Complex fluids engineering is everywhere around us
What do paint, pediatric medicines, laundry detergent, cell membranes, and mayonnaise have in common? They are all complex fluids. Complex fluids include emulsions, gels, foams, and liquid suspensions of solid nanoparticles or micrometer sized colloidal particles. Self-assembled structures formed by surfactants, polymers, and lipids, such as micelles, bilayers, and liposomes are also complex fluids.
CCFE research spans from biophysics to formulation
The structure and dynamics of self-assembled cell structures and formulated fluid products are controlled by similar underlying physical chemical phenomena. CCFE research involves extensive cross-talk among engineers, biophysicists, and chemists.
CCFE research and education go hand-in-hand
Focused lecture and laboratory courses, along with a collaborative research spirit, complement graduate students’ in-depth research expertise as they prepare to enter academia or a wide variety of industries.
CCFE students advance diverse industries
Our graduates have thriving careers in diverse industries, including pharmaceuticals, paints and coatings, aeronautics, energy, advanced materials, electronic materials, consumer products, specialty chemicals, food technology, biotechnology, and agrochemicals.
The research thrusts of the Center for Complex Fluids Engineering include complex fluid interfaces and films, colloidal and surface forces, surfactant and polymer self-assembly, electrokinetics, particle self- and directed-assembly, biomembranes and biointerfaces, environmental implications of nanomaterials, and microfluidic technologies.
CCFE faculty are highly interdisciplinary
- Shelley Anna, Chemical Engineering
- Michael Bockstaller, Materials Science & Engineering
- Markus Deserno, Physics
- Stephen Garoff, Physics
- Annette M. Jacobson, Chemical Engineering
- Rongchao Jin, Chemistry
- Aditya Khair, Chemical Engineering
- Tomasz Kowalewski, Chemistry
- Gregory Lowry, Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Sara Majetich, Physics
- Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Chemistry
- James Schneider, Chemical Engineering
- Stefanie Sydlik, Chemistry
- Robert Tilton, Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
- Lynn Walker, Chemical Engineering
- Newell Washburn, Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering
- Michael Widom, Physics