Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
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Welcome to the Fall 2020 newsletter of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) at Lehigh University.

The year 2020  has been tumultuous in every way, with the COVID-19 pandemic raging unabated in the US and globally. As a result, we missed our Spring 2020 newsletter due to the ensuing disruption in our academic program as we rapidly (almost within 4 days) migrated to online course delivery after Spring break in March 2020. However, this means that the Fall 2020 newsletter is now filled with a year's worth of exciting news updates from the department faculty, students and alumni. 

We are delighted to welcome  Prof. Elsa Reichmanis to the  department in Fall 2020 as the Carl R. Anderson Endowed Chair. Previously at GeorgiaTech in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and before that at Bell Labs, Elsa is an internationally recognized leader in the study of organic polymers and hybrid materials. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Elsa was elected an AIChE Fellow and also a Director of AIChE in 2020.  

ChBE alumni, the greatest products of our programs, earned national and international spotlight in addressing the COVID pandemic.  Bethlehem, PA-based OraSure Technologies, currently led by chemical engineering alumnus Stephen S. Tang ’85G ’88 PhD, received support from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop a pan-SARS-coronavirus antigen rapid in-home self-test that uses oral fluid samples.  Dr. Susan Daniel ’05 PhD, currently Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University, with the help of colleagues, has identified a possible target for antiviral treatment for COVID-19, through their ongoing NIH-funded research.  And James (Jim) Robinson '82 BS, '84 MS talked about COVID-19 vaccine production at a recent Lehigh sponsored webinar as part of the "Mountain talks" series. 

Departmental faculty research continued to create impact, with numerous multi-year/ collaborative research grants totaling over $9 million dollars coming to department faculty over the past year. Notable among these are two R01 grants to Prof. J. Mittal ($3.3 million (with Brown University), $1.8 million), a NIH SPARC multi-university grant to Prof. M. V. Kothare ($2.1 million (with Emory, UPitt, Thomas Jefferson, U.Idaho)), NSF LEAP-HI/GOALI grant to Prof. A. Jagota ($2 million, with Cornell, Michelin), two DOE/SBIR Phase 2 grants to  Prof. J. Baltrusaitis in collaboration with ACT Inc, Lancaster, PA and Precision Combustion Inc, North Haven, CT and a NSF-CDS&E grant to Prof. S. Rangarajan ($420K, with Mittal, Snyder).
 
Among other news items, we are sad to announce the passing of Dr. Shivaji Sircar, Lehigh University Distinguished Scholar in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering on February 13, 2020. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Dr. Sircar was  known internationally for his pioneering and seminal work in the area of adsorption science.  A special issue of the journal Adsorption in honor of Dr. Sircar's contributions is scheduled for Spring 2021.  A few months later, Dr. Vince Grassi, Professor of Practice in the department, passed away on 
May 3, 2020. A much-loved instructor, Dr. Grassi taught various core  courses in all four years of the chemical engineering curriculum, from freshman through senior year. The Chemical Engineering Class of 2020 shared remembrances of Dr. Grassi during a virtual memorial. In his honor, his family has established a Vince Grassi Professional Development fund to support undergraduate summer research in the department.
 
From all of us in the department, we wish you a safe fall semester and upcoming winter break. Our thoughts are with all of you as we all navigate through an ongoing pandemic and plan for the coming spring semester.
 
Please drop us an e-mail with comments – we will be delighted to hear from you.
 
Sincerely,

Mayuresh Kothare
R. L. McCann Professor and Chair
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Jonas Baltrusaitis
Associate Professor and ChBE Newsletter Editor
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering