Pablo G. Debenedetti

Last updated
Pablo G. Debenedetti
BornMarch 30, 1953
Alma materUniversity of Buenos Aires, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Scientific career
FieldsThermodynamics, Statistical Mechanics, Molecular Simulation, Chemical Engineering
InstitutionsPrinceton University
Doctoral advisor Robert Reid

Pablo G. Debenedetti is the Class of 1950 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science and a professor of chemical and biological engineering at Princeton University. [1] He served as Princeton's Dean for Research from 2013 to 2023. [2] His research focuses on thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and computer simulations of liquids and glasses. [3]

Contents

Debenedetti was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2000, [4] the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008, [5] and the National Academy of Sciences in 2012. [6]

Early life and education

Debenedetti was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1953. He graduated from the University of Buenos Aires in 1978 with a degree in chemical engineering, and worked as a process development engineer at the De Nora Company in Milan, Italy, between 1978 and 1980. He completed his master's degree in 1981 and his Ph.D in 1985, both in chemical engineering, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his thesis adviser was Robert C. Reid. He joined the faculty of Princeton University in 1985. [7]

Research and career

Debenedetti's research focuses on theoretical and computational investigations of the structure, dynamics, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics of liquids and glasses. He has published over 300 scientific papers. [8] and a book, Metastable Liquids: Concepts and Principles. [9]

Debenedetti has made numerous contributions to fundamental understanding of the microscopic structure of supercritical fluids, [10] the theory of nucleation, [11] the theory of hydrophobicity, [12] the glass transition, [13] protein thermodynamics, [14] and the structure [15] and thermodynamics of supercooled water. [16] Using advanced sampling techniques, his group demonstrated computationally the existence of a metastable liquid-liquid phase transition in a molecular model of water. His work has been cited more than 40,000 times. [17]

He served as the chair of the department of chemical engineering from 1996 to 2004 and was the vice dean of the school of engineering and applied science from 2008 to 2013. [18] He was appointed Princeton's Dean for Research in 2013 [19] and served in this role through August, 2023. [20]

Awards and honors

Debenedetti has received numerous awards and honors.

In 2008, he was named one of the 100 chemical engineers of the modern era [39] by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Centennial Celebration Committee.

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metastability</span> Intermediate energetic state within a dynamical system

In chemistry and physics, metastability denotes an intermediate energetic state within a dynamical system other than the system's state of least energy. A ball resting in a hollow on a slope is a simple example of metastability. If the ball is only slightly pushed, it will settle back into its hollow, but a stronger push may start the ball rolling down the slope. Bowling pins show similar metastability by either merely wobbling for a moment or tipping over completely. A common example of metastability in science is isomerisation. Higher energy isomers are long lived because they are prevented from rearranging to their preferred ground state by barriers in the potential energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melting</span> Material phase change

Melting, or fusion, is a physical process that results in the phase transition of a substance from a solid to a liquid. This occurs when the internal energy of the solid increases, typically by the application of heat or pressure, which increases the substance's temperature to the melting point. At the melting point, the ordering of ions or molecules in the solid breaks down to a less ordered state, and the solid melts to become a liquid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ice crystal</span> Water ice in symmetrical shapes

Ice crystals are solid ice in symmetrical shapes including hexagonal columns, hexagonal plates, and dendritic crystals. Ice crystals are responsible for various atmospheric optic displays and cloud formations.

In thermodynamics, superheating is the phenomenon in which a liquid is heated to a temperature higher than its boiling point, without boiling. This is a so-called metastable state or metastate, where boiling might occur at any time, induced by external or internal effects. Superheating is achieved by heating a homogeneous substance in a clean container, free of nucleation sites, while taking care not to disturb the liquid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supercooling</span> Lowering the temperature of a liquid below its freezing point without it becoming a solid

Supercooling, also known as undercooling, is the process of lowering the temperature of a liquid below its freezing point without it becoming a solid. It is achieved in the absence of a seed crystal or nucleus around which a crystal structure can form. The supercooling of water can be achieved without any special techniques other than chemical demineralization, down to −48.3 °C (−54.9 °F). Supercooled water can occur naturally, for example in the atmosphere, animals or plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloud condensation nuclei</span> Small particles on which water vapor condenses

