MateriAlZ Seminar: Karen Lozano
Friday, February 24th, 2023, 11:00 a.m. MST
Karen Lozano
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
"Recent Progress in Forcespinning Technology"
Zoom link | Passcode 10810
MateriAlZ Seminar website | YouTube | Twitter
Abstract
In this presentation, we will learn about Forcespinning®, recent progress and its potential applications in a wide variety of fields ranging from smart clothing to wound healing to aerospace applications. Forcespinning® is a method that can produce hundreds of meters of nanofibers (NFs) per minute. Several years ago it caused a disruption in the NF scientific community and quickly gained the attention of industries. NFs have unique properties such as small diameter, high specific surface area, and high aspect ratio. NF architectures (individual NFs, nonwoven mats, yarns, and woven mats) are suitable for a variety of applications in markets with a combined value of over $20B dollars, for example, in the biomedical field, NFs are making an impact on high-performance filter media, artificial blood vessels, biochips, nanosensors, and soft tissue/organ repair & regeneration. For decades, NFs were merely a scientific curiosity given that available production methods could not satisfy commercial requirements. In 2009, Lozano and her team introduced ForceSpinning® as a potential industrial alternative. This process is based on a centrifugal force-mediated transformation of a polymer solution or melt into fine fibers in the absence of electric fields, in lay terms, similar to a process commonly used to make COTTON CANDY!
Bio
Dr. Karen Lozano received a BS in Mechanical Engr from the University de Monterrey and an MS and Ph.D. from Rice University. Since 2000, Lozano has supported a far-reaching transformation at a once non-Ph.D. teaching institution. She has promoted institutional and societal transformation by creatively combining UG education with state-of-the-art research projects. Her efforts have led to 100% retention and graduation rates in a community where high school and college graduation rates have been historically low. She is the recipient of several honors such as the US PAESMEM, National Academy of Inventors Fellow, TEDx Speaker, and Engineer of the Year by Great Minds in STEM. Lozano’s team has published >160 journal articles and >350 proceedings/conference presentations. She is a prolific inventor and co-founded a successful company that received several awards such as the R&D 100. She outreaches to thousands of K-16 students through summer camps, magic/science shows and social media, all with one goal in mind: preparing future innovators.