Mentor Areas
The McBride Lab at the University of Pennsylvania SEAS is a research group whose work explores the intersection between interfacial phenomena and environmental engineering. Our research integrates interfacial science, fluid physics, and soft matter physics across multiple length scales to develop engineered solutions for critical challenges in water, energy, and sustainability. Experiments involve designing and testing of engineered interfaces, operating microfluidic devices or other small-scale fluid flows, and constructing devices that take advantage of phenomena on the nano/microscopic length scales to manipulate macroscopic effects such as phase change or chemical kinetics. Experimental results are coupled with theory to augment understanding of molecular and nano/micro- scale transport and phase change phenomena. Applications include material design for sustainability, recovery of resources and energy from waste streams, environmental remediation, water purification, desalination, and other problems within the energy-water nexus.
Description:
Interfacial engineering is a field of engineering for the precise control of interfacial morphology, chemistry, and physical state in order to induce specific properties for a given application. For example, superhydrophobic surfaces are created using interfacial engineering tools. There are many potential applications of interfacial engineering including biomedical devices, advanced material coatings, smart/reconfigurable coatings, and anti-fouling surfaces. In the McBride lab, we are interested in the intersection between interfacial engineering and inorganic water chemistry for applications including desalination, agriculture, material design, and resource recovery from waste. Planned projects include: sustainable coating technologies as alternatives to PFAS (a class of hydrophobic environmental contaminants including teflon that are persistent and toxic), drop permeation on soft materials to model pesticide-leaf systems in agriculture, xylem-mimetic microfluidic devices, design of surfaces as sensors for environmental pollutants, and carbon capture via mineralization of calcium carbonate. Undergraduate students who join the group would help set up lab equipment, establish standard operating procedures for various experiments, and conduct experiments. Depending on their research and professional interests, students may assist graduate students or conduct their own project independently. There may be opportunities for undergraduate research assists to work inside the cleanroom at the Singh Center for Nanotechnology and/or present their research at national conferences such as the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting or the American Chemical Society meetings.
Preferred Qualifications
Basic computer skills such as data processing via Excel or Matlab are preferred, and wet-lab experience via a chemistry class (such as Chem 1101) is a plus, but not required. Ideally, the candidate would also have a demonstrated interest in environment/sustainability research and potentially be interested in working with the group for a sustained amount of time.
Project Website
Learn more about the researcher and/or the project here. McBride Lab
Details:
Preferred Student Year
Second-Year, Junior, Senior
Academic Term
Spring, Summer, Fall
I prefer to have students start during the above term(s).Volunteer
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to volunteers.Paid
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to paying students they engage in their research, regardless of their work-study eligibility.Work Study
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to hiring work-study-eligible students.