include adsorption of surfactants at the solid-liquid interface, and the fundamentals of cleaning technology. He received a PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1994 in Chemical Engineering. Since 1994, he has been employed by the University of Oklahoma as a faculty member in the School of Sustainable Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering (SCBME), with a one-year sabbatical in 2000-2001 at the Max Planck Institute for Colloid and Interface Science in Potsdam, Germany. He is the Director of the Institute for Applied Surfactant Research, an industrial consortium at the University of Oklahoma. Among other leadership roles, he served as Chair of SCBME from 2014-2022, and was the President of the Society of Plastics Engineering in 2018-2019. He was honored as a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2022.
Associate Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY)
Interests: Computational chemistry and materials science; virtual high-throughput and Big Data; machine learning; rational design
Johannes Hachmann is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University at Buffalo (UB), the Director of the Engineering Science in Data Science graduate program, a Leadership Member of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, and a Faculty Member of the New York State Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics. He earned a Dipl.-Chem. degree (2004) after undergraduate studies at the universities of Jena and Cambridge, M.Sc. (2007) and Ph.D. (2010) degrees in Chemistry from Cornell University, and he conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University before joining the UB faculty in 2014. The research of the Hachmann Group fuses (first-principles) molecular and materials modeling with virtual high-throughput screening and modern data science (i.e., the use of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and informatics) to advance a data-driven discovery and rational/inverse design paradigm in the chemical and materials disciplines. One of the centerpieces of the group’s efforts is the creation of an open, general-purpose software ecosystem for the data-driven development of chemical systems and the exploration of chemical space.
Sr. TS&D Scientist, Home and Personal Care
Dow
Aslin Izmitli is a Senior Research Scientist in the Home and Personal Care business at Dow. Her role involves development of ingredients such as sustainable surfactants and cleaning polymers for home and personal care applications, understanding structure-function relationships, developing formulations and application test methods, high throughput research, automation and digitalization. Prior to joining the Home and Personal Care in 2018, she worked in Core R&D studying colloid and interfacial phenomena in coatings, crop defense and pharmaceutical and home care formulations to help develop functional polymers and solve formulation challenges. She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been active in the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) chairing sessions in the Surfactants and Detergents Division as well as participating in ACS Colloids and organizing the industry and academia session at the Society of Rheology (SOR) annual meetings.
R&D manager
Unilever
Dr. Joseph Jankolovits is an R&D manager at Unilever focusing on delivering consumer health benefits in skin cleansing formulations. Prior to joining Unilever, Joseph worked on mining chemical formulations R&D at Solvay focusing on mineral processing and sulfide mineral flotation. He performed Postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley Dept. of Chemical Engineering and holds a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His work applies surface and colloid, surfactant, and molecular design principles to design tailored formulations for industrial applications, particularly tuning the interfacial properties of complex surfaces in water through adsorption processes.
Senior Director, Research Fellow in Beauty Care Research & Development
The Procter & Gamble Company
Eric Johnson is a Senior Director, Research Fellow in Beauty Care Research & Development at Procter & Gamble. With 26 years, he currently leads the development of the next generation of technologies and formulation science for P&G’s global shampoo business on brands like Head & Shoulders and Pantene. Innovations in this space include drug potentiation, active delivery, hair conditioning and enhanced fragrance display and have come from a deep understanding of formulation science, skin and microbe biology, and polymer-surfactant interactions. Eric is passionate to develop the next generation of formulators and he sets the vision for how P&G innovates in the field of formulation science focusing on new digital tools, modeling, and sustainable materials.
Scientific Leader, MDS-DSD-Materials Science
GSK
Stephanie Lam is a scientific investigator in the Material Science Department at GSK, Pharma R&D, Collegeville, PA. Her role involves understanding the structure-function relationship between input materials and drug product properties, in support of pharmaceutical formulations and products. Prior to joining GSK, Stephanie Lam was a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the Polymers and Complex Fluids Group. She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from NC State University and has been active with AIChE, chairing sessions in Area 1C "Interfacial Phenomena", as well as other topical conferences such as ACS Colloids and Society of Rheology (SOR).
