Professor Yu Lei and Ph.D. student Ying Wang describe the development of a new explosives detector that can sense small amounts of TNT and other common explosives in liquids instantly with a sensitivity that rivals bomb-sniffing dogs, the current gold standard in protecting the public from terrorist bombs. They report on the technology at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). Watch the video.

• March 27th, 2012
• By John C. Giardina, republished with permission of emagination, a School of Engineering electronic publication

Two faculty members in the Department of Chemical, Materials, & Biomolecular Engineering have begun a project that has the promise to transform the work and protect the lives of military and law enforcement personnel around the world.  Associate Professors Brian Willis and Yong Wang, working on a grant funded by the Office of Naval Research, are attempting to develop an electronic chemical sensing device that can identify the presence of explosives by sampling the vapor around an object.
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs), regularly used in terrorist attacks around the world, present a persistent threat to the people who are tasked to investigate these devices and to the public at large.  Because IEDs are often hidden or disguised, they are hard to identify without some kind of sensing technology.  “Soldiers rely mostly on their intuition to identify and disarm IEDs,” Dr. Willis says.  “There is no ubiquitous sensor that can tell whether a suspicious object is an explosive or not.”  Thus, the goal of Drs. Willis and Wang is to develop a device that is sensitive and selective: able to detect specific chemicals that are present at only miniscule amounts in the air.
To do this, the researchers employ a type of molecule called an aptamer, which is a short strand of either DNA or RNA.  Specific aptamers, defined by their nucleotide sequence, will often bind to a specific chemical, like those found in explosives.  The challenges Drs. Willis and Wang face are to, first, identify specific aptamers and their respective chemical targets, and then design a system where the binding of chemical to aptamer can be detected.
Dr. Wang’s work focuses on the identification of the specific aptamers.  “My side of the project focuses on the identification, amplification, and modification of aptamers,” he says.  To do this, Dr. Wang starts with a library of billions of different aptamers.  He runs a target chemical through the aptamers and isolates the ones that bind to it.  He then amplifies the isolated aptamers and runs the process again.  Repeating these steps multiple times, Dr. Wang is able to isolate aptamers that have a high affinity for specific target molecules.  At that point, Dr. Wang has to modify the aptamer.  “Whenever the chemical binds to the aptamer, the conformation, or shape, of the aptamer changes,” he says.  If the aptamers can be designed to change shape in a certain way, the binding of the chemical can be detected more easily.
Now, Dr. Willis’ work comes into play.  He is working on designing molecular scale electronic devices that will detect the conformation changes.  His research focuses on using electron tunneling devices to electronically detect the target chemical.  Electron tunneling is essentially the flow of electrons through a gap between two wires.  Normally, one would expect that electrons could not flow through two wires that were not touching, but if they are close enough, on a nano-scale, then the two wires will act like a completed circuit.  As it turns out, the flow of electrons is strongly affected by what is between the wires.  So, if an aptamer is placed between the two contacts, it will change the electrical current.  Moreover, any conformation changes will alter the electrical current as well.  Because these circuits are so small, a sensing device could have millions of them, with groups of the circuits dedicated to different aptamers.  To use the device, air would be flowed past the circuits.  If any of the target molecules are present in the air, they will bind to their specific aptamer, changing the conformation.  The current running through the circuit attached to the aptamer will then change as well, giving an electrical signal for the presence of the specific chemical in the air.
This project has the capability to make explosives detection much faster, more accurate, and safer than it is now.  The benefit of such a sensor, though, goes beyond military and law enforcement applications.  Dr. Willis says, “One can think of lots of other applications for chemical sensors, commercial applications, in the future as well.”  It is not hard to imagine the benefits in many areas of life that can be derived from immediate and accurate chemical detection.

Hollin is a UConn senior majoring in Chemical Engineering. She takes pride in her ability to maintain a well-balanced life by keeping up on her coursework and engaging in her favorite hobbies, rock climbing and home brewing. Watch the video.

In late November this year, it was announced that three members of the UConn Faculty have been elected to the rank of Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. C. Barry Carter was elected from the Section on Engineering. The other two honorees this year are Douglas L. Oliver, UConn Health Center and the AAAS Section on Biological Sciences, and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor Dipak K. Dey of the AAAS Section on Statistics. The three will each receive a certificate and a blue and gold rosette at the Fellows Forum during the February 2012 meeting in Vancouver. There were no honorees from UConn in 2010 and just 2 in 2009 when Dr. Sanguthevar (Raj) Rajasekaran of CSE and Dr. Leo Lefrancois, of the UConn Health Center are from the Section on Information, Computing, and Communication and the Section on Medical Sciences, respectively.  AAAS is active internationally and plays a critical role in promoting excellence in all aspects of science in the USA.  It is particularly well known as the publisher of the influential magazine Science (www.sciencemag.org). Dr. Carter was elected to be a Fellow of the Materials Research Society (MRS) in 2009 and of the Microscopy Society of America in the same year. He was made a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society in 1995. Dr. Carter was honored by AAAS for his distinguished contributions to engineering through his textbooks on ceramic materials and transmission electron microscopy, his editing of the Journal of Materials Science, and his study of crystal defects. The two textbooks have been concurrently listed on Springer’s 15 most downloaded books on Chemistry and Materials Science. The Journal of Materials Science has one of the most improved impact factors of any journal over the past 4 years; Dr. Carter is the Editor in Chief, working with 16 other Editors, including UConn Professors Dr. Mark Aindow (one of Dr. Carter’s two Deputies), Dr. Pamir Alpay and Dr. Chris Cornelius. Dr. Carter has published more than 700 articles on a wide range of crystal defects, in materials ranging from sapphire to gallium nitride to stainless steel; nearly 300 of his publications are in archival journals.

