Excerpt from UMBC News:

From solar energy harvesting to advanced batteries: Cohort of new engineering faculty bolster UMBC’s commitment to Earth-friendly research

By: Catherine Meyers | Published: May 10, 2024 

This April 22, as the campus community celebrated Earth Day, the feel of spring’s natural reawakening was in the air. Birds chirped from newly leafed trees and students strolled in the bright sunshine. But the pleasant day belied a concerning trend: In Maryland and beyond, the balance of Earth’s life-supporting systems is shifting, driven in large part by the heat-trapping greenhouse gasses we humans send into the atmosphere. The Earth is getting hotter; weather patterns are changing; and ecosystems are under stress. 

“Climate change is pressing us to adopt a more Earth-friendly lifestyle, to develop renewable energy,” says Dr. Özgür Çapraz, an associate professor in the department of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering at UMBC, who studies advanced battery technologies. Çapraz, who joined UMBC in fall 2023 from a faculty position at Oklahoma State University, was one of three recent faculty hires in the College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT) who all specialize in different aspects of sustainability and renewable energy-related research. 

The three hires were part of a COEIT effort to build off recognized strength in the environmental domain, while expanding expertise in important areas such as energy, says Lee Blaney, a professor in the department of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering who chaired the search.

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PHOTO CREDIT: From left to right, Özgür Çapraz, Rajasekhar Anguluri, and Alok Ghanekar. (Marlayna Demond ’11/UMBC)

Congratulations to Dr. Lee Blaney, professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering for Marilyn E. Demorest Award for Faculty Advancement at annual Presidential Faculty and Staff Awards.

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Congratulations to Dr. Lee Blaney and his team!

Dr. Lee Blaney, professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering, received funding for his project titled “Novel functionalization of conventional sorbents for enhanced selectivity and improved concentration of ultrashort- and short-chain PFAS” from the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP). This project is part of the FY 2024 solicitations for SERDP and ESTCP. This project is a collaboration with Dr. Ke He (UMBC), Dr. Wenqing Xu (Villanova University), and Dr. Jessica Ray (University of Washington).

Project Title: Novel functionalization of conventional sorbents for enhanced selectivity and

improved concentration of ultrashort- and short-chain PFAS

Lead Principal Investigator: Lee Blaney

Objective: The overall goal of this project is to improve commercially available adsorbents, such as

anion-exchange resins and granular activity carbon, through specific surface chemistry modifications that enhance the capacity and selectivity for 18 ultrashort- and short-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In particular, we will develop (i) hybrid anion-exchange (HAIX) resins, (ii) metal oxide-biochar composites, and (iii) multi-PFAS templated molecularly imprinted polymers on granular activated carbon (mMIP@GAC) adsorbents. These novel materials will be developed, characterized, and evaluated for adsorption, desorption, and performance in PFAS-impacted waters collected from DoD facilities.

Technical Approach: The proposed HAIX, metal oxide-biochar, and mMIP@GAC adsorbents represent paradigm shifts that will improve our ability to remove ultrashort- and short-chain PFAS from impacted waters. We have identified 18 ultrashort- and short-chain PFAS as targets, but additional chemicals of concern will be considered during the project period. The project objective will be achieved through (i) materials development and characterization, (ii) batch adsorption tests to identify isotherm parameters, determine the impacts of water quality parameters, and measure mass transport properties, (iii) batch regeneration tests to optimize not only PFAS desorption, but also PFAS destruction in downstream processes, and (iv) column tests to demonstrate the performance of the proposed materials in at least six real waters collected from DoD facilities, extend treatment capacity compared to the base materials, and measure design parameters needed for future scale-up efforts.

Benefits: The expected outcomes of this work include (i) improved capabilities for the removal and concentration of ultrashort- and short-chain PFAS in ex situ water treatment processes or remediation operations, (ii) better understanding of the fundamental adsorption-desorption behavior of PFAS with innovative adsorbents designed for treatment of PFAS that are poorly adsorbed by conventional materials and (iii) enhanced regeneration protocols that are amenable to downstream PFAS destruction. As all three adsorbent classes build upon commercially available materials, we are confident in the feasibility of technology transfer and timely implementation at DoD facilities. The main benefit to DoD stems from the improved removal of ultrashort- and short-chain PFAS in fixed-bed adsorption reactors. This outcome is important because the targeted compounds, represent a liability for future regulatory requirements based on total PFAS mass concentrations.

