Prof. Velev Selected as 2024 Braskem Award Recipient

Professor Orlin Velev, S. Frank and Doris Culberson Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been selected to receive AIChE’s prestigious 2024 Braskem Award for Excellence in Materials Engineering and Science for his “leadership in the development of sustainable and biodegradable nanomaterials based on particles of special morphology and biopolymer composites.”

The Braskem Award for Excellence in Materials Engineering and Science is bestowed annually to a leading researcher in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of materials engineering and science. The 2024 award will be presented during the Materials Engineering and Sciences Division (MESD) Plenary Session during the annual AIChE meeting in San Diego next October. 

Prof. Velev has established a record of innovative interdisciplinary studies, creativity and intellectual leadership in colloid science, nanoscience, and microfluidics. His key contributions are in the area of colloidal assembly. His group advanced the field of directed and programmed colloidal assembly by using electric fields to make structures out of nanoparticles, microspheres, Janus and patchy particles. Velev’s group has also recently discovered and developed new types of self-propelling microdevices, gel-based photovoltaic cells, soft robotic hydrogel actuators and microbot prototypes. His earlier research achievements include the first report of convective assembly of 2D colloidal crystals, the first templated fabrication of “colloidosome” and supraparticle clusters and the synthesis of “inverse opal” structures.

Congratulations Prof. Velev! Check out these recent news articles highlighting his research: Tackling E-Waste, Researchers Combine Biopolymers Derived From the Ocean.