Cloud condensation nuclei (CCNs), also known as cloud seeds, are small particles typically 0.2 µm, or one hundredth the size of a cloud droplet. CCNs are a unique subset of aerosols in the atmosphere on which water vapour condenses. This can affect the radiative properties of clouds and the overall atmosphere. Water vapour requires a non-gaseous surface to make the transition to a liquid; this process is called condensation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nucleation</span> Initial step in the phase transition or molecular self-assembly of a substance

In thermodynamics, nucleation is the first step in the formation of either a new thermodynamic phase or structure via self-assembly or self-organization within a substance or mixture. Nucleation is typically defined to be the process that determines how long an observer has to wait before the new phase or self-organized structure appears. For example, if a volume of water is cooled below 0 °C, it will tend to freeze into ice, but volumes of water cooled only a few degrees below 0 °C often stay completely free of ice for long periods (supercooling). At these conditions, nucleation of ice is either slow or does not occur at all. However, at lower temperatures nucleation is fast, and ice crystals appear after little or no delay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ice nucleus</span>

An ice nucleus, also known as an ice nucleating particle (INP), is a particle which acts as the nucleus for the formation of an ice crystal in the atmosphere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salvatore Torquato</span> American theoretical scientist

Salvatore Torquato is an American theoretical scientist born in Falerna, Italy. His research work has impacted a variety of fields, including physics, chemistry, applied and pure mathematics, materials science, engineering, and biological physics. He is the Lewis Bernard Professor of Natural Sciences in the department of chemistry and Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials at Princeton University. He has been a senior faculty fellow in the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, an enterprise dedicated to exploring frontiers across the theoretical natural sciences. He is also an associated faculty member in three departments or programs at Princeton University: physics, applied and computational mathematics, and mechanical and aerospace engineering. On multiple occasions, he was a member of the schools of mathematics and natural sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rakesh Agrawal (chemical engineer)</span> American chemical engineer

Rakesh Agrawal is a chemical engineer known for contributions to separations, cryogenic gas separation and liquefaction, and for contributions to renewable energy including the conversion of biomass to chemicals and fuels, inorganic solar cell fabrication, and the synergistic use of solar energy. He is the Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Frank H. Stillinger is an American theoretical chemist and a namesake of the Lubachevsky–Stillinger algorithm. He has recently collaborated with research groups as a senior scientist at Princeton University.

John Michael Prausnitz is an emeritus professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

A liquid–liquid critical point is the endpoint of a liquid–liquid phase transition line (LLPT); it is a critical point where two types of local structures coexist at the exact ratio of unity. This hypothesis was first developed by Peter Poole, Francesco Sciortino, Uli Essmann and H. Eugene Stanley in Boston to obtain a quantitative understanding of the huge number of anomalies present in water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biman Bagchi</span> Indian chemist (born 1954)

Biman Bagchi is an Indian scientist currently serving as a SERB-DST National Science Chair Professor and Honorary Professor at the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit of the Indian Institute of Science. He is a theoretical physical chemist and biophysicist known for his research in the area of statistical mechanics; particularly in the study of phase transition and nucleation, solvation dynamics, mode-coupling theory of electrolyte transport, dynamics of biological macromolecules, protein folding, enzyme kinetics, supercooled liquids and protein hydration layer. He is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences, The World Academy of Sciences and an International honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Along with several scientific articles, he has authored three books, (i) Molecular Relaxation in Liquids, (ii) Water in Biological and Chemical Processes: From Structure and Dynamics to Function, and (iii) Statistical Mechanics for Chemistry and Materials Science.

Joan F. Brennecke is an American chemical engineer who is the Cockrell Family Chair in Engineering in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Brennecke develops supercritical fluids, ionic liquids and novel spectroscopic methods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodney Priestley</span> American chemical engineer

Rodney Dewayne Priestley is an American chemical engineer and professor at Princeton University. His research considers the phase transitions of polymers and their application in electronic devices and healthcare. In 2020 he was made the Princeton University Vice Dean of Innovation. He was named dean of The Graduate School effective June 1, 2022.

Christine Sharon Grant is an American chemical engineer who is the Associate Dean of Faculty Advancement at North Carolina State University. Her research considers surface and environmental science. She is the 2022 President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Sciortino</span> Italian physicist

Francesco Sciortino is an Italian physicist and full professor at Sapienza University of Rome. He has made seminal contributions to statistical physics, including the thermodynamic and dynamic theory of complex fluids like water, colloids, colloidal-polymer mixtures, patchy particles, and DNA-based materials. He is one of the original proponents of the "second liquid critical point" theory of water.

