Sep 30 2009
Orlin D. Velev, INVISTA professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University, will discuss his research Wednesday (Oct. 7) as part of the 2009 J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A+M University.
Velev’s presentation, “On-chip Liquid and Particle Manipulation by AC Electric Fields: Applications in Colloidal Assembly and Microfluidics,” is scheduled from 3 to 4 p.m. in Room 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building. His presentation is sponsored by Texas A&M’s Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering.
Velev will detail how dielectrophoresis, particle interaction with external AC fields, could be used to manipulate and assemble objects on any size scale. The structures that could be assembled on a chip include microwires from metallic nanoparticles, switchable photonic crystals and biocomposite “wires” and membranes. Velev says an additional level of complexity can be engineered to turn various types of miniature semiconductor diode particles into prototypes of self-propelling micromachines and micropumps.
Velev’s research focuses on the area of nanostructures with electrical and photonic functionality, biosensors and microfluidic devices. He was the first to synthesize “inverse opals”, one of the most widely studied types of photonic materials. He also has pioneered principles for microscopic biosensors with direct electrical detection, discovered novel types of self-assembling supraparticles, microwires and designed new microfluidic chips.
Velev received his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Sofia, Bulgaria while also spending one year as a researcher in Nagayama Protein Array Project in Japan. After graduating in 1996, Velev accepted a postdoctoral position at the University of Delaware. In 2001 he formed his new research group in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University and was promoted to full professor in 2008.
In honor of Professor J.D. Lindsay, Texas A&M’s first chemical engineering department head, the department established the Lindsay Lecture Series to bring speakers to the university. Coming from both industry and academia, the lecturers are recognized for their accomplishments in the practice, teaching and/or research of chemical engineering. The series also allows the lecturers several days for visiting the university and the department and for exchanging ideas on teaching and research objectives and methods.