Dr. Alex Neimark, Professor II of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, received an NSF award of $300,000 for a three year GOALI grant "Multiscale Modeling of Adsorption Equilibrium and Dynamics in Polymer Chromatography".

The objective of this project to design novel molecular simulation tools capable of predicting equilibrium partitioning and dynamics of chain molecules on nanoporous substrates and to advance fundamental understanding of the physico-chemical mechanisms of retention in polymer chromatography.

The results of this research will have a significant transformative interdisciplinary impact since it addresses currently unresolved topical problems that are common across different chemical and biomedical technologies, and focuses on developing and testing innovative modeling tools that can be adapted and employed for simulation and optimization of various processes which involve polymer and biopolymer adsorption and diffusion on nanostructured substrates and membranes, such DNA sequencing and packaging. The students involved in this work will benefit from industrial training and research facilities of DuPont Experimental Station.