Environmental Interactions with the Human and Engineered Structures

ChE Seminar Series Presents: A-Andrew D. Jones, III
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering
Affiliate Faculty, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University, Boston, MA

“Environmental Interactions with the Human and Engineered Structures”

Abstract: In the Systems for Engaging the Environment Lab we study “series of tubes”.  From the antimicrobial resistance crises that will hit in ~2030 to the water crises we are in the midst of, many of our environmental problems can be described by flow through tubes in parallel and series. We are developing game theory models of policy interaction around shared resources, like water and air. We are developing tools to help identify when drinking water is contaminated using electrochemistry and microfluidics to better share that finite resource. We are developing models describing why engineered nanomaterials embed inside bacteria biofilms when they are released into estuaries to monitor and care for the finite resource. These models then lead back to game theory models of how bacteria biofilms defeat novel drugs and drug delivery systems through social interactions. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, most of our current work is numerical and theoretical, however we also leverage tools like the rotating disk electrode, continuous stirred tank reactors, packed-bed plug flow reactors, and microfluidic versions of the latter to verify and refine our models. Our models start with numerical schemes, with an end goal to create operational dimensionless relations. Much of our data analysis uses machine learning to sift through the complexity.

Biography: Dr. Jones seeks to help us understand and live with the natural environment studying biological systems under engineered constraints. This includes experimental analysis of bacteria’s form and function when we try to remove them. This also includes systems engineering analysis to discover characteristics of innovations that solve more problems than they create. Dr. Jones has been an avid teacher and educator of all ages since 1999. He has mentored high school, undergraduate, and graduate students in research. He has received over 20 academic awards, including the Montana State University Center for Biofilm Engineering’s Young Investigator Award and a Sloan Scholar Award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He has presented at over 20 conferences and invited seminars on topics from mathematical modeling biofilms to policy impacts of technological development. He received his PhD, MS, and BS in Mechanical Engineering and a BS in Mathematics all from MIT with a focus on transport phenomena. He completed post-doctoral studies in 2019 at Northeastern University as 1 of 2 Provost supported Future Faculty Fellows at the university under Profs Thomas J. Webster and Carlos C. Hidrovo-Chavez.

Please email Alyssa Ramsey at a.ramsey@northeastern.edu for the link to the seminar.