Biography

Robert K. Prud'homme
Professor
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin- Madison, 1978

Princeton University
Department: Chemical Engineering
Address: A301 Engineering Quad
Email: prudhomm@princeton.edu
Homepage: http