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A grant from the National Science Foundation for state-of-the-art equipment has brought Lafayette’s chemical engineering labs up to the standards of those in top research institutions.
Javad Tavakoli, professor of chemical engineering, Polly Piergiovanni, associate professor of chemical engineering, and Sam Morton, assistant professor of chemical engineering, were awarded the $266,604 grant to purchase ten pieces of equipment for three labs, giving the professors and their student researchers the opportunity to conduct cutting-edge, “green” (environmentally friendly) engineering research.
Tavakoli, Piergiovanni, and Morton sought the grant because each conducts significant research in the field. Tavakoli’s research has produced fuel additives that enhance combustion of diesel fuel and minimize its adverse environmental impact. Piergiovanni’s biochemical research has led to a polymer similar to polypropylene, produced without petrochemicals, that can be used as a biodegradable plastic. The focus of Morton’s work is chemical separations, and his current research focuses on room-temperature ionic liquids (salt-like compounds with structural properties that tend to give them melting points under 100 degrees C) and their use as solvents and ability to absorb environmentally detrimental gases.
Tavakoli and Morton mentored Greg Lapp ’06 (Lancaster, Pa.) and Maria Azimova ’06(Tashkent, Uzbekistan) in research that the students presented last fall at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ annual meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio. Piergiovanni guided Bonnie Hoy ’07 (Smithville, N.J.) in independent research on atype of bacteria that produces a biodegradable polymer.
The professors and a number of student researchers will use the equipment for a wide range of chemical characterization and analysis. In addition to students who conduct research with faculty via Lafayette’s EXCEL Scholars program, or in independent study and honors courses, the new equipment will be used in eight courses throughout the chemical engineering curriculum, an experience Tavakoli believes will add immeasurably to the educational opportunities and learning environment at the College.
The equipment also will increase interdisciplinary research opportunities between chemical engineering faculty and members of other departments, including chemistry and biochemistry, civil and environmental engineering, geology and environmental geosciences, biology, and physics, notes Tavakoli.
The labs receiving the equipment are biotechnology, environmental/catalysis, and green engineering.
“This equipment, combined with some new equipment we obtained through a previous grant, is making my [environmental/catalysis] lab a research lab that can be compared to a research institute – it is at that level,” says Tavakoli.
“Our long-term goals are now reachable,” reports Piergiovanni of the effect the grant will have on the research in her biochemical lab. Her current research “has taken a whole semester to do one run. With this equipment, [my student researcher] can probably do several runs a semester; we’ll be able to answer our questions within a much shorter timeframe than before. The quality of the samples will also be better than what we were able to get previously.”
“And students have the opportunity to use all this equipment,” she adds, noting that although the equipment is “very sophisticated, it is simple to operate. I could easily train a freshman student to work on it.”
In addition to conducting more sophisticated experiments and learning to use the latest resources in the field, there is another benefit all three professors immediately cite for themselves and Lafayette students — time.
“Having this equipment would have made my time at the University of Tennessee [conducting ionic liquid research with an EXCEL Scholar last summer] much more productive,” says Morton. “Instead of going there and spending the first week of four learning how to do things, we could have gone down there with everything prepared, everything ready to go.”
Tavakoli says that a collaboration with another institution will involve more “intellectual interaction” now that his research students’ travel to use its lab isn’t necessary.
Experience with the new equipment will help students in their academic and professional careers after Lafayette.
“Having access to state-of-the-art equipment provides a very big learning jump for students because now those that choose to go into [the field] professionally will have an understanding of the results and the issues with that type of instrument,” says Morton. “It will be important for them as they interact with other people who use these instruments. Student who choose to go to graduate school will already know the techniques and procedures of running instruments like these.”
But it’s not just future graduate school students, EXCEL Scholars, and honors students who will use the equipment. Everyone in chemical engineering classes will get the same opportunity, and this, Tavokoli thinks, will change some students considerably.
“I’m interested in not only involving the top students, but also those that may not have the GPA that EXCEL requires. They are really sharp, good students. Get them involved and interested, and I’ve seen a good number of them really change. By getting involved in research and independently thinking and experiencing the things that come with research, I’ve seen many students become inspired and succeed,” he says.
The new equipment will also lead to grant proposals for new research.