WebCAST seminar entitled:

"Multiscale Modeling and its Application to Catalyst Design and Portable 
Power Generation"

By
Professor Dion G. Vlachos
Department of Chemical Engineering,
Center for Catalytic Science and Technology
University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716-3110

Date: April 24, 2008, 2-4 pm (EST)
Dial-in from the comfort of your office to hear the presentation
Deadline to Register: April 20, 2008 (details at 
http://www.castdiv.org/WebCAST.htm)


Abstract


Multiscale simulation is emerging as a new scientific field in chemical, 
materials, and biological sciences.
The idea  of multiscale modeling is straightforward: one computes 
information at a smaller (finer) scale and
passes it to a model  at a larger (coarser) scale by leaving out degrees 
of freedom as one moves from finer to
coarser scales. The obvious  goal of multiscale modeling is to predict 
macroscopic behavior of an engineering
process from first principles  (bottom-up approach). However, the 
emerging fields of nanotechnology and
biotechnology impose new challenges  and opportunities (top-down). For 
example, the miniaturization of
microchemical systems for portable and  distributed power generation 
imposes new challenges and opportunities
than the conventional scaling up chemical  engineers  have worked on.


In this talk, I will describe the development of multiscale models for 
catalytic reactors with a focus on
small-scale  hydrogen production. Limitations in model development, 
including multi-level uncertainty,
will be discussed. A new  multiscale and informatics-based framework 
will be presented for design of experiments
(DOE) in order to enable  model assessment and parameter refinement. The 
framework is designed to overcome
uncertainties by allowing  experimental data injection into multiscale 
models. Finally, I will discuss how one could
use these models to enable  both catalyst design and microsystem 
optimization for portable and distributed power generation.

Bio-Sketch:Dion Vlachos:
[log in to unmask]
www.che.udel.edu/vlachos


Dion Vlachos is a Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering at 
the University of Delaware since 2003.
He is currently an associate director of the Center for Catalytic 
Science and Technology. Dion obtained a five
years diploma  in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical Univ. 
of Athens, in Greece, in 1987. He obtained
his MS and Ph.D.  from the University of Minnesota in 1990 and 1992, 
respectively, and spent a postdoctoral year at
the Army High Performance  Computing Research Center, MN, after which he 
joined UMass as an Assistant Professor.
He was promoted to an associate  professor at UMass in 1998. Dion was a 
Visiting Fellow at Princeton University in the
spring of 2000, a visiting faculty at  Thomas Jefferson Univ. and 
Hospital in spring of 2007 and the George
Pierce Distinguished Prof. of Chemical Engineering  and Materials 
Science at the Univ. of Minnesota in the fall of 2007.
Dion is the recipient of an ONR Young Investigator  Award, a NSF Career 
Award, a Junior Faculty Award, and the
Best Advisor Award (twice). He is a member of the  American Institute of 
Chemical Engineers, American Chemical
Society, The Combustion Institute, The Catalysis Society, and  SIAM. His 
main research thrust is multiscale modeling
and simulation along with their application to catalysis and portable  
microchemical devices for power generation, nucleation
and growth of nanomaterials, microporous thin films, and molecular  cell 
biology. He is the corresponding author of more than
160 refereed publications and has given more than 120 invited talks  
(plenary lectures, keynote lectures, etc.).

-- 
Mayuresh V. Kothare (2008 WebCAST chair)
R. L. McCann Associate Professor
Chemical Process Modeling and Control Research Center
Department of Chemical Engineering
Lehigh University, 111 Research Drive
Bethlehem, PA 18015, U.S.A.
Office: D322 Iacocca Hall
Tel: (610) 758 6654, Fax: (610) 758 5057
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: http://www.lehigh.edu/~mvk2