Faculty Mentors (By Department)

David Changnon, Ph.D.
Board of Trustees Professor, Department of Geography
Research Interests: Applied climatology, hydro-climatic variability, synoptic climatology, especially as applied to questions of climate variability and extremes and their impacts on climatesensitive areas such as utilities, agribusiness, logistics, transportation, recreation, and water resources

Narayan Hosmane, Ph.D.
Distinguished Research Professor & Board of Trustees Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Research Interests: Synthetic and structural chemistry of polyhedral boron cage biomolecules and nanostructured materials for cancer therapy, catalysis and extraction of radionuclides; synthetic chemistry and applications of graphene

Douglas Klumpp, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Research Interests: Development of organic synthetic methods, including utilization of novel electrophiles; heterocyclic chemistry and synthesis; pharmaceuticals; polymers; synthesis with bio-renewable feedstock

Tao Xu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Research Associate, Materials Division, Argonne National Laboratory
Research Interests: Inorganic-organic hybrid interfaces and nanomaterials for applications in sensors, energy storage and conversion, solid-state lighting, and molecular electronics

David Goldblum, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Geography
Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability and Energy
Research Interests: Biogeography and environmental change, especially both naturally occurring and anthropogenic impacts on plant communities, particularly in forest and agricultural systems

Lesley Rigg, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Geography
Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Research Interests: Biogeography, forest ecology, dynamics of plant communities, especially related to population dynamics at the boreal forest/deciduous forest boundary, and potential species shifts associated with climate change

David Murphy, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography
Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability and Energy
Research Interests: Environmental economics

Ross Powell, Ph.D.
Distinguished Research Professor & Board of Trustees Professor, Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences
Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability, and Energy
Research Interests: Evaluating processes at and near marine-ending glaciers to 1) evaluate their stability during global climate change, 2) determine the type of sedimentary record that these glaciers would leave in order to infer past glacial/climatic condition from older deposits and 3) conduct marine geology and geophysical studies of Cenozoic sediments on continental shelves to document past glacial fluctuations through time

Reed Scherer, Ph.D.
Presidential Research Professor, Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences
Director, Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability and Energy
Research Interests: History of the Antarctic ice sheet and other studies of climate change through time, using assemblages of fossil diatoms (microscopic siliceous algae) as tools for evaluating these changes

Pradip Majumdar, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests: Thermo-fluid sciences, Energy systems, Computational fluid dynamics and heat Transfer; Multi-physics simulation and modeling, Fuel cell power generation, Battery energy storage system, Solar energy Systems; Bio-fuels and combustion analysis, Heat and mass transfer in porous media; Micro-nanoscale fluid flow and heat transfer; High Performance electronics cooling, High energy laser material processing, and Computational fluid analysis of bridge hydraulics and high speed computing.
Nicholas Pohlman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability and Energy
Research Interests: Granular flows, multi-phase fluid dynamics, energy/design optimization, estimation & control

Jason Hanna, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy
Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability and Energy
Research Interests: Normative and applied ethics

Zhili Xiao, Ph.D.
Presidential Research Professor, Department of Physics
Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory
Research Interests: Mesoscopic superconductors and nanomaterials for fast hydrogen gas sensors; intercalated layered materials (for example, graphite, NbSe2, etc.)

Abul Azad, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Technology
Research Interests: Mobile Robotics, Structural Control, Remote Laboratory, Mechatronics, Energy Management, Renewable Energy, and Educational

Cliff Mirman, Ph.D.
Presidential Engagement Professor & Chair, Department of Technology
Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability and Energy
Research Interests: Manufacturing analysis, micro-machining; automation and robotics; finite element analysis; kinematic analysis; mechanical design; industrial outreach

David Schroeder, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Technology
Research Interests:

Robert Tatara, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Technology
Research Interests: Energy/design optimization, thermal analysis, plastic processing, HVAC, and Bio fuels

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