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    To learn more about the Department of Chemical Engineering at The University of South Carolina, call or mail us at:

    The University of South Carolina
    Department of Chemical Engineering
    2C02, Swearingen Engineering Center
    301 South Main Street
    Columbia, SC 29208

    Ph 803.777.4181
    Fax 803.777.8265

    Maps:
    USC campus
    Columbia, SC

John W. Weidner

Professor and Interim Associate Dean for Research

Research Group - Current Members
Balasubramanian, Sivagaminathan

Ph. D., (January 2005 - )
B. Tech., Chemical & Electrochemical Engg.
Central Electrochemical Research Institute, India, 2002

Office: 2B40, Swearingen Engineering Center
Phone: 803.777.7282
E-mail: balasubr at engr dot sc dot edu | Webpage

Research Area: PEM Fuel Cells, CO Poisoning

Roderick Fuentes

Ph. D., (August 2005 - )
B. S., Chemical Engg., Univ. Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, 2005

Office: 2B36, Swearingen Engineering Center
Phone: 803.777.7281
E-mail: fuentesr at engr dot sc dot edu

Research Area: Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

Brenda L. Garcia-Diaz

Ph. D., (August 2003 - )
M. S., Environmental Engg., Univ. Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, 2003
B. S., Chemical Engg., Univ. Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, 2000

Office: 3B51, Swearingen Engineering Center
Phone: 803.777.1905
E-mail: garciadi at engr dot sc dot edu | Webpage

Research Area: Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

Praneshwar Sethupathy

Ph. D., (August 2004 - )
M. S., Environmental Chemistry & Technology
Univ. Wisconsin - Madison, June 2003
B. Tech., Chemical & Electrochemical Engg.
Central Electrochemical Research Institute, India, 2002

Office: 2B33, Swearingen Engineering Center; Phone: 803.576.5634
E-mail: sethupat at engr dot sc dot edu | Webpage

Research Area: Room Temperature Ionic Liquids, Organic Synthesis

Vijay A. Sethuraman

Postdoctoral Associate, (January 2007 - )
Ph. D., Univ. South Carolina, Columbia, 2006
B. Tech., Chemical & Electrochemical Engg.
Central Electrochemical Research Institute, India, 2000

Office: 2B40, Swearingen Engineering Center
Phone: 803.777.7282
E-mail: sethuram at engr dot sc dot edu | Webpage

Research Area: PEM Fuel Cells, H2S Poisoning, Durability

Prem Sivasubramanian

M. S., (August 2002 - )
B. Tech., Chemical & Electrochemical Engg.
Central Electrochemical Research Institute, India, 2002

Office: 2B36, Swearingen Engineering Center
Phone: 803.777.7281
E-mail: sivasubr at engr dot sc dot edu

Research: Hydrogen Production, Thermo-chemical Cycles

John Staser

Ph. D., (August 2005 - )
B. S., Chemical Engineering, Case Western Reserve Univ., 2005

Office: 2B40, Swearingen Engineering Center
Phone: 803.777.7282
E-mail: staser at engr dot sc dot edu

Research Area: PEM Fuel Cells, Hydrogen Production, SO2 Electrolyzers

Ray Zhang

Ph. D., (August 2006 - )
M. S., Catalysis Science and Technology, Tianjin Univ., China, 2006
B. S., Chemical Engineering, Sichuan Univ., China, 2003

Office: 2B40, Swearingen Engineering Center
Phone: 803.777.7282
E-mail: zhang7 at engr dot sc dot edu

Research Area: Fuel Cells, Electrocatalysis

  • Christopher C. Streinz, “Determination of Kinetic Parameters in Nickel-Hydroxide and Metal-Hydride Electrodes,” August 1993 - May 1995.
  • Haraldo A. Duarte, “Electrochemical Reduction of Nitrates and Nitrites in the Presence of Chromates,” March 1997 - September 1997.
  • Duan Tianping, “Mathematical Model of CO Poisoning in PEM Fuel Cells,” September 2000 - September 2001.
  • Parthasarathy M. Gomadam, “Development of an Electrochemical Model for Simulating the Performance Behavior of a Prismatic Li/SOCl2 Cell,” March 2004 - May 2005.
  • Ramaraja P. Ramasamy, “Hydrogen Production via SO2 Electrolysis,” January 2005 - June 2005.
Doctoral Students
  • Sathya Motupally, “A Study of Water Transport in PEM Anhydrous HCl Electrolyzers,” graduation, August, 1998. Current Employer: UTC Power, South Windsor, CT.
  • Mukul Jain, “Analysis of Lithium/Thionyl-Chloride Batteries,” graduation, August, 1998. Current Employer: Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, MN.
  • Kamal Jha, “Design and Operation of Electrochemical Flow Reactors,” graduation, August, 1998. Current Employer: Unilever, Mumbai, India.
  • Venkat Srinivasan, “Synthesis and Characterization of Materials for Electrochemical Supercapacitors,” graduation, August, 2000. Current Employer: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, CA.
  • Andrew T. Haug, “Development of CO Tolerant Anodes for PEM Fuel Cells,” (co-advisor R. E. White) graduation, August, 2002. Current Employer: UTC Power, South Windsor, CT.
  • Parthasarathy M. Gomadam, “Heat Generation in Lithium-Ion Batteries,” (co-advisor R. E. White) graduation, May, 2003. Current Employer: Medtronic Inc, Minneapolis, MN.
  • Balsu Lakshmanan, “Electrochemical Removal of CO from Fuel-Cell Reformate,” graduation, December, 2003. Current Employer: GM Fuel Cells Alternatives, Rochester, NY.
  • Inas Al-Nashef, “Electrochemistry of Superoxide Ions in Room Temperature Ionic Liquids and Its Application to Green Engineering,” (co-advisor M. A. Matthews). graduation, August, 2004. Current Employer: King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  • Lingyun Liu, “Non-Precious Metal Oxygen Catalysts for PEM Fuel Cells”, (co-advised with B. N. Popov). graduation, August, 2006.
  • Vijay A. Sethuraman, "Durability Aspects of PEM Fuel Cells", graduation, December 2006. Current Employer: University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.
    Masters Students
    • Suzanne L. Keller, “Evaluation of a Microarray Electrochemical Sensor,” (co-advisor John Van Zee) graduation, May, 1994.
    • Sathya Motupally, “Determination of Proton Diffusion Coefficients in Nickel Hydroxide using Impedance Spectroscopy,” graduation, December, 1994.
    • Shannon Baxter, “Electrochemical Removal of Chromium from Dilute Waste Streams,” graduation, May, 1995.
    • Anand Srikumar, “Linear-Sweep Voltammetry in Porous Electrodes,” graduation, May, 1998.
    • Charles E. Holland, “Experimental Characterization of Hybrid Power Systems Under Pulse Current Loads,” graduation, May, 2003.
    • Vasudevan Suryanarayanan, “Water Management in PEM Fuel Cells during Transient Loads,” graduation, May, 2005.
      Other Research Supervised
      • Thirteen (13) High-School Students.
      • Twenty seven (35) Undergraduate Students.
      • Mahmoud Saleh, Peace Fellow, “The Effect of Gas Evolution on the Recovery of Zinc at Flow-Through Porous Electrodes,” February 1993-February 1995.
Swearingen Engineering Center • Columbia, SC 29208 • 803.777.4177 • webmaster@engr.sc.edu