UConn was well represented at the 2011 AIChE National Conference, held in Minneapolis, MN. Five UConn chemical engineering students won awards in their respective disciplines at the student poster competition, and over ten presented their work in either posters or oral presentations.
Congratulations to all.

Pictured, from left to right: Andrea Kadilak (2nd place), Hollin Abraham, Daniel Anastasio, Jessica Bogart, Erik Johnson, Breanne Muratori (3rd place), Ethan Butler (2nd place), Lela Villegas, (1st place), Daniel Manuzzi, Anthony La (3rd place), and Honorio Valdés.

• Republished with permission of emagination, a School of Engineering electronic publication

Five engineering doctoral students who aspire to careers in an academic setting have been selected to receive Koerner Family Fellowships, which confer $10,000 to each. The Koerner Family Fellowships are made possible thanks to the generosity of Professor Robert and Mrs. Paula Koerner and their children – Dr. Michael Koerner, Dr. George Koerner and Ms. Pauline Koerner.
The 2011-12 recipients were nominated by their departments and chosen by a School committee.  They are:

• Lance Fiondella, Computer Science & Engineering (advisor: Swapna Gokhale). Research interests: software reliability and performance, homeland security studies, and computer programming literacy.
• Kathryn Gosselin, Mechanical Engineering (advisor:  Michael Renfro).  Research interests:  ignition limits at atmospheric and low pressures, with applications in the operation of afterburners in military jet engines and other types of combustion engines.
• Chad Johnston, Civil & Environmental Engineering (advisor: Marisa Chrysochoou).  Research interests: contaminant mobility in soil and groundwater systems, for the development of remediation strategies and evaluating public health risks. Particular interest in chromate, a toxic metal and potential carcinogen.
• Vincent Palumbo, Chemical, Materials & Biomolecular Engineering (advisor: Bryan Huey).  Research interests:  methods of enhancing the blast and fire resistance of the nation’s infrastructure, including bridges, buildings, tunnels, and the like.
• Ernesto Suarez, Electrical & Computer Engineering (advisor: Faquir Jain). Research interests:  tunnel insulators for three-state logic field effect transistors (FETs) and nonvolatile memory devices, with a focus on radiation hardened devices.

Dean of Engineering Mun Y. Choi, said “Professor and Mrs. Koerner have been stalwart supporters of higher education for more than four decades.  Through their generous gift, a group of highly-talented Ph.D. students will pursue advanced studies in trans-disciplinary topics in engineering.”
Dr. Koerner is the H.L. Bowman Professor Emeritus of Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering at Drexel University and the Director of the Geosynthetic Research Institute.  Throughout his over 40-year career, Dr. Koerner has established a sterling reputation as a technological innovator, educator and engineering practitioner.  He has authored hundreds of journal papers and books on topics spanning soil deformation, waste containment facility construction, and the use of geosynthetics in erosion, filtration and drainage control.  In recognition of his accomplishments in the design and use of geosynthetic materials in the constructed environment, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 1998.

Ethan Butler (’12) was awarded the Portz Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship prize. This is a nationally recognized award and Ethan’s proposal was evaluated amongst several very strong proposals and deemed the most promising.  Ethan, who is the president of Engineers Without Borders at UCONN, has built a team of 6 undergraduate students to work on his project entitled “A Response to the Water Crisis: Evaluating and Improving a Novel, Zero-Energy Water Filtration System for Use in Ethiopia.” The review committee felt that his proposal was well conceived and exceptionally well presented. Ethan, who is advised by Professor Jeffrey McCutcheon, will receive $5,000 to support his project.

Join us as we set out to modernize the Chemical Engineering Senior Lab!
Do you remember working in the senior laboratory? Would it surprise you that many of the same experiments and equipment are still there? Help us change that! We need to update the lab with new experiments and renovate existing ones to better prepare the next generation of UConn Chemical Engineers. Do you have suggestions for experiments, or equipment that your company wants to donate? This is your chance to impact the future of the lab for decades to come!
Some improvements we need:

• A new computer control system for our pilot-scale distillation column.
• Revamping the double-effect evaporator for desalination experiments, tying in with faculty research on clean energy and water initiatives.
• New Plug Flow Reactor (PFR) and Continuous Stirred-Tank Reactor (CSTR) suites to tie in with our kinetics course.
• A bio-fermentation experiment.
• Computer control and data logging for all experiments.

We have 1100 ft² of renovated laboratory space in the United Technologies building that’s waiting to be filled! We’ve added new experiments representing the cutting edge of faculty research and new directions for chemical engineering, but we need YOUR help to continue.
To Our Business Friends: Do you want to help educate the next generation of chemical engineers you’ll hire? Are there skills you feel are important for graduates to have? If so, we’re eager to hear from you! We’re interested in partnering with companies to involve our students in real-world challenges relevant to you. Whether through financial support, equipment donation, or mentoring students, we want to talk to you about your ideas.
To donate today, please click here:
Have questions? Want to talk? Here’s how to reach us:
Daniel D. Burkey
Assistant Department Head and
Assistant Professor-in-Residence
Chemical, Materials, and
Biomolecular Engineering
860-486-3604
daniel@engr.uconn.edu
Donald Swinton
Development Officer
UConn School of Engineering
860-486-8923
dswinton@foundation.uconn.edu