Abraham Stroock, associate professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University, will discuss his research Wednesday (Oct. 21) as part of the 2009 J.D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University.

Stroock’s presentation, “Microvascular Structure and Function in vitro,” 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.

Vascular structure — a network of convective paths — is a ubiquitous element in multicellular, living systems, Stroock said. The key function of vascular structure in animals and plants is mediation of convective mass transfer over macroscopic distances. This transfer allows an organism to monitor and control the chemical state of its tissues, he explains.

In Stroock’s laboratory, his research group is developing methods to embed and operate microfluidic systems within tissue-like materials in order to capture this function for both biological and non-biological applications. His presentation will detail examples of his efforts, including his experiments with “synthetic trees” in which he has reproduced the main features of transpiration.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in physics at Cornell, Stroock spent two years in France where he worked in the research division of Electricite de France and completed a master’s degree at the University of Paris VI and XI in solid state physics. Upon returning to the United States, he earned his doctoral degree at Harvard University and in 2003 joined Cornell as an assistant professor.

He is the recipient of the Henry and Camille Dreyfus New faculty award, the North American Mixing Forum Start-Up Award, the Office of Naval Research’s Young Investigator award, the 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, the Beckman Foundation Young Investigator Award, the NSF CAREER Award, and the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award. In addition, he has been named to MIT Technology Review’s TR35 list of top innovators under 35.

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.

Written by Ryan Garcia, ryan.garcia99@tamu.edu

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