Tequila Harris

Last updated
Tequila Harris
Alma mater Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Lane College
Scientific career
Institutions George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

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.

Contents

Education and early career

Harris earned her Bachelor's degree at Lane College in 2000. She was a Master's student at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and became a postgraduate in 2003. In October 2006, Harris graduated with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. [1] She was awarded the United Negro College Fund Young Alumnus Award of the Year in 2005. She was a National Science Foundation research trainee between 2005 and 2006. She has been received a multiple fellow, such as General Electric Faculty of the Future, Clare Luce Booth Fellow from Henry Luce Foundation, Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Fellow and Class of 1969 Teaching Fellows. [2]

Career

Harris joined the Georgia Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor in 2006 [2] and was promoted to full professor in 2023. [3] She leads the Polymer Thin Film Processing group at Georgia Institute of Technology. [4] She became principal investigator at National Science Foundation CAREER Award between 2010 and 2015. [5] The award let her investigate Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells using theoretical and numerical modelling. [5] She is interested in the interface between materials and substrates. [5] They looked at how mechanical properties (stress, relaxation and shrinkage) impact the durability of membranes. [5] As part of the grant she developed the Educators Leading Energy Conservation and Training Researchers of Diverse Ethnicities (ELECTRoDE) program for minority students and faculty. [5]

She worked with the University of Rhode Island to fabricate environmentally friendly nanoparticles for water purification projects in Jordan. [6] [7] She worked with the Jordan University of Science and Technology to study membrane biofouling due to chemicals and microbes. [8] In 2015 she was accepted as a fellow at the Executive Leadership in Academic Technology and Engineering program at Drexel University. [9]

She attended a ceremony at the White House with Kim Cobb as the National Science Foundation launched a new work-life balance initiatives. [1] [10]

Harris has been featured on the Stories from the NNI podcast of the National Nanotechnology Initiative for her work with polymer thin film manufacturing. [11]

Honors and awards

She won a second National Science Foundation award in 2017, allowing her to translate thin film fabrication from the lab to factory floor. [12] She focuses on multi-layer thin film technologies for things such as organic solar cells, transistors and sensors. [12] She is interested in the molecular mechanisms and flaws in fabrication that cause failure in manufacturing. [13] This includes looking at how defects influence transport properties in polymer membrane films. They also look at how fluid flows through porous media. She won the Lockheed Martin Inspirational Young Faculty Award. [14]

She holds several patents for producing a proton-conducting membrane thin films. [15] She was awarded the International Society of Coating Science and Technology L. E. Scriven Young Investigator Award in 2018. [16] [17] She is the first African-American to win the award since it began in the 1990s. [16]

Selected Publications

  1. Shrivastava, Naveen K.; Chatterjee, Abheek; A. L. Harris, Tequila (2023). "Manufacturing defects in slot die coated polymer electrolyte membrane for fuel cell application". Chemical Engineering Science. 280: 119051. doi:10.1016/j.ces.2023.119051 [18]
  2. Dong, Xiaobo; Lu, David; Harris, Tequila A. L.; Escobar, Isabel C. (2021). "Polymers and Solvents Used in Membrane Fabrication: A Review Focusing on Sustainable Membrane Development". Membranes. 11 (5): 309. doi:10.3390/membranes11050309. [19]
  3. Chede, Sneha; Anaya, Nelson M.; Oyanedel-Craver, Vinka; Gorgannejad, Sanam; Harris, Tequila A. L.; Al-Mallahi, Jumana; Abu-Dalo, Muna; Qdais, Hani Abu; Escobar, Isabel C. (2019). "Desalination using low biofouling nanocomposite membranes: From batch-scale to continuous-scale membrane fabrication". Desalination. Nanomaterials for Water Desalination: Recent Advances and Future Challenges. 451: 81–91. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2017.05.007. [20]
  4. Bhamidipati, Kanthi Latha; Didari, Sima; Bedell, Prince; Harris, Tequila A. L. (2011). "Wetting phenomena during processing of high-viscosity shear-thinning fluid". Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics. 166 (12): 723–733. doi:10.1016/j.jnnfm.2011.03.009. [21]

Related Research Articles

Thin-film composite membranes are semipermeable membranes manufactured to provide selectivity with high permeability. Most TFC's are used in water purification or water desalination systems. They also have use in chemical applications such as gas separations, dehumidification, batteries and fuel cells. A TFC membrane can be considered a molecular sieve constructed in the form of a film from two or more layered materials. The additional layers provide structural strength and a low-defect surface to support a selective layer that is thin enough to be selective but not so thick that it causes low permeability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanocomposite</span> Solid material with nano-scale structure

Nanocomposite is a multiphase solid material where one of the phases has one, two or three dimensions of less than 100 nanometers (nm) or structures having nano-scale repeat distances between the different phases that make up the material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menachem Elimelech</span> American engineer

Menachem Elimelech is the Sterling Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale University. Elimelech is the only professor from an engineering department at Yale to be awarded the Sterling professorship since its establishment in 1920. Elimelech moved from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to Yale University in 1998 and founded Yale's Environmental Engineering program.