Director, Disruptive and Innovation Platforms for Strategic Public sector/P&G Collaboration
The Procter & Gamble Company
Jack Liou is a Director of Corporate Function, Research and Development at Procter & Gamble. With a background in microbiology, he has led programs in microbial control, hygiene, clinical sciences, and has gained wide-ranging experience in the formulations and chemical engineering field. Throughout his career at P&G, Liou has held various positions, including Group Head of P&G Professional Cleaning, Product Design, and Senior Scientist in P&G Professional Cleaning, Product Design. These roles have allowed him to develop expertise in product development and design within the professional cleaning sector. In his current role, Liou's primary focus is on fostering relationships with academic institutions, industry, and government agencies. By understanding the research landscape and establishing strong partnerships, he will enable P&G to increase the speed, breadth, and affordability of cutting-edge innovation to drive superior product design.
Materials Engineer and SANS Beamline Scientist
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Dr. Tyler Martin is a staff member in the Materials Science and Engineering Division at NIST and a neutron beamline scientist for the nSoft consortium at the NIST Center for Neutron Research. Working closely with nSoft stakeholders, he leverages machine learning, molecular simulation, and liquid state theories to enhance neutron and x-ray scattering measurements of soft materials. Tyler co-leads the Autonomous Formulation Lab program, which combines machine learning with automated measurement with the goal of accelerating formulation discovery and optimization. Tyler’s Ph.D. at the University of Colorado focused on using simulation and theory to develop design rules for tailoring polymer nanocomposite morphology.
Research Scientist, Core R&D
Dow
Dan Miller obtained his B.E. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At UW-Madison, he studied interactions between lipids and liquid crystal-in-water emulsions as a platform for biosensing under the advisement of Nicholas Abbott. Dan joined Dow through a rotational assignments program in Midland, Michigan in 2014. He completed assignments in Core R&D, Engineering & Process Science, Core R&D, Formulation Science, and Dow Microbial Control before rejoining Formulation Science (now Formulation, Automation, & Material Science) in 2016, where he is now Research Scientist. His main research interests include the use of colloid & interface science to solve problems in soft materials applications, including oil solubilization, emulsification, foam stabilization, oil deposition, adhesion to biological substrates, protein stabilization, and reducing microbial fouling at interfaces. Most recently, Dan has worked on unmasking mechanisms of polymer-aided oil deposition from home and personal care products and development of new, greener surfactants.
Associate Director R&D
Unilever
Teanoosh Moaddel is currently Associate Director Research and Development at Unilever with a background in Colloids and Surfactant Science. He has 30 years of experience in FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) industry spanning across Color Cosmetics, Paper, Personal Care/Cleansing and Hygiene. Responsible for creating medium/long-term strategy and technology pipeline through to implementation of innovative solutions to drive the design of next generation cleansing products and technologies. Extensive expertise in both formulation and processing of various leave-on and rinse-off formats ranging from soft solids to liquids and pastes. A passion for turning fundamental science/technologies into next generation products that are in line with Planet Positive and Sustainable Sourcing ambitions.
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY)
Interests: optimization, systems engineering, process design, multi-scale modeling, techno-economic analysis, life cycle assessment, social justice, sustainable supply chains and systems
Aurora del Carmen Munguia-Lopez is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an incoming Assistant Professor (Fall 2024) in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). She holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the Technical Institute of Celaya and a Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michoacan in Mexico. Her research interests include mathematical modeling, optimization, systems engineering, process design, multi-scale modeling, techno-economic analysis, life cycle assessment, social justice, sustainable supply chains and systems, plastics recycling, and waste management. Aurora currently participates in the Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP) center that aims to develop scalable technologies and solutions to mitigate plastic waste. Aurora is also passionate about fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM.
Technical Fellow, Physical and Applied Science
The Lubrizol Corporation
Eugene Pashkovski is a Technical Fellow at the Lubrizol Corporation, specializing in material science. His expertise encompasses a wide range of material science problems, including the role of performance polymers in fuel economy and energy efficiency, powder rheology and 3D printing, polymer separation membranes, fluid mechanics, cooling problems, and rheology of polymer melts. Prior to joining Lubrizol, Eugene worked as a Senior Principal Scientist at Unilever skin care and the chief rheologist at Colgate-Palmolive company. Eugene's recent interests lie in the application of data science in rheology, with a particular focus on utilizing rheological modeling to create a rheoinformatic database. He obtained his PhD degree from the Institute of Macromolecular Compounds at the Russian Academy of Science in St. Petersburg, Russia. Eugene actively participates in Society of Rheology meetings and is involved in diversity workshops and meetings with graduate students. His contributions to the field of rheology and his dedication to advancing the understanding of materials make him a valuable asset to the scientific community.
