Karen Lozano | |
---|---|
Alma mater | University of Monterrey Rice University |
Awards | Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | University of Texas–Pan American University of Texas System |
Theses |
|
Karen Lozano is a Mexican American researcher who is the Julia Beecherl Endowed Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Nanotechnology Center at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She studies carbon nanofiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites. She was elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2020 and the National Academy of Engineering in 2023.
Lozano was born in Mexico. Her mother was a seamstress.[ citation needed ] She studied mechanical engineering at the University of Monterrey and the year she graduated, she was the only woman to earn a degree in mechanical engineering. Researchers from Rice University visited Monterrey as part of an outreach project, and recruited Lozano to join for a doctoral position. She was the first Latin American woman to earn a PhD from Rice. [1]
Lozano joined the faculty at the University of Texas–Pan American, where she worked on new approach to mass-produce nano nanofibers. [2] In 2009 she launched FibeRio, a company that could mass-produce nanofibers through a clean,cheap, and facile process coined Forcespinning. [3] Fiberio makes use of Cyclone ForceSpinning Systems, which uses centrifugal forces to pull nanofibers for industrial and medical applications. [3] She took part in a roundtable discussion with Barack Obama about entrepreneurs in the United States.[ when? ] [4]
In 2009, Lozano was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) award to build a partnership between the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and University of Minnesota to create a materials science research center. [5] The center looks to train undergraduate and graduate students from Hispanic backgrounds to pursue careers in materials science. [6]
In 2023, Dr. Karen Lozano, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley professor of Mechanical Engineering and Julia Beecherl Endowed Professor, was elected into the prestigious National Academy of Engineering (NAE). She is the first UTRGV professor ever to receive this honor and one of only three Texans in this year’s cohort of electees. The academy cited her “contributions to nanofiber research and commercialization and mentoring of undergraduate students from underserved populations.”
Carbon fibers or carbon fibres are fibers about 5 to 10 micrometers (0.00020–0.00039 in) in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. Carbon fibers have several advantages: high stiffness, high tensile strength, high strength to weight ratio, high chemical resistance, high-temperature tolerance, and low thermal expansion. These properties have made carbon fiber very popular in aerospace, civil engineering, military, motorsports, and other competition sports. However, they are relatively expensive compared to similar fibers, such as glass fiber, basalt fibers, or plastic fibers.
Electrospinning is a fiber production method that uses electrical force to draw charged threads of polymer solutions for producing nanofibers with diameters ranging from nanometers to micrometers. Electrospinning shares characteristics of both electrospraying and conventional solution dry spinning of fibers. The process does not require the use of coagulation chemistry or high temperatures to produce solid threads from solution. This makes the process particularly suited to the production of fibers using large and complex molecules. Electrospinning from molten precursors is also practiced; this method ensures that no solvent can be carried over into the final product.
The National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP) was established in 1996 with the goal of promoting the participation and advancement of Hispanic-Americans in physics and celebrating the contributions of Hispanic-American physicists to the study and teaching of physics.
Angela K. Wilson is an American scientist and former (2022) President of the American Chemical Society. She currently serves as the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, associate dean for strategic initiatives in the College of Natural Sciences, and director of the MSU Center for Quantum Computing, Science, and Engineering (MSU-Q) at Michigan State University.
The Presidential Young Investigator Award(PYI) was awarded by the National Science Foundation of the United States Federal Government. The program operated from 1984 to 1991, and was replaced by the NSF Young Investigator (NYI) Awards and Presidential Faculty Fellows (PFF) program. In 1995, the NSF Young Investigator program was subsumed into the NSF CAREER Awards program, and in 1996, the Presidential Faculty Fellows program was replaced by the PECASE program.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) is a public research university with multiple campuses throughout the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas. It is the southernmost member of the University of Texas System. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 after the consolidation of the University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College and the University of Texas–Pan American.
