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  Dr. Geoffrey D. Bothun
  Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
  203 Crawford Hall
  Tel: 401-874-9518
  Fax: 401-874-4689
  E-mail: bothun@egr.uri.edu


Ph.D. University of Kentucky, 2004
M.S. University of Kentucky, 2001
B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, 1998
B.S. Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, 1998

Research (visit our group page)

  • Nanotoxicology
  • Nanomedicine
  • Inorganic Membranes
  • Engineered Surfaces

Our research lies at the interface between biology, chemistry, and chemical engineering, utilizing engineering principles and bioinspired strategies to understand nanomaterial-cell interactions, to create novel multifunctional self-assembled therapeutics, and to engineer nanostructured and antifouling surfaces. Our research approach is experimental in nature, and utilizes advanced techniques in spectroscopy, microscopy, and calorimetry. We collaborate extensively with faculty and students from the College of Pharmacy.

Our group also examines thermodynamic and transport phenomena in non-aqueous, liquid-phase membrane separations using native and surface engineered nanoporous inorganic materials. These are critical components to future separation designs using inorganic membranes, which are chemically inert. We envision that this work could lead to new separation strategies in pharmaceutical formulation, flavors and fragrances, semiconductor cleaning, and food processing.

Education

Courses Taught:
CHE 349: Transfer Operations III (Fall) - interactive wiki site
CHE 491/492: Undergraduate Special Problems
CHE 501: Graduate Seminar (Fall)
CHE 550: Bionanotechnology (Spring)
CHE 591/592: Graduate Special Problems
Student Development
Significant emphasis is placed on student development in our research group and in the classroom. This includes professional and personal development, in addition to technical and laboratory training. The goal is to provide students with a skill-set that will make them highly qualified and well positioned for successful careers in industry, government, and academia. This skill-set is developed through training in areas such as communication, leadership, team-building, collaboration, management, and innovation. All students in the Bothun lab actively participate in development training, student mentoring, strategic research planning, and team-based problem solving. Focus is given to preparing students for multidisciplinary collaboration, which is the cornerstone of many emerging technologies.
Advising
University College Freshman Advisor
AIChE Faculty Advisor

Background

Dr. Bothun joined URI in July 2006 after a Discovery Corps Postdoctoral Fellowship sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In this role, Bothun partnered with the NSF Science & Technology Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents & Processes (CERSP) where he conducted research in the areas of non-aqueous membrane separations and enzyme catalysis, and established an undergraduate research and development program at North Carolina A&T State University, a historically black university. The goal of this program is to advance education and diversity in science and engineering. As a graduate student, Bothun's research was multidisciplinary in nature, merging the fields of high-pressure bioprocessing, interfacial and colloidal phenomena, and thermodynamics. Before attending graduate school he was a Process Engineer with Geobiotics Inc., a mining technology company specializing in biooxidation.