Assistant Professor, School of Sustainable Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering
University of Oklahoma
Interests: particles at interfaces, surfactants and nanoparticles, emulsions and foams
Sepideh Razavi is a Susan Mallinson Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Oklahoma (OU). Prior to joining OU in 2018, she received postdoctoral training in Prof. Michael Solomon’s group at University of Michigan (2015-2017) and a Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from the City College of New York (2010-2015) under the supervision of Prof. Ilona Kretzschmar. She is a recipient of the ACS-PRF Doctoral New Investigator award (2020) and the NSF CAREER award (2022). She is the Vice Chair of Area 1C, Interfacial Phenomena, within the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and is also the Associate Director of the Institute for Applied Surfactant Research (IASR), an industrial consortium at the University of Oklahoma. Her research efforts are focused on understanding and engineering the behavior of multicomponent fluidic systems and complex interfaces to address the basic research needs faced by the energy, environment, and human health.
Materials Science and Engineering Division
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Interests: Additive manufacturing, Process measurement and control, Materials characterization, Polymers
Jonathan Seppala leads the Polymer Additive Manufacturing and Rheology Project, developing multi-modal and in situ measurements that enable control over the complex non-equilibrium material dynamics that characterize soft matter processing. His current research uses infrared thermography, rheology, polarized light, fracture mechanics, and neutron and x-ray reflectivity and scattering to study the polymer physics of thermoplastic additive manufacturing processes. Jonathan earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University studying the rheology and thermodynamics of polymer nanocomposites. Following his Ph.D., Jonathan worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher studying thin film self-assembly of block copolymers and equilibrium dynamics of amphiphilic micelles at the University of Delaware. Before joining the Additive Manufacturing and Rheology Project, Jonathan studied ballistic witness materials and shear thickening fluids as part of NIST's Personal Body Armor Project.
Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Illinois - Chicago
Interests: polymer physics, biophysics, fluid mechanics, interfacial science, optics, pattern formation
Vivek Sharma is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). He received a B.Tech (Textile) from IIT Delhi and an M.S. (Polymer Science, 2003) from the University of Akron. Vivek obtained his M. S. (Chemical Engineering, 2006) and Ph. D. (Polymers/MSE, 2008) from Georgia Tech. Following post-doctoral research in Mechanical Engineering at MIT, he established his Soft Matter ODES-lab (optics, dynamics, elasticity, and self-assembly laboratory) at UIC in November 2012. His group develops distinctive experiments and theories to analyze interfacial and nonlinear flows, colloidal and surface forces, optics, shear and extensional rheology, and processability of industrial and biological soft matter. His research program exploits and advances surfactant, proteins, & polymer physics, fizzics (the science of drops, bubbles, jets, foams, and emulsions), and fluid mechanics to facilitate macromolecular engineering of formulations, including coatings, fibers, cosmetics, and plant-based foods. He also publishes as a poet, an essayist, and a translator. Vivek was selected as the Distinguished Young Rheologist by the TA Instruments in 2015, and won the 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award in 2019. At UIC, he was awarded the College of Engineering (COE) Teaching Award in 2017 & 2023 and the COE Advising Award in 2022. Vivek is the recipient of the 2023 John H. Dillon medal from the American Physical Society.
Will Shearouse
Global Fabric Care R&D – Strategic Innovation and Technology
The Procter & Gamble Company
William Shearouse is a Group Scientist at Procter & Gamble where he works in Global Fabric and Home Care R&D as the technical lead for surfactant development in Strategic Innovation and Technology. He currently focuses on designing surfactants that address green and sustainable chemistry needs, including the design of lower carbon footprint surfactants that clean more efficiently in cold water. Will received his Ph.D. in sustainable organic synthesis from the University of Cincinnati under the direction of James Mack, where he investigated green olefination reactions using solvent-free mechanochemistry.