Nikhil Gupta is a materials scientist, researcher, and professor based in Brooklyn, New York. Gupta is a professor at New York University Tandon School of Engineering department of mechanical and aerospace engineering. He is an elected Fellow of ASM International and the American Society for Composites. He is one of the leading researchers on lightweight foams and has extensively worked on hollow particle filled composite materials called syntactic foams. Gupta developed a new functionally graded syntactic foam material and a method to create multifunctional syntactic foams. His team has also created an ultralight magnesium alloy syntactic foam that is able to float on water. In recent years, his work has focused on digital manufacturing methods for composite materials and manufacturing cybersecurity.
Anna Christina Balazs is an American materials scientist and engineer. She currently is Distinguished Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and holds the John A. Swanson Chair at the Swanson School of Engineering.
Christopher Ward Macosko (1944) is an American chemical engineer and professor emeritus in the department of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of Minnesota. He is internationally known for his work in polymer science and engineering, especially in the areas of rheology and polymer processing. Macosko is an author of more than 500 academic papers, dozens of patents, and two books including the text: "Rheology: Principles, Measurements and Applications". He served as director of the Industrial Partnership for Research in Interfacial and Materials Engineering (IPRIME), a university-industry consortium at the University of Minnesota, from 1999 to 2018. Macosko and his wife Kathleen have been married since 1967 and are long-time residents of Minneapolis. They have four children and 12 grandchildren.
Anne Hiltner was an American polymer scientist who founded the Center for Applied Polymer Research (CAPRI) and was later instrumental in the founding of the Center for Layer Polymeric Systems (CLiPS), a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center at Case Western Reserve University. She served as Director of the Center for Layered Polymeric Systems from its founding in 2006 until her death in 2010.
Gurpreet Singh is a professor of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at [Kansas State University]. He is endowed by the Harold O. and Jane C. Massey Neff Professorship in Mechanical Engineering. Singh was born in Ludhiana, India; he currently resides in the United States.
Tequila Harris is an American mechanical engineer and professor. She is Professor of Manufacturing at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. She works on polymer processing and mechanical system design.
Marie T. Mora is an American economist who currently acts as Provost Ad Interim at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She was also a former tenured faculty member at New Mexico State University.
Jodie L. Lutkenhaus is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University who develops redox active polymers for energy storage and smart coatings. In 2019 Lutkenhaus and Karen L. Wooley demonstrated the world's first biodegradable peptide battery. Lutkenhaus is a World Economic Forum Young Scientist.
LaShanda Teresa James Korley is a Distinguished Professor of Materials Science at the University of Delaware and an expert in soft matter, polymers, and nature-inspired materials. On a larger scale, Korley is also working on developing strategies and technologies to prevent plastic waste in landfills and oceans by upcycling plastic waste to more valuable products. She leads such efforts through the Center for Plastics Innovation, the Center for Research in Soft Matter and Polymers, and also the Center for Hybrid, Active, and Responsive Materials (CHARM). Korley was awarded the 2019 National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers Lloyd N. Ferguson Young Scientist Award for Excellence in Research.
Katherine T. Faber is an American materials scientist and one of the world's foremost experts in ceramic engineering, material strengthening, and ultra-high temperature materials. Faber is the Simon Ramo Professor of Materials Science at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). She was previously the Walter P. Murphy Professor and department chair of Materials Science and Engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University.
Linda Sue Schadler is the Dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Vermont. Her research investigates the mechanical, optical and electric behaviour of polymer composites. She is a Fellow of the Materials Research Society and ASM International.
Olivia Graeve is a mechanical and aerospace engineer and Professor at University of California San Diego. She is also the Director of the CaliBaja Center for Resilient Materials and Systems at UC San Diego — a binational research institute on both sides of the California-Mexico border.
Anastasia Hanifah Muliana is an Indonesian and American mechanical engineer whose research concerns the solid mechanics and viscoelasticity of asphalt, laminates, smart materials, and other composite materials. She is a professor of mechanical engineering at Texas A&M University, where she is also Linda & Ralph Schmidt ‘68 Professor, chair for faculty mentoring and success in mechanical engineering, and faculty ombudsman for the college of engineering.
Jaime C. Grunlan is a material scientist and academic. He is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Leland T. Jordan ’29 Chair Professor at Texas A&M University.