Prof Anna Christina Balazs

Robert Von der Luft Professor

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine

PH: +1 (412) 648-9250
Fax: +1 (412) 624-9639
Email: [email protected]
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Background

Dr. Anna Balazs is a distinguished professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also the current Robert Von der Luft professor in that department after serving as William Kepler Whiteford professor from 1999-2001.

Dr. Balazs received a Masters of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and went on to earn her PhD from the same university. Her postdoctoral research was completed at Brandeis University, MIT, and the University of Massachusetts. She has also held the position of visiting professor at the Scripps Research Institute in Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin, and Oxford University in the UK.

The research interests of Dr. Balazs center on theoretical and computational modeling of the thermodynamic and kinetic behavior of polymer blends and composites. She is also investigating the properties of polymers at surfaces and interfaces. Specifically, ongoing projects involve:

• Predicting the phase behavior of polymer/clay nanocomposites
• Determining the kinetic behavior of binary mixtures containing solid particles
• Designing polymeric inhibitors to prevent cell-virus contact
• Tailoring the interactions between polymer-coated colloids
• Promoting adhesion at polymeric interfaces
• Designing patterned polymer films
• Investigating the tribological behavior of polymer interfaces