Career Connectors: 

The UMBC LSAMP 2022-2023 Annual Report highlights involvement in the UMBC LOUIS STOKES ALLIANCE FOR MINORITY PARTICIPATION (LSAMP) program. LSAMP participants have access to individualized advising, campus workshops, funded research experiences, and national and international conferences to strengthen their STEM identity and promote entry into top graduate programs. 

We want to specifically celebrate the achievements of those pursuing their bachelors of science in chemical engineering and the departmental faculty supporting their efforts. 

ANNUAL BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH CONFERENCE FOR MINORITIZED STUDENTS (ABRCMS) (Page 11)

Name| Major| Topic | Faculty Advisor

Evalynn Ellison | Chemical Engineering | Molecular Biotechnology | Dr. Brandon DeKosky

Ariel Wilson-Gray | Chemical Engineering | Bioengineering | Dr. Tamara Kinzer-Ursem 

SUMMER 2023 RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (Page 27)

Name and Class | Major |Topic| Faculty Mentor | University

Nhyira Ghunney ‘24 | Biological Sciences | Tissue Engineering | Dr. Erin Lavik | UMBC 

Amaya Johnson ‘25 | Biological Sciences | Tissue Engineering | Dr. Erin Lavik | UMBC

CLASS OF 2023 GRADUATING FELLOWS AND POST-GRADUATION PLANS (Page 34-35)

Joana Hernandez Chemical Engineering Prospective Graduate Student

Diego Iglesias Vega Chemical Engineering Graduate Student at MIT

Rachel Myers Chemical Engineering PhD Student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Excerpt from:

Machine Learning for Bioprocess Sensor Innovation

By Gareth John Macdonald - January 31, 2024

Machine learning (ML) could allow drug firms to create predictive process models that optimize development, production, and quality control. But, before embracing ML on the factory floor, manufacturers will need data to “train” the computer algorithms that drive the approach. And this means having process sensors sophisticated enough to track multiple parameters in real-time in highly complex cell cultures according to an industry expert.

Machine learning is a specialized form of artificial intelligence in which computer programs learn to solve tasks or understand the dynamics of complex systems with minimal or no direction. The process is iterative, and the solutions improve over time as more data is introduced.

This need for training data is driving innovation in process sensors, says Govind Rao, PhD, who is director of the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

“At the end of the day, AI/ML tools will allow for process monitoring to be simplified once data are generated at scale to relate process conditions to critical quality attributes. The need to run QC tests on quarantined bulk drug substance will be greatly reduced,” he explains. “However, to get there will require high-density process monitoring to allow ML/AI algorithms to relate process conditions to off-line measurements such as glycosylation, aggregation, etc.”

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National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences highlight Professor Upal Ghosh’s work cleaning contaminated waterways

By: Catherine Meyers | Published: Feb 23, 2024 | UMBC NEWS

The positive environmental and health impacts of work led by Upal Ghosh, professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering at UMBC, was recently highlighted by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The agency showcased a low-cost technology that Ghosh and his colleagues developed to clean waterways contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a group of likely carcinogenic chemicals that were used in insulation, coolants, and electrical equipment for decades before being banned in the U.S. in 1979. 

The chemicals are stable and persist in the environment, often accumulating in fish that live in contaminated waterways and posing a risk to humans who consume those fish. NIEHS funded Ghosh’s research into using activated carbon pellets to bind the chemicals in place at the bottom of the waterways. This prevents the PCBs from circulating through the aquatic food chain. In projects carried out in contaminated lakes, rivers, and harbors in Delaware, Maryland, and elsewhere, Ghosh’s team demonstrated that the technique could significantly reduce the concentration of PCBs in the water and in aquatic lifeforms. Importantly, the technique is also significantly cheaper than standard clean-up approaches, such as dredging and disposing of contaminated sediment. 

In related work performed with Kevin Sowers, from the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, Ghosh’s team also developed a way to combine the activated carbon with microbes that break down PCBs, reducing their toxicity.

With NIEHS support, Ghosh has co-founded two companies—Sediment Solutions and RemBac—to commercialize the technology and deploy it at full-scale to clean up contaminated sites across the country, such as at Mirror Lake in Delaware.

“The technology brings together innovations in material science and biology,” says Ghosh. It’s an honor, he says, that the NIEHS, the leading agency in the country that funds research on public health and the environment, recognized “the real impact our research is having on improving public health.”

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University of Maryland, Baltimore County - Applying a Novel Symbolic Regression To Speed Up Surface Chemistry Simulations