Title:

Chemical and Biological Microsystems - What are the Advantages of Small Systems?

Speaker:

Dr. Klavs F. Jensen

Affiliation:

Warren K. Lewis Professor and head of the Chemical Engineering Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

When:

Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 4:00:00 PM   Add to Calendar

Where:

MS&E Building, Room G011

Host:

Brenda J. Mattox
brenda@gatech.edu

Abstract

Microfabrication techniques have fueled spectacular advances in the electronic and telecommunications industries, and more recently, in the microanalysis chips for chemical and biological applications. These systems promise to transform classical laboratory procedures into integrated systems capable of providing new understanding of fundamental chemical and biological processes as well as rapid, continuous discovery and development of new products with less use of resources and waste generation. Chemical Microsystems combine microfluidic channels, chemical-synthesis-on-a chip, and microscale separation, and detection. Applications of chemical and biological Microsystems are illustrated with case studies drawn from chemical synthesis, energy conversion, synthesis of nano structure, and cellular analysis. Advantages and challenges of implementing miniaturized chemical and biological systems are discussed, including future potentials of these technologies.

Biography

Klavs F. Jensen is the Warren K. Lewis Professor and head of the Chemical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his chemical engineering education from the Technical University of Denmark (M.Sc.) and University of Wisconsin-Madison (PhD). His research interests revolve around microfabrication, testing, and integration of microsystems for chemical and biological discovery, synthesis and processing. Catalysis, chemical kinetics and transport phenomena related to processing of materials for biomedical, electronic, energy conversion, and optical applications are also topics of interest along with development of simulation approaches for reactive chemical and biological systems, specifically simulation across multiple length and time scales. Dr. Jensen is the co-author of more than 450 journal and conference publications as well as several edited volumes and 23 U.S. patents. He serves on advisory boards to universities, companies, professional societies, and governments. He is the recipient of several awards, including a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar Grant, a Guggenheim Felllowship, and the Allan P. Colburn, Charles C. M. Stine, and R. H. Wilhelm Awards of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Dr. Jensen is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Notes

Reception will follow.