Organizing Committee Member
Robert K. Prudhomme
Director and Professor
Princeton University
USA
Biography
I am a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and founding director of the Engineering Biology Program at Princeton University. I received my BS at Stanford University and my PhD from the University of Wisconsin at Madison under Professor Bob Bird in l978. I have served on the executive committees of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Materials Science Division and the U.S. Society of Rheology. Currently I am the past President of the U.S. Society of Rheology. I have served as the chair of the Technical Advisory Board for Material Science Research for Dow Chemical Company, which directed Dow’s materials research programs, I was on BASF’s nanotechnology advisory committee, and I served on the Board of Directors of Rheometric Scientific Inc., which was the leading manufacturer of rheological instrumentation. My awards include the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, Princeton School of Engineering and Applied Science Outstanding Teaching Award, the Sydney Ross Lectureship at RPI, the Bird,Stewart and Lightfoot Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, and the Midland Macromolecular Institute Visiting Professor in Midland Michigan, and the Dinesh Shah lecturer at the University of Florida. I have been the organizer and Chair of the Gordon Conference on Ion Containing Polymers, and the Society of Petroleum Engineers Forum on Stimulation Fluid Rheology, in addition to organizing numerous sessions at AIChE, ACS, and SOR meetings. I directed the Princeton-University of Minnesota-Iowa State NSF NIRT Center on nanoparticle formation. My research interests include rheology and self-assembly of complex fluids. Systems of interest are biopolymer solutions and gels, surfactant mesophases, and polymer/surfactant mixtures. The goals of the studies are to understand how weak molecular-level interactions can be used to tune macroscopic bulk properties and phase behavior. Application of the work is directed at nanoparticle formation for the drug delivery, controlled release, targeting, and imaging.
Research Area
My research interests include rheology and self-assembly of complex fluids. Systems of interest are biopolymer solutions and gels, surfactant mesophases, and polymer/surfactant mixtures. The goals of the studies are to understand how weak molecular-level interactions can be used to tune macroscopic bulk properties and phase behavior. Application of the work is directed at nanoparticle formation for the drug delivery, controlled release, targeting, and imaging.