Fausto Martelli is an Italian physicist based in the United Kingdom. He is a senior research scientist at IBM Research Europe since 2018 and Honorary Lecturer at the University of Manchester since 2022. He previously held a position of faculty associate researcher at the Department of Chemistry, Princeton University. His background is in the physics and chemistry of disordered materials with a focus on the properties of soft matter.

Dianne Dorland is an American chemical engineer and STEM education advocate. She served as the first female president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. She is also the former chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota Duluth and the former dean of the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering at Rowan University.

References

  1. ↑ "About the Dean for Research | Office of the Dean for Research". research.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  2. ↑ Fuller-Wright, Liz (November 22, 2022). "Debenedetti to step down after 10 years as dean for research". Princeton University. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
  3. ↑ "Pablo G. Debenedetti". Princeton University. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  4. 1 2 "National Academy of Engineering New Members – 2000". www8.nationalacademies.org. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  5. 1 2 "Member Directory | American Academy of Arts and Sciences". www.amacad.org. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  6. ↑ "Pablo G. Debenedetti". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  7. ↑ "Chemical Engineering Education". ufdc.ufl.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  8. ↑ "Pablo Debenedetti – Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  9. ↑ Debenedetti, Pablo G. (1997-01-12). Metastable Liquids. Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0-691-08595-1.
  10. ↑ Eckert, Charles A.; Knutson, Barbara L.; Debenedetti, Pablo G. (September 26, 1996). "Supercritical fluids as solvents for chemical and materials processing". Nature. 383 (6598): 313–318. Bibcode:1996Natur.383..313E. doi:10.1038/383313a0. ISSN   1476-4687. S2CID   4366911.
  11. ↑ Haji-Akbari, Amir; Debenedetti, Pablo G. (2015-08-25). "Direct calculation of ice homogeneous nucleation rate for a molecular model of water". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (34): 10582–10588. arXiv: 1505.01126 . Bibcode:2015PNAS..11210582H. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1509267112 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   4553815 . PMID   26240318.
  12. ↑ Giovambattista, Nicolas; Lopez, Carlos F.; Rossky, Peter J.; Debenedetti, Pablo G. (2008-02-19). "Hydrophobicity of protein surfaces: Separating geometry from chemistry". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105 (7): 2274–2279. Bibcode:2008PNAS..105.2274G. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0708088105 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   2268126 . PMID   18268339.
  13. ↑ Sastry, Srikanth; Debenedetti, Pablo G.; Stillinger, Frank H. (11 June 1998). "Signatures of distinct dynamical regimes in the energy landscape of a glass-forming liquid". Nature. 393 (6685): 554–557. Bibcode:1998Natur.393..554S. doi:10.1038/31189. ISSN   1476-4687. S2CID   4416767.
  14. ↑ Kim, Sang Beom; Palmer, Jeremy C.; Debenedetti, Pablo G. (2016-08-09). "Computational investigation of cold denaturation in the Trp-cage miniprotein". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (32): 8991–8996. Bibcode:2016PNAS..113.8991K. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1607500113 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   4987839 . PMID   27457961.
  15. ↑ Errington, Jeffrey R.; Debenedetti, Pablo G. (18 January 2001). "Relationship between structural order and the anomalies of liquid water". Nature. 409 (6818): 318–321. Bibcode:2001Natur.409..318E. doi:10.1038/35053024. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   11201735. S2CID   4311641.
  16. ↑ Speedy, Robin J.; Debenedetti, Pablo G.; Smith, R. Scott; Huang, C.; Kay, Bruce D. (1996-07-01). "The evaporation rate, free energy, and entropy of amorphous water at 150 K". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 105 (1): 240–244. Bibcode:1996JChPh.105..240S. doi:10.1063/1.471869. ISSN   0021-9606.
  17. ↑ "Pablo Debenedetti – Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  18. ↑ "Pablo G. Debenedetti | Office of the Dean for Research". research.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  19. ↑ "Princeton names Debenedetti dean for research". Princeton University. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  20. ↑ "About the Dean for Research". Office of the Dean for Research. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
  21. ↑ "Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program" (PDF). Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  22. ↑ "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | All Fellows" . Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  23. ↑ Debenedetti, Pablo G. (1997-01-12). Metastable Liquids. Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0-691-08595-1.