Technical Director, Global Technology
Colgate-Palmolive Company
Hongwei Shen is a Technical Director at the Global Technology of the Colgate Palmolive Company. His primary responsibility centralizes on leading surfactant-based formulation fundamentals and innovating for consumer products, such as personal cleansers, dish liquids and mouth rinses, with consumer perceivable benefits. He is highly invested in applying mild biosurfactants and digitized automation tools to speed up innovation processes. Before joining Colgate, he served as R&D scientists and project leads at the Dow Chemical Company and P&G. He holds a PHD degree in Polymer Chemistry from McGill University. He is particularly active in the Surfactants & Detergents (S&D) division of AOCS, such as chairing sessions and organizing technical programs in the annual symposium and serving in multiple leadership roles at the S&D division. He is also an active associate editor for the Journal of Surfactants & Detergents.
Senior Director R&D
Unilever
Anat Shiloach is a Senior Director of Product Engineering in the Science & Technology division of Unilever R&D in Trumbull, CT. She leads a global team of scientists that develop novel technologies and formulations for the Personal Care and Beauty & Wellbeing business groups, primarily focused on the skin cleansing and skin care categories. The team uses microstructure characterization techniques, surfactant and colloid science understanding, and digital and automation capabilities to design sustainable products with advanced consumer benefits. Anat joined Unilever in 1998 after completing a PhD in Chemical Engineering at MIT, where she studied fundamental solution properties of surfactant mixtures with experimental and modeling approaches. Prior roles at Unilever include formulation and processing of cleansing liquids, soap bars, and skin care products at various stages of the R&D process.
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY)
Interests; Complex fluids and soft matter; transport phenomena; micro/nanofluidics; electrokinetics
Sangwoo Shin received his BS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Yonsei University in 2005 and 2012. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University at Buffalo (UB). Prior to joining UB, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University from 2013 to 2016 and an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaii from 2017 to 2021. He received the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation in 2023. His research involves transport and interfacial phenomena of complex fluids arising in natural and industrial systems, such as enhanced oil recovery, pollutant transport, environmental remediation, colloidal separation, coating, biotransport, and drug delivery.
Program Director, Particulate and Multiphase Processes
National Science Foundation
Dr. Shahab Shojaei-Zadeh is the director of the Particulate and Multiphase Processes program at the National Science Foundation (NSF). He also manages the NSF Al Institute in Dynamic Systems; a $20 million NSF investment, at University of Washington, and is a co-lead on the STC Center for Complex Particle Systems (COMPASS) at the University of Michigan. He also manages several cross-cutting NSF programs for CBET (Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems) including Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF), NSF-CASIS collaboration on transport phenomena research on the International Space Station (ISS), Major Research Instrumentation (MRI), and the NSF Research Traineeship (NRT). He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and was the inaugural Levich Fellow at the Benjamin Levich Institute at the City College of New York. He is the recipient of the NSF Director’s Award for Superior Accomplishment.
Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering
University of California, Santa Barbara
Interests: microfluidics and microrheology, electrokinetics and colloidal dynamics, surfactant dynamics and physicochemical hydrodynamics, structure-rheology
Todd Squires has been a Professor of Chemical Engineering at UCSB since 2005. His research interests aim to connect the chemical to the mechanical various complex fluid systems, ranging from surfactant self-assembly and adsorption, to colloidal migration and manipulation, to solute, solvent and suspension transport in mixtures and membranes. He developed and has been continually revising a technical elective course on the conceptual design of formulated products that highlights common strategies between examples across disparate industries, and connects ingredients to microstructure and rheology, and ultimately to performance and function. Recently, he has been working to broaden appreciation for the science behind formulation: He has built formulation capabilities into a new experiential undergraduate teaching laboratory at UCSB, which he is currently using to develop and teach a new hands-on “Discovery Seminar,” where first-year undergraduate students across all majors (STEM and non-STEM) learn about the science behind their skin- and hair-care products by making and analyzing different products each week, with increasing microstructural complexity. He serves as faculty advisor to a new and growing student organization (UCSB Society of Cosmetic Chemists) – which provides a welcoming space for students from all over campus to make products and learn formulations, and helps them connect with professionals and mentors in the industry.
