School of Engineering
Showing 221-230 of 277 Results
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Andrew Spakowitz
Senior Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs, Professor of Chemical Engineering, of Materials Science and Engineering and, by courtesy, of Applied Physics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsTheory and computation of biological processes and complex materials
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James Swartz
James H. Clark Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering and of Bioengineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProgram Overview
The world we enjoy, including the oxygen we breathe, has been beneficially created by biological systems. Consequently, we believe that innovative biotechnologies can also serve to help correct a natural world that non-natural technologies have pushed out of balance. We must work together to provide a sustainable world system capable of equitably improving the lives of over 10 billion people.
Toward that objective, our program focuses on human health as well as planet health. To address particularly difficult challenges, we seek to synergistically combine: 1) the design and evolution of complex protein-based nanoparticles and enzymatic systems with 2) innovative, uniquely capable cell-free production technologies.
To advance human health we focus on: a) achieving the 120 year-old dream of producing “magic bullets”; smart nanoparticles that deliver therapeutics or genetic therapies only to specific cells in our bodies; b) precisely designing and efficiently producing vaccines that mimic viruses to stimulate safe and protective immune responses; and c) providing a rapid point-of-care liquid biopsy that will count and harvest circulating tumor cells.
To address planet health we are pursuing biotechnologies to: a) inexpensively use atmospheric CO2 to produce commodity biochemicals as the basis for a new carbon negative chemical industry, and b) mitigate the intermittency challenges of photovoltaic and wind produced electricity by producing hydrogen either from biomass sugars or directly from sunlight.
More than 25 years ago, Professor Swartz began his pioneering work to develop cell-free biotechnologies. The new ability to precisely focus biological systems toward efficiently addressing new, “non-natural” objectives has proven tremendously useful as we seek to address the crucial and very difficult challenges listed above. Another critical feature of the program is the courage (or naivete) to approach important objectives that require the development and integration of several necessary-but- not-sufficient technology advances. -
Sho Takatori
Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering
BioPeople say that a picture is worth a thousand words. We think that an equation is worth a thousand pictures. Literally. By collecting and processing data-rich images of complex fluids and matter, we develop “picture-perfect” equations to learn structure-property relationships for new material innovation.
In the Takatori lab, we combine theory, simulation, and experiment to discover mathematical models for complex fluids in engineered and natural environments. We use advanced microscopy and analyze pictures with data-driven methods to understand material properties that bridge the microscopic-to-continuum scales. Our research encompasses soft squishy materials like polymers and liquid crystals, as well as granular matter like sand, powders, and foams.
Outside of research, I have had a strong passion for public speaking since high school, taking speech courses in college and competing in speech contests in Toastmasters International (a professional organization to improve public speaking and leadership skills) for several years as a PhD student. More recently, as a professor and educator, I have channeled my passion for speaking towards science education and technical communication. I have always believed that effective science communication can make broad impacts to society by building public trust in science, promoting data-driven decisions in government and industry, and improving the accessibility of science to all communities. I look forward to continue working on effective science communication skills and storytelling techniques with Stanford graduate students and researchers. -
William Abraham Tarpeh
Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, by courtesy, of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Center Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy and, by courtesy, at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioReimagining liquid waste streams as resources can lead to recovery of valuable products and more efficient, less costly approaches to reducing harmful discharges to the environment. Pollutants in effluent streams can be captured and used as valuable inputs to other processes. For example, municipal wastewater contains resources like energy, water, nutrients, and metals. The Tarpeh Lab develops and evaluates novel approaches to resource recovery from “waste” waters at several synergistic scales: molecular mechanisms of chemical transport and transformation; novel unit processes that increase resource efficiency; and systems-level assessments that identify optimization opportunities. We employ understanding of electrochemistry, separations, thermodynamics, kinetics, and reactor design to preferentially recover resources from waste. We leverage these molecular-scale insights to increase the sustainability of engineered processes in terms of energy, environmental impact, and cost.