  24. ↑ "Winners: Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering | AIChE". www.aiche.org. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  25. ↑ "Awards – PPEPPD" . Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  26. ↑ "Joel Henry Hildebrand Award in the Theoretical and Experimental Chemistry of Liquids". American Chemical Society. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  27. ↑ "Debenedetti wins two top teaching awards". School of Engineering and Applied Science. 2008-06-04. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  28. ↑ "President's Award for Distinguished Teaching (PADT) | Dean of the Faculty". dof.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  29. ↑ "Winners: William H. Walker Award for Excellence in Contributions to Chemical Engineering Literature | AIChE". www.aiche.org. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  30. ↑ "Elected Fellows". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  31. ↑ "AIChE Fellows Directory | AIChE". www.aiche.org. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  32. ↑ "Institute Lecturer Award". www.aiche.org. 2012-03-28. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  33. ↑ "Past National Award Winners Archive: American Society for Engineering Education". www.asee.org. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  34. ↑ "APS Fellow Archive". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  35. ↑ "Debenedetti, Wolfson to receive Phi Beta Kappa teaching awards". Princeton University. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  36. ↑ "Guggenheim Medal winners – IChemE". www.icheme.org. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  37. ↑ "2019 AIChE Annual Meeting Awards | AIChE". www.aiche.org. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  38. ↑ "Prize Recipient". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  39. ↑ "100 Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era" (PDF). American Institute of Chemical Engineers Centennial Celebration. October 7, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  40. ↑ Debenedetti, Pablo G. (1997-01-12). Metastable Liquids. Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0-691-08595-1.
  41. ↑ Sastry, Srikanth; Debenedetti, Pablo G.; Sciortino, Francesco; Stanley, H. E. (1996-06-01). "Singularity-free interpretation of the thermodynamics of supercooled water". Physical Review E. 53 (6): 6144–6154. Bibcode:1996PhRvE..53.6144S. doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.53.6144. PMID   9964976.
  42. ↑ Sastry, Srikanth; Debenedetti, Pablo G.; Stillinger, Frank H. (11 June 1998). "Signatures of distinct dynamical regimes in the energy landscape of a glass-forming liquid". Nature. 393 (6685): 554–557. Bibcode:1998Natur.393..554S. doi:10.1038/31189. ISSN   1476-4687. S2CID   4416767.
  43. ↑ Errington, Jeffrey R.; Debenedetti, Pablo G. (18 January 2001). "Relationship between structural order and the anomalies of liquid water". Nature. 409 (6818): 318–321. Bibcode:2001Natur.409..318E. doi:10.1038/35053024. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   11201735. S2CID   4311641.
  44. ↑ Debenedetti, Pablo G.; Stillinger, Frank H. (8 March 2001). "Supercooled liquids and the glass transition". Nature. 410 (6825): 259–267. Bibcode:2001Natur.410..259D. doi:10.1038/35065704. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   11258381. S2CID   4404576.
  45. ↑ Palmer, Jeremy C.; Martelli, Fausto; Liu, Yang; Car, Roberto; Panagiotopoulos, Athanassios Z.; Debenedetti, Pablo G. (18 June 2014). "Metastable liquid–liquid transition in a molecular model of water". Nature. 510 (7505): 385–388. Bibcode:2014Natur.510..385P. doi:10.1038/nature13405. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   24943954. S2CID   4410268.
  46. ↑ Haji-Akbari, Amir; Debenedetti, Pablo G. (2015-08-25). "Direct calculation of ice homogeneous nucleation rate for a molecular model of water". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (34): 10582–10588. Bibcode:2015PNAS..11210582H. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1509267112 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   4553815 . PMID   26240318.
  47. ↑ Debenedetti, Pablo G.; Sciortino, Francesco; Zerze, Gül H. (2020-07-17). "Second critical point in two realistic models of water". Science. 369 (6501): 289–292. Bibcode:2020Sci...369..289D. doi:10.1126/science.abb9796. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   32675369. S2CID   220548225.
  48. ↑ Piaggi, Pablo M.; Weis, Jack; Panagiotopoulos, Athanassios Z.; Debenedetti, Pablo G.; Car, Roberto (2022-08-16). "Homogeneous ice nucleation in an ab initio machine-learning model of water". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119 (33): e2207294119. arXiv: 2203.01376 . Bibcode:2022PNAS..11907294P. doi:10.1073/pnas.2207294119. ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   9388152 . PMID   35939708.
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