Polymer nanocomposites (PNC) consist of a polymer or copolymer having nanoparticles or nanofillers dispersed in the polymer matrix. These may be of different shape, but at least one dimension must be in the range of 1–50 nm. These PNC's belong to the category of multi-phase systems that consume nearly 95% of plastics production. These systems require controlled mixing/compounding, stabilization of the achieved dispersion, orientation of the dispersed phase, and the compounding strategies for all MPS, including PNC, are similar. Alternatively, polymer can be infiltrated into 1D, 2D, 3D preform creating high content polymer nanocomposites.

Ultra-low fouling is a rating of a surface's ability to shed potential contamination. Surfaces are prone to contamination, which is a phenomenon known as fouling. Unwanted adsorbates caused by fouling change the properties of a surface, which is often counter-productive to the function of that surface. Consequently, a necessity for anti-fouling surfaces has arisen in many fields: blocked pipes inhibit factory productivity, biofouling increases fuel consumption on ships, medical devices must be kept sanitary, etc. Although chemical fouling inhibitors, metallic coatings, and cleaning processes can be used to reduce fouling, non-toxic surfaces with anti-fouling properties are ideal for fouling prevention. To be considered effective, an ultra-low fouling surface must be able to repel and withstand the accumulation of detrimental aggregates down to less than 5 ng/cm2. A recent surge of research has been conducted to create these surfaces in order to benefit the biological, nautical, mechanical, and medical fields.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas A. Kotov</span>

Nicholas A. Kotov is the Irving Langmuir Distinguished Professor of Chemical Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Prof. Nicholas Kotov demonstrated that the ability to self-organize into complex structures is the unifying property of all inorganic nanostructures. He has developed a family of bioinspired composite materials with a wide spectrum of properties that were previously unattainable in classical materials. These composite biomimetic materials are exemplified by his nacre-like ultrastrong yet transparent composites, enamel-like, stiff yet vibration-isolating composites, and cartilage-like membranes with both high strength and ion conductance.

Water shortages have become an increasingly pressing concern recently and with recent predictions of a high probability of the current drought turning into a megadrought occurring in the western United States, technologies involving water treatment and processing need to improve. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have been the subject of extensive studies because they demonstrate a range of unique properties that existing technologies lack. For example, carbon nanotube membranes can demonstrate higher water flux with lower energy than current membranes. These membranes can also filter out particles that are too small for conventional systems which can lead to better water purification techniques and less waste. The largest obstacle facing CNT is processing as it is difficult to produce them in the large quantities that most of these technologies will require.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nidal Hilal</span>

Nidal Hilal DSc PhD EurIng CEng FIChemE FLSW FRSC is an academic, engineering scientist and scientific adviser. He is a Global Network Professor at New York University and the Founding Director and Principal Investigator of NYUAD Water Research Center. He held professorships at the University of Nottingham and Swansea University in the United Kingdom. He is an Emeritus Professor of Engineering at Swansea University and the Founding Director of the Centre for Water Advanced Technologies and Environmental Research (CWATER).

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.

Isabel C. Escobar is a professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. She is also associate director of the Center of Membrane Sciences and co-director of the College of Engineering Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, both at the University of Kentucky.

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.

Alan Kin-tak Lau is an engineer and academic based in Hong Kong SAR. He is the President and Chair Professor of Product Innovation at Technological and Higher Education Institute (Thei) of Hong Kong. Prior to this appointment, he was Pro Vice-Chancellor at Swinburne University of Technology. He is also the Independent Non-Executive Director of King’s Flair International (Holdings) Limited, the International Vice President and Trustee Board member of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (2014-2019) and an Academic Advisor at Asia University. He was also appointed the Chair of professional accreditation panel for APEC/IPEA for Korea. From 2014 to 2016, he was the Alex Wong/Gigi Wong Endowed Professor in Product Engineering Design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HPKU). Currently, he is a Fellow of European Academy of Sciences and Arts, the European Academy of Sciences. Lau has conducted research in the field of Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering and Materials Engineering. His work has been focused on aerospace composites, Unmanned aerial vehicle, product design and engineering and bio-composites. Lau is recognized as Australian National Research Leader in Composite Materials 2019, published by The Australian Post. Within the period 2020-2022, he was Director of Oceania Cybersecurity Centre Limited and Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory Company.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polymer derived ceramics</span>

Polymer derived ceramics (PDCs) are ceramic materials formed by the pyrolysis of preceramic polymers, usually under inert atmosphere.

Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb is a mechanical engineer in the field of micro and nano engineering and mechanics of materials. She is the Harris Saunders, Jr. Chair and Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Bassiri-Gharb leads the Smart Materials, Advanced Research and Technology (SMART) Laboratory at Georgia Tech. Her research seeks to characterize and optimize the optical and electric response of interferometric modulator (IMOD) displays. She also investigates novel materials to improve reliability and processing of IMOD.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seth Darling</span>

Seth B. Darling is the Chief Science & Technology Officer of the Advanced Energy Technologies Directorate at Argonne National Laboratory. He previously served as director of the Center for Molecular Engineering, a research and development organization partnered with the University of Chicago focusing on advanced materials for cleaning water, quantum information science, and polymer science. Darling is also a senior scientist at both the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. He also directs the Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems (AMEWS) Center, a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center formed in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slot-die coating</span> Technique for coating flat substrates

Slot-die coating is a coating technique for the application of solution, slurry, or extruded thin films onto typically flat substrates such as glass, metal, paper, fabric or plastic foils. The process was first developed for the industrial production of photographic papers in the 1950's. It has since become relevant in numerous commercial processes and nanomaterials related research fields.

Robert L. McGinnis is an American scientist, technology entrepreneur, and inventor who has founded a number of technology companies including Prometheus Fuels, Mattershift and Oasys Water.

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.

References

  1. 1 2 "Two from UW visit White House as NSF announces new work-life balance initiative". UW News. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  2. 1 2 "Harris | The George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering". www.me.gatech.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  3. ↑ "Five Woodruff School Faculty Members Awarded Promotions | George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering". www.me.gatech.edu. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
  4. ↑ "Tequila A. L. Harris". Monash University – Georgia Tech Photovoltaic Exchange Program. Retrieved 2020-08-04.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "NSF Award Search: Award#0953399 - CAREER: Understanding Mechanisms that Generate Defects in the Fabrication of Functional Materials for Energy Systems". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  6. ↑ "Water for Jordan". web.uri.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  7. ↑ "Tequila Harris | MENA NWC". menanwc.org. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  8. ↑ "NSF Award Search: Award#1264001 - International Collaborative Research: Desalination for Global Water Resources Using Biofouling-Resistant Nanocomposite Membranes". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  9. ↑ "Harris Announced as ELATE Fellow | The George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering". www.me.gatech.edu. Archived from the original on 2020-02-23. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  10. ↑ "Dr. Tequila A. L. Harris | PTFP Group". tharris.gatech.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-04-20. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  11. ↑ Friedersdorf, Lisa (2020-09-14). "Polymer Thin Film Manufacturing: A Conversation with Tequila Harris". Stories from the NNI.
  12. 1 2 "NSF Award Search: Award#1562255 - Science of Pattern Coating onto Heterogeneous Surfaces Using a Hybrid Manufacturing Process". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  13. ↑ Ebong, Eno (October 2014). "Scaled Coating of Polymer Thin Films onto Permeable and Impermeable Substrates" (PDF). College of Engineering, Northeastern University. Retrieved 2021-10-08.
  14. ↑ "Dr. Tequila A. L. Harris | PTFP Group". tharris.gatech.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-04-20. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  15. ↑ "Tequila Harris Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  16. 1 2 Ouellette, Polly (2018-10-23). "Harris receives Award for Thin Film Coating Breakthrough". College of Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 2018-11-10. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  17. ↑ "Seven Women in Academia Presented With Prestigious Honors or Awards". Women In Academia Report. 2018-11-01. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  18. ↑ Shrivastava, Naveen K.; Chatterjee, Abheek; A. L. Harris, Tequila (2023-10-05). "Manufacturing defects in slot die coated polymer electrolyte membrane for fuel cell application". Chemical Engineering Science. 280: 119051. doi:10.1016/j.ces.2023.119051. ISSN   0009-2509. S2CID   259702913.
  19. ↑ Dong, Xiaobo; Lu, David; Harris, Tequila A. L.; Escobar, Isabel C. (2021). "Polymers and Solvents Used in Membrane Fabrication: A Review Focusing on Sustainable Membrane Development". Membranes. 11 (5): 309. doi: 10.3390/membranes11050309 . ISSN   2077-0375. PMC   8146349 . PMID   33922560.
  20. ↑ Chede, Sneha; Anaya, Nelson M.; Oyanedel-Craver, Vinka; Gorgannejad, Sanam; Harris, Tequila A. L.; Al-Mallahi, Jumana; Abu-Dalo, Muna; Qdais, Hani Abu; Escobar, Isabel C. (2019-02-01). "Desalination using low biofouling nanocomposite membranes: From batch-scale to continuous-scale membrane fabrication". Desalination. Nanomaterials for Water Desalination: Recent Advances and Future Challenges. 451: 81–91. doi: 10.1016/j.desal.2017.05.007 . ISSN   0011-9164.
  21. ↑ Bhamidipati, Kanthi Latha; Didari, Sima; Bedell, Prince; Harris, Tequila A. L. (2011-07-01). "Wetting phenomena during processing of high-viscosity shear-thinning fluid". Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics. 166 (12): 723–733. doi:10.1016/j.jnnfm.2011.03.009. ISSN   0377-0257.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.