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.
Posted September 30th, 2009
