Levich Institute Seminar Announcement, 02/01/2005

Tuesday, 02/01/2005 2:00 PM Steinman Hall, Room #312 (Chemical Engineering Conference Room) Professor Anna Balazs University of Pittsburgh Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department "Pattern Formation in Binary Blends Confined Between Rough, Chemically Heterogeneous Surfaces"

ABSTRACT
Using a mesoscale model for hydrodynamics, we simulate driven flow of AB binary fluids past surfaces that contain well-defined roughness or asperities. The geometry and wetting properties of the asperities are found to have a dramatic effect on the flow patterns. We isolate conditions where the A fluid forms vertical bands that bridge the asperities and an imposed shear (or pressure gradient) drives the system to form monodisperse droplets of A within the B fluid. The size of the droplets can be tailored by varying the morphology of the asperities. The surfaces needed to create this rich dynamical behavior are used as the ?stamps? in micro-contact printing; thus, the parameter space can readily be accessed experimentally and the predictions suggest an efficient method for forming emulsions with well-controlled morphologies.

BRIEF ACADEMIC/EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

• Ph.D., 1981; S.M., 1977. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology: (82-84) Postdoctoral research in the Chemistry Department with Dr. John Deutch.
• University of Massachusetts: (84-86) Research Associate in the Polymer Science and Engineering Department with Dr. Frank Karasz, Dr. William McKnight and Dr. Isaac Sanchez, NBS.
• Associate Professor (9/92-8/96), Assistant Professor (1/87-8/92), and Bicentennial Engineering Alumni Faculty Fellow Materials Science and Engineering Department, University of Pittsburgh.
• William Kepler Whiteford Professor (9/99-8/2001), Associate Professor and Bicentennial Engineering Alumni Faculty Fellow (9/96-8/99)
• Robert von der Luft Professor (9/2001-) Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department, University of Pittsburgh