2008

DECEMBER 15, 2008

I’ll take Creative Studying for 200, Alex: Jeopardy game prepares students for finals

The students in CBE 324, Transport Phenomena Laboratory, discovered a new method of study when they came to class on December 9 and 11: competing in the game show Jeopardy. Laboratory manager Eric Codner put the game together using a PowerPoint application, a classroom projector and two laptop computers. Each armed with a handheld response trigger, the students raced against their classmates to be the first to answer questions in categories such as “Rust never sleeps” and “So you want to be a milliliter.” Codner based the questions on technical topics covered throughout the semester, using the game as a tool to review the course materials. Students earned points for correct answers in the Jeopardy and Double Jeopardy rounds, then wagered points in the Final Jeopardy round to determine the winner of the prizes: a choice of movie passes or a copy of the lab safety video.

NOVEMBER 1, 2008

Rawlings wins AICHE process development research award

Chemical and Biological Engineering Professor will receive the 2008 Excellence in Process Development Research Award, given by the Process Development Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. The award recognizes individuals who have made significant technical contributions to the advancement of process development within research, teaching or regulatory activities. Accomplishments must be disseminated by means of well-documented materials. Emphasis is placed on accomplishments and advances made within the last ten years.

Mavrikakis wins NACS Emmett Award

Chemical and Biological Engineering Professor is the winner of the 2009 Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis. The award from the North American Catalysis Society recognizes and encourages individual contributions by scientists under the age of 46 in the field of catalysis with emphasis on discovery and understanding of catalytic phenomena, proposal of catalytic reaction mechanisms and identification and description of catalytic sites and species. Read more at: http://www.nacatsoc.org/news.asp?NewsID=136

OCTOBER 1, 2008
Record career fair connects thousands of UW-Madison engineering students with recruiters

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008
New process derives ‘green gasoline’ from plant sugars

AUGUST 14, 2008
Self-assembling polymer arrays improve data storage potential

JUNE 30, 2008
Synchronized swimming: Collections of microorganisms make their own waves

APRIL 16, 2008
Murphy wins teaching award

APRIL 7, 2008
Money doesn't grow on trees, but gasoline might

MARCH 26, 2008
Dumesic and other UW-Madison faculty members honored with Hilldale Awards

MARCH 19, 2008
New nanoparticle catalyst brings fuel-cell cars closer to showroom

2007

DECEMBER 17, 2007
UW-Madison's James Dumesic named to Scientific American 50

JUNE 20, 2007
Chemical and biological engineers develop higher-energy liquid-transportation fuel from sugar

MARCH 29, 2007
Ultrathin films deliver DNA as possible gene therapy tool

MARCH 8, 2007
CBE faculty members among participants in Wisconsin Institute for Discovery seed grants

MARCH 6, 2007
Nanotechnology meets biology and DNA finds its groove

FEBRUARY 9, 2007
James Dumesic Profile: Catalyzing the Emergence of a Practical Biorefinery

JANUARY 11, 2007
Stem cells used to create critical brain barrier in lab

2006

DECEMBER 20, 2006
Stem cells used to create critical brain barrier in lab

NOVEMBER 15, 2006
UW engineers develop more than 10-fold improvement in measuring virus infectivity

OCTOBER 1, 2006

OCTOBER 1, 2006

SEPTEMBER 14, 2006
UW-Madison engineers present at ACS

SEPTEMBER 13, 2006
Engineering a ‘Trojan horse’ to sneak drugs into the brain

JULY 15, 2006
News of Professor James Dumesic's process for making hydroxymethylfurfural from fructose was carried by newspaper, web and television outlets around the world.

JULY 15, 2006
An article about $7.5 in venture funds that will help expand Virent Energy Systems notes Professor James Dumesic and former UW Researcher Randy Cortright.

JUNE 29, 2006
New process makes diesel fuel and industrial chemicals from simple sugar

MAY 11, 2006
Five faculty win National Science Foundation CAREER Awards

MAY 3, 2006
College of Engineering honors faculty and staff award recipients

MARCH 21, 2006
UW engineers squeeze secrets from proteins

MARCH 6, 2006
Liquid crystals show promise in controlling embryonic stem cells

2005

News of Chemical and Biological Engineering Professor James Dumesic's process for making a chemical intermediate called HMF (hydroxymethylfurfural) from fructose reported in Science was carried by newspaper, web and television outlets around the world. The report was featured in Chemical and Engineering News, People’s Daily Online, China; Wisconsin Radio Network, Nigerian Tribune, Nigeria; the Associated Press, and Discovery Channel to name a few.

Chemical and Biological Engineering Professor James Dumesic and former UW Researcher Randy Cortright (now at Virent Energy) are noted in a June 12 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article regarding $7.5 million in venture funds that will help expand the office and staff of Virent Energy Systems. Dumesic and Cortright formed Virent in 2002 based on a process that converts biomass to hydrogen.

