AIChE Central Florida September Dinner Meeting
Part 1: “USF Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering - Looking Forward”
Abstract: In this brief presentation, an overview of the exciting things occurring in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of South Florida will be presented. A look at the impact of rapid student growth and the university’s commitment to growing the College of Engineering on the department and its faculty and students will then be discussed.
Part 2: “Is There Still Plenty of Room at the Bottom: A View of the Future of Nanomanufacturing”
Dr. Clifford L. Henderson
Department Chair and Professor
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
University of South Florida
Abstract: Richard Feynman in his now famous 1959 talk entitled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” envisioned a world of atomically precise manufacturing that would fuel advancements in information storage, computing, and other fields. Fast forward to 2017 when most of us have cellphones in our pockets containing more computing power than existed in the entire world in 1970. Such advancements have been made possible in large part through the efforts of clever scientists and engineers that have made scaling of integrated circuit features down to the nanometer scale possible. This talk will first highlight the major advancements historically that allowed us to have the electronic devices we all enjoy today. Subsequently, the outlook for the future of electronic technologies and nanomanufacturing in general will be discussed with a spotlight on areas where chemical engineering is playing a major role.
Biography:
Dr. Clifford L. Henderson is the Department Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of South Florida. Professor Henderson also recently completed a term of service as the Functional Materials Program Director in the Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) Division at the National Science Foundation. He received his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering with Highest Honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. He serves in a variety of national leadership roles including being a member of the Executive Board of the Programming Committee and a member of the Career and Education operating Council of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Professor Henderson’s research group focuses on problems at the intersection of chemical engineering, organic and polymeric materials science, and micro- and nanofabrication materials and processes in a variety of application areas for advanced nanostructured materials including electronics, energy, and biotechnology. He has received numerous awards for his research work including an NSF CAREER Award, the inaugural Intel/STC Outstanding Lithography Researcher Award in 2012, and was named a SPIE Fellow in 2010.