Asahi Glass Chair of Chemical Engineering, Lloyd and Joyce Austin Presidential Professor
School of Sustainable Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering
University of Oklahoma
Interests: advanced multi-scale simulations (including electronic structure calculations, atomistic molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations, and coarse-grained dissipative particle dynamics)
Alberto Striolo is the Asahi Glass Chair Professor of Chemical Engineering at the School of Sustainable Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, University of Oklahoma. His research interests focus on the properties of interfacial systems. His research aims at discovering the molecular mechanisms responsible, e.g., for competitive adsorption at interfaces, for the preferential transport of fluids across interfaces, for the assembly of particles and surfactants at interfaces, among other fundamental interfacial phenomena. He is thriving to connect molecular-scale phenomena to macroscopic observables, with potential applications in the formulation of personal care products, as well as of agrichemicals. He is developing an interest in life cycle assessment and sustainability, and in fact he is the Director of the MS in Sustainability: Energy and Materials Management, which is offered by OU Online.
Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY)
Interests: self-assembly; interfacial phenomena; controlled crystallization; polymer dissolution
Marina Tsianou is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE) at the University at Buffalo. Tsianou’s research interests and activities involve the design, development, and characterization of molecularly-engineered nanomaterials with desirable functionalities. Her research addresses nano- and meso-scale organization and structure, complex fluids and soft interfaces, nanostructured polymers in films and on surfaces, and polymer dissolution. Prior to joining academia, Tsianou was a formulator at the Xerox ink-jet business unit. Tsianou has been very active within the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), as Vice-Chair and Director of the Separations Division, chair of Area 2B “Crystallization and Evaporation”, and chair of Area 1C “Interfacial Phenomena”. Her teaching at UB includes Colloids & Surfaces, Crystal Engineering, Materials, and Thermodynamics, and has been recognized with multiple awards.
Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering and Professor of Biomedical Engineering by Courtesy
Editor, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects
Carnegie Mellon University
Interests: structure and dynamics of macromolecules, surfactants and composite nanoparticles in suspension or adsorbed at solid or fluid interfaces
Robert Tilton is the Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering and Courtesy Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. His research addresses fundamental adsorption, self-assembly, transport phenomena and colloidal forces, with particular emphasis on multicomponent interactions that control the macroscopic characteristics of complex fluid formulations. He has taught an elective course in Formulation Engineering that is taken by undergraduate and graduate students from multiple STEM disciplines at Carnegie Mellon. He has served numerous roles in the American Chemical Society (ACS), including a term as chair of the Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry (COLL), two terms as ACS councilor representing COLL, as a member or chair of several ACS subcommittees and as co-chair of two ACS Colloid and Surface Science Symposia. He currently is an editor of the journal Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects.
R&D/TS&D Fellow in Industrial Solutions business
Dow
Wanglin Yu is a R&D/TS&D Fellow in Industrial Solutions business of The Dow Chemical Company. He has been with the company for 23 years with the primary responsibility of supporting the Polyglycols and Surfactants portfolios and other EO (ethylene oxide) and PO (propylene oxide) derivative products. His research has been focusing on alkoxylation chemistry and new surfactant development, in particular low-foam surfactants and hydrophobes for surfactants. His research also includes application of surfactants in cleaning, coatings, agriculture, and Oil & Gas products and processes. He is also interested in the development of sustainable surfactants. Wanglin has served as associate editor for the Journal of Surfactants and Detergents since 2017.
Sr. Scientist, Care Chemicals - Industrial Formulators
BASF Corporation
Hua Zhang is an application and technical scientist at BASF. He is currently supporting Construction (mainly concrete admixtures) and Chemical Processing industries (pulp and paper, water treatment, mining etc.) using chemistries at BASF Care Chemical Division. Prior joining BASF, he worked as a scientist at Buckman Lab and Schlumberger. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology. His research interests include wetting and spreading of nanofluids on solids, surface cleaning (detergency), enhanced oil recovery using nanotechnology. He holds MSc and BS degrees in Chemical Engineering from Beijing University of Chemical Technology.