2005

DECEMBER 1, 2005
Dancing bacteria? UW chemical and biological engineers explain choreography of bacteria

NOVEMBER 16, 2005
Lightfoot receives National Medal of Science

OCTOBER 4, 2005
Early proteins may have sprouted under thirsty conditions

SEPTEMBER 29, 2005
UW-Madison nanoscale research receives big boost

SPRING 2005
Chemical engineering professor emeritus dies

AUGUST 1, 2005
Lynn receives 3M award

JUNE 2, 2005
Green diesel: New process makes liquid transportation fuel from plants

JUNE 2, 2005
New technique provides path to manufacturing complex nano-electronic devices

MAY 16, 2005
College of Engineering faculty/staff awards

MAY 15, 2005
Nealey wins Arthur K. Doolittle Award

APRIL 18, 2005
Engineering students take top honors in business plan competition

JANUARY 24, 2005
Job market for engineering grads bouncing back

2004

NOVEMBER 8, 2004
CBE team designs improved catalysts for hydrogen chemistry

OCTOBER 18, 2004
College honors 17 at Oct. 22 Engineers' Day

SEPTEMBER 22, 2004
New UW-Madison NSF center investigates nanotechnology

SEPTEMBER 13, 2004
New faculty join college

AUGUST 26, 2004
Wisconsin engineers clear bottleneck in production of hydrogen

MAY 10, 2004
Simple sugars aid preservation of bacterial probiotics

MARCH 30, 2004
New storage method amplifies cells available for science

MARCH 29, 2004
Study:Mimicking viruses may provide new way to defeat them

Reactor made of gold tubes

Gold nanotubes in polycarbonate films for the investigation of catalytic reactions at gas-liquid phase boundaries

Fuel cells require hydrogen. Unfortunately, hydrogen produced by the usual process contains large amounts of carbon monoxide (CO), which has a negative effect on the function of the fuel cell and must be removed. Research has shown that gold nanoparticles on a support with a large surface area are good catalysts for the room-temperature oxidation of CO to CO2. But what is the gold doing in this process — and what is the role of the support? Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have developed a "membrane reactor", which allows them to examine the catalyst without its support.

What is the best way to study a catalyst made of nanoscopic particles in its "pure" state, without a support? The Team headed by James A. Dumesic had a clever idea. The researchers took a whisper-thin plastic membrane made of polycarbonate containing pores with a diameter of 220 nm. After the surface was specially prepared, gold was deposited onto the membrane. When the precious metal settled onto the walls of the tiny pores, pure gold nanotubes were formed. A subsequent etching process selectively removed the upper layer of the polycarbonate membrane, so that the gold nanotubes protruded from the surface. The researchers stretched this membrane between two chambers, one of which was used to admit gases, the other liquids. Indeed, just like gold nanoparticles, the gold nanotubes catalyzed the reaction of CO and O2 to form CO2.

Systematic examination of the reaction revealed the following: The catalytic activity is increased by the presence of water in the tubes, and is raised still further if the pH level is raised (the solution is made more alkaline). It is clear that hydroxyl groups (OH-), which come to the gold surface from basic materials or the dissociation of water molecules, facilitate the interaction between CO and O2, which seems to result in CO2 and peroxidic intermediates. This theory is supported by the fact that the reaction speeds for supported gold nanoparticles strongly depend on the type of material used for the support. Gold nanoparticles on oxide- containing supports in a damp atmosphere are most active, which fits the theory, since hydroxyl groups also occur under those conditions.

With hydrogen peroxide instead of oxygen as the oxidizing agent, the reaction runs better still, presumably because the bond between the two oxygen atoms in the former is easier to break.

Source:
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Press Release No. 09/2004
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2004, 43 (9)

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NEWS ARCHIVE

2003

DECEMBER 29, 2003
Team proves stretched surfaces make better catalysts

DECEMBER 26, 2003
New knight champions Dutch language, culture

SEPTEMBER 29, 2003
Ramanujam and Lynn named as two of the world'stop young innovators by Technology Review magazine

JULY 7, 2003
Freeze drying could improve supply of stem cells and platelets

JULY 23, 2003
Manufacturing technique offers possibilities for electronics industry

JULY 30, 2003
COE researcher engineers low-cost catalyst for hydrogen production, related discovery dramatically improves fuel cell hydrogen quality

MAY 26, 2003
Chemical Engineering changes name to Chemical and Biological Engineering

MAY 5, 2003
Engineering students win two places in the G. Steven Burrill Technology Business Plan Competition

MARCH 24, 2003
Sanders, Palecek, Shusta and Ceglarek win NSF CAREER awards

MARCH 10, 2003
Chemical engineers turn Wisconsin's waste into energy

2002

AUGUST 28, 2002
Chemical Engineering researchers make hydrogen from biomass

MARCH 4, 2002
Corn yields another useful product

JANUARY 21, 2002
Four COE Faculty earn NSF CAREER awards

2001

NOVEMBER 12, 2002
Portable chemical sensors generated from liquid crystals

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