BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Northeastern University College of Engineering - ECPv6.17.5//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Northeastern University College of Engineering
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://coe.northeastern.edu
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Northeastern University College of Engineering
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20270314T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20271107T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261014T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261014T110000
DTSTAMP:20260930T140317Z
CREATED:20260930T140317Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260930T140317Z
UID:58045-1791972000-1791975600@coe.northeastern.edu
SUMMARY:ChE PhD Dissertation Defense: Nora Khalil
DESCRIPTION:Name:\nNora Khalil \nTitle:\nAdvancing Automated Mechanism Generation for Fluorinated Systems: Improved Fluorocarbon Combustion Prediction and Novel Capabilities for PFAS Degradation Chemistry in RMG \nDate:\n10/14/2026 \nTime:\n10:00:00 AM \nCommittee Members:\nProf. Richard West (Advisor)\nProf. Qing Zhao\nProf. William H. Green\nProf. Phil Westmoreland \nLocation:\nRichards 229 \nAbstract:\nThe transition to environmentally friendly refrigerants and fire suppressants requires balancing low global warming potential (GWP) and ozone depletion potential (ODP) against unpredictable flammability\, motivating the need for reliable computational tools capable of screening candidate compounds and blends. Reaction Mechanism Generator (RMG)\, an open-source software package for automated kinetic mechanism construction\, has recently been extended to include halogen chemistry\, enabling the generation of halocarbon combustion models. This dissertation builds on that foundation\, addressing gaps in RMG’s predictive accuracy for halocarbon refrigerants and extending its capabilities to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). \nThe first part of this work targets RMG’s halocarbon combustion chemistry through a series of related projects: refining and validating fluorinated reaction kinetics against experimental ignition delay and flame speed data collected in collaboration with external research groups\, improving an existing suppression model for a common fire suppressant and systematically comparing strategies for constructing multi-component refrigerant blend mechanisms. The second part extends RMG’s chemistry to PFAS thermal degradation\, incorporating newly computed reaction rates and thermochemical data—developed in collaboration with external quantum chemistry researchers—into RMG’s database to enable the automated generation of mechanisms capturing key PFAS decomposition pathways\, with validation against experimental decomposition data and extension to additional emerging PFAS compounds. \nCollectively\, this dissertation improves RMG’s predictive capability for fluorinated chemistry\, strengthening its utility for both refrigerant flammability screening and PFAS degradation modeling. \n\nNora Khalil is a Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University\, working in the Computational Modeling in Chemical Engineering Lab under Dr. Richard West. Her research focuses on extending Reaction Mechanism Generator (RMG)\, an open-source software for automated kinetic mechanism generation\, to model halocarbon refrigerant combustion and the thermal degradation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Her work combines database development\, machine learning-based decision tree algorithms\, and collaborative quantum chemistry to improve RMG’s predictive accuracy for fluorinated chemistry\, with applications spanning refrigerant flammability screening and PFAS remediation. Nora holds a B.S. in Chemical/Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Connecticut. She is a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship\, the AAC&U Convergence Fellowship\, and the STARS Fellowship\, and has presented her research at numerous national and international combustion and chemical engineering conferences.
URL:https://coe.northeastern.edu/event/che-phd-dissertation-defense-nora-khalil/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261014T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261014T130000
DTSTAMP:20261013T141343Z
CREATED:20261013T141343Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261013T141343Z
UID:58181-1791979200-1791982800@coe.northeastern.edu
SUMMARY:Chemical Engineering Fall Seminar Series: Sindee Simon
DESCRIPTION:Nanoconfined Polymerizations: Kinetics and Thermodynamics \nLocation: 108 Snell Engineering Center \nAbstract: The behavior of materials confined at the nanoscale has been of considerable interest over the past several decades\, especially changes in the glass transition temperature (Tg) and/or melting point (Tm).  Less well studied are the effects of nanoconfinement on polymerization kinetics and thermodynamics.  Our recent focus has been on understanding how nanoconfinement influences various classes of polymerizations\, including step growth\, chain\, and ring-opening polymerizations.  We find that changes in reaction rates under confinement can generally be explained by a competition between changes in local packing\, diffusivity\, and surface effects.  The result is generally\, but not always\, an acceleration of the rate of the nanoconfined polymerization. In addition\, nanoconfinement influences the chain length\, polydispersity\, and tacticity of free-radically synthesized polymers\, making confinement a potential tool for controlling synthetic outcomes. Finally\, in the case of equilibrium chain polymerizations\, nanoconfinement influences the monomer/polymer equilibrium shifting it back towards monomer; this effect can be exploited to test scaling theories in the literature concerning confinement entropy. \n\n \nProf. Sindee L. Simon obtained her B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Yale University in 1983 and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Princeton University in 1992.  She started her career at the University of Pittsburgh\, then spent twenty years at Texas Tech moving up the ranks from Associate Professor to P.W. Horn Distinguish Professor to Department Chair.  In 2021\, she moved to NC State University where she is Distinguished Professor and Department Head of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.  Dr. Simon’s research interests include the physics of the glass transition\, cure and properties of thermosetting materials\, and properties and reactivity at the nanoscale.   She has published over 140 refereed journal publications\, has over 8\,000 citations and an h-index of 49 according to Google Scholar.  She has received numerous honors\, including Fellowships in the American Physical Society\, the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE)\, the North American Thermal Analysis Society (NATAS)\, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers\, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  She is also the recipient of the 2019 SPE International Award\, as well as the SPE Research/Technology Award and the NATAS Outstanding Achievement Award.
URL:https://coe.northeastern.edu/event/chemical-engineering-fall-seminar-series-sindee-simon/
LOCATION:108 SN
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR