About Us Message from the Chairman
My name is Karl Johnson and I am the Interim Chairman for the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. I hope our web site provides you with the opportunity to learn more about our department, our faculty and students. The Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering was established in 1910. Today, the department is an extraordinary blend of renowned faculty, state-of-the art laboratories and learning centers, and tremendous students and staff providing a unique environment for learning and technological advancement. Our faculty maintain research programs in one or more of the following five general research themes: Biotechnology, Catalysis, Energy and Environment, Materials, and Multi-scale Modeling. Our most recent faculty hires Di Gao, Steve Little and Ipsita Banerjee are taking the lead from the senior faculty and making great strides in developing their research programs. I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with a brief introduction to these outstanding young scientists. Di Gao joined the department in 2005 following a one-year post-doc appointment at UC-Riverside. Dr. Gao’s research program focuses on the synthesis, assembly, and characterization of novel nanostructures, as well as the integration of these nanostructures into functional devices and systems for biomedical, environmental, and sustainable engineering applications. Di Gao received the NSF Career Award (2007) and most recently a research grant, "DNA Sequencing-At-A-Stretch,” from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) for basic research on technologies that will lead to genome sequencing at a dramatically reduced cost. Steve Little joined the Department of Chemical Engineering in 2006 and received his PhD from MIT in 2005. Prior to joining the Department as an assistant professor, Little was a postdoctoral associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the mentorship of Robert Langer where he taught controlled drug delivery and also served as a consultant for several pharmaceutical companies. Little's PhD work revolved around the delivery of genetic vaccines with special emphasis on non-viral, particulate formulations. Little received the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation's 2008 Young Investigator award for his ongoing effort to create particles that would behave as natural cells do to carry out specific tasks. His current interests include controlled delivery for tissue engineering, immunotherapeutics, and biomimetic materials. Ipsita Banerjee joined the department in September 2008. Dr. Banerjee’s research interests focuses on the area of process systems engineering and optimization and their applications in different chemical and bio-engineering problems. She is currently developing novel methods for differentiating embryonic stem cells to the pancreatic lineage and applying systems engineering principles in analyzing the regulatory network of the differentiating cell population. She is also interested in reaction network modeling energy efficient combustion processes. I encourage you to explore our web site to learn more about these exciting young faculty as well as our entire faculty and the exciting ways the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering is working to advance our world.
J. Karl Johnson |
Welcome to the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. Benedum Hall
Dedicated in 1971, Benedum Hall is home to exploration and discovery.
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