March 7, 2025
Science and industry outlets highlight a research partnership between UC and Oak Ridge National Laboratory designed to improve the production of biofuel.
March 4, 2025
Researchers from the University of Cincinnati and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory achieved a breakthrough in understanding the vulnerability of microbes to the alcohols they produce during fermentation of plant biomass.
February 24, 2025
Science and engineering outlets write about research by the University of Cincinnati examining cost-effective ways to protect drinking water from harmful algal blooms.
Greetings! Welcome to our first newsletter of 2025! It is my great pleasure to share with you many of our accomplishments in tackling some of the nation’s most pressing challenges, from advancing manufacturing technology to sustainable energy and clean environment solutions. The talent and dedication within our department—our faculty, students, alumni, and collaborators—are key to driving this progress. I am very excited to highlight our frontier research, share departmental news, and showcase the achievements of our students, faculty and staff. Thank you for being part of our journey. I look forward to the future as our department continues to excel in education, advance knowledge, foster innovation, and make a lasting impact on the world.
-- Junhang Dong, PhD
In December, Professor Dongmei Feng published an article entitled “More Flow Upstream and Less Flow Downstream: The Changing Form and Function of Global Rivers,” in the journal Science. This groundbreaking work, also featured on CNN, revealed surprising and concerning trends in the world’s rivers. Feng reported that nearly 3 million rivers worldwide are undergoing rapid changes, with potentially severe consequences for drinking water supplies, agriculture, and flood risks.
Using a combination of satellite data and computer modeling, Feng’s group analyzed the flow of water through every river on Earth, tracking daily changes over the past 35 years. Their findings show that nearly half of the world’s largest downstream rivers (44%) have experienced annual declines in water flow. The study attributes these changes to human activities and the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis, which are altering rainfall patterns and accelerating snowmelt. Reduced flow in downstream rivers means less freshwater for drinking, irrigation, and livestock, while also increasing the risk of flooding in some areas.
Description automatically generatedRecently, Dr. Feng received a $1 million NASA grant to further her research. Leveraging data from the new Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, her team will investigate greenhouse gas exchanges between rivers and the atmosphere. This work will focus on quantifying global river discharge and the exchange of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) between rivers and the atmosphere, advancing our understanding of how rivers influence the global carbon cycle.
The Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering is proud to announce that Professor Panagiotis Smirniotis has been awarded the 2024 David F. Ollis Award for his lifetime contributions to the field of photocatalysis. This inaugural award was presented by International Scientific Society of Semiconductor Photocatalysis and Solar Energy Conversion to recognize Dr. Smirniotis’ groundbreaking advancements and demonstrated sustained excellence in photocatalysis, a field that is instrumental in advancing sustainable energy and manufacturing solutions.
In one particularly innovative contribution, Smirniotis developed a novel family of photocatalysts capable of operating with visible light, eliminating the need for electricity to generate UV light. This groundbreaking approach to catalysis has wide-ranging applications, including chemical manufacturing, and energy production. Over the years, his work has not only advanced fundamental understanding but also paved the way for practical technologies addressing some of the world's most pressing challenges.
The University’s Office of Research honored six faculty in our department for their exceptional funding procurements. Professors Yoonjee Park, Lilit Yeghiazarian, Jingjie Wu, Jonathan Pham, Joo-Youp Lee and Gregory Beaucage were recognized as outstanding sponsored award recipients and/or top collaborative awardees during fiscal year 2024. They were honored at a university reception held at the Digital Futures Building in January 2025.
Work in Dr. Greg Harris’ lab on nerve repair has the potential to transform recovery outcomes for millions of individuals affected by traumatic injuries. By targeting the complex challenges of nerve regeneration, his work aims to restore function and improve the quality of life for patients recovering from severe injuries. Current nerve regeneration and repair practices often rely on autografts, where nerves are taken from another part of the patient’s body, or engineered nerve guidance conduits, which serve as bioartificial alternatives. While effective, these methods have limitations. Harris and his team are advancing the field with a novel nerve guidance conduit that provides electrical, chemical, and physical cues to guide growing cells and nerves. “In making a multiplexed biomaterial, we’re able to mimic development and provide a path to grow and reinnervate damaged nerve tissue,” Harris explained. Though the science behind this approach is complex, its potential impact is clear: it could enable near-complete recovery for individuals suffering from debilitating nerve damage, offering them a chance to regain function and improve their quality of life.
Power plants and transportation are responsible for about 53% of all carbon dioxide emissions. The remaining emissions are generated by industry, commercial and residential buildings, agriculture and other human activities. The system Dr. Joo-Youp Lee developed in his lab uses electricity to separate carbon dioxide. But he is advancing his system by using hot water instead of electricity or steam in the desorption step, making it 50% more energy efficient than other carbon-capture systems. Air is passed through a special adsorbent material that Lee’s team designed to capture carbon dioxide. The developed system has been shown to remove carbon dioxide from the air at concentrations of approximately 420 ppm. And with his process, called direct air capture, it can be deployed virtually anywhere as opposed to conventional carbon capturing systems which are deployed predominantly at the source.
Junhang Dong received funding of $748,962 from DOE/EERE as part of a $5 million project to develop next generation solid oxide electrochemical cells (SOEC) for green hydrogen production over the next three years. Led by Clemson University, the project team also includes Siemens Corp., Siemens Energy, and Advanced Manufacturing LLC. This project will accelerate the materials discovery, design, and manufacturing of oxide ion-conducting solid oxide electrolyzers via innovative machine learning, additive manufacturing, and laser sintering approaches. The effort is expected to shorten the materials discovery and testing iteration period significantly and enable the testing of novel cell formulations and configurations.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced more than $136 million for 66 selected projects to support the research and development of transformational technologies essential for reducing energy demand and improving American productivity in key industrial subsectors. These investments are anticipated to accelerate the development of innovative technologies to ensure the resilience and competitiveness of U.S. industrial supply chains in rapidly changing global markets. The DOE/EERE has selected a proposal led by Maobing Tu for funding, with a total award of ~ $3 million. The project aims to reduce energy demand and improve productivity in key American industries. The team also includes Drs. Junhang Dong, Jingjie Wu, and Drew McAvoy, as well as external collaborators. The DOE/EERE has also selected a proposal led by Washington State University, focused on developing an innovative pulping process. As a major team member, Dr. Maobing Tu will receive $0.5 million of the total $3 million project funding.
Thanks to the generous support of the Dr. John S. Michelman Fund for the Advancement of Sustainable Technology, the Michelman Green, Clean, and Sustainable Technology Research Innovation Program fosters applied research and use-inspired innovation with the potential to significantly enhance environmental health, stewardship, and sustainability. The program aims to address real-world challenges by demonstrating novel and marketable scientific and technical solutions. Grantees were selected based on the quality, originality, and creativity of their proposed research, with a focus on projects showing clear potential to deliver tangible societal benefits.
Professors Soryong Ryan Chae and Vadim Guliants were awarded funding for their proposal, “Highly Selective Recovery of High Value-Added Materials from Electrical and Electronic Wastes for Energy Storage.” The project addresses the growing issue of electrical and electronic waste (e-waste), which has surged due to the increasing global use of batteries in portable electronics, electric vehicles, and renewable energy systems. Recycling e-waste not only conserves valuable materials such as gold, silver, copper, and rare earth elements but also reduces the need for mining, decreases environmental pollution, and mitigates public health risks.
Last fall of 2024, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded a team from the CEAS, DAAP and COM with a $1.5 million grant. This 3-year funding is for a project to create a prototype of “cooled” firefighter`s garment. Multiple studies show that one of the main reasons for the firefighter`s fatalities is accumulation of metabolic heat inside the gear which dramatically increases the core body temperature and causes a heart attack. The multidisciplinary team involved in this project proposed advanced technology, particularly a lightweight and fire-resistant, wearable cooling unit that will be attached outside the garment and will enable cooling of the firefighter`s body. The prototype in development will be tested by firefighters in a live-burn scenario and further improved based on the feedback received.
The funded project is led by CEAS with PI and co-PI Profs. Mark Schulz and Vesselin Shanov. Dr. Shanov and his postdoctoral fellow Dr. Qichen Fang, along with the graduate student Ben Kraus are in charge of designing, creating and testing of a 3D printed cooling unit that meets the requirements of light weight, flame resistance, and strength. They are also employing infrared thermal monitoring to prove the cooling efficiency of the created prototype. The industrial partner for this project is Lion Apparel Inc., which is one of the largest manufacturers of fire-protection personal equipment in the country.
The Sigma Xi Committee on the Grants in Aid of Research has awarded a grant for Arjun Dheenan in support of his research proposal submitted for the October 1, 2024 application cycle. The title of his grant proposal was "Hollow Fiber Membranes for Co-Delivery of Therapeutics”. The current standard of care for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) involves frequent injections of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). The aim of this project is to develop an injectable, biodegradable implant for sustained, long-term co-delivery of both mAbs, such as Bevacizumab (Bev), and the anti-inflammatory corticosteroid Dexamethasone (Dex), alleviating both economic expense to patients with AMD as well as corticosteroid-related adverse events. Arjun is a Masters student working in the area of materials engineering under the guidance of Dr. Yoonjee Park
