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Professor of Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay Visits WashU

A.K. Suresh, PhD was a visiting professor at Washington University in St. Louis for the spring 2008 semester.

A.K. Suresh is Professor of Chemical Engineering at IIT Bombay. His expertise is in reaction engineering, multiphase and interfacial systems and nanotechnology. He earned his PhD degree from Monash University in Australia. He was the past head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Bombay prior to his sabbatical stay at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Suresh is the coordinator and Advisory Committee Member of MAGEEP, representing IIT Bombay in promoting collaborative projects. In addition to teaching class, he has interacted with faculty on collaborative research projects, and has helped shape the International Experience Program Class to visit IIT Bombay in 2010.

Prof. A. K. Suresh:
Activities Pursued January-June 2008

  1. Teaching: Taught an undergraduate class on Transport Phenomena (CHE 366/367) to biomedical and chemical engineering students (class of about 73).
  2. Pursued research on the project “Interfacial processes controlling lead mobility in environmental systems” supported by a MAGEEP seed grant, with Drs. D.E. Giammar (EECE), Jill Pateris (EPSc) and A.K. Suresh (IIT Bombay) as investigators. Lead is toxic even at low levels and the drinking water standard for lead is therefore low, at 15 ppb. There has been concern on lead getting into drinking water systems, mainly through the internal corrosion of lead containing pipes, fittings and solder. This project aims at developing an understanding of the physicochemical mechanisms involved in the dissolution of lead. The project involves faculty and masters/doctoral students at Washington University and IIT Bombay in a collaborative mode and hopes to present results and proposals for continued external support at the December 2008 meeting in Hong Kong.
  3. Explored opportunities for collaboration with other groups with overlapping research interests, mainly those of Prof. Pratim Biswas (nanoparticle synthesis and applications in multiphase contacting, especially in carbon dioxide capture from flue gases) and Profs. Ramachandran and Al Dahhan and Dudukovic (Reaction engineering aspects of hydrocarbon oxidations).
  4. Collaborated with Drs. Ruth Chen and Da-Ren Chen in planning and detailing the International experience 2010, involving a visit to IIT Bombay, for the chemical engineering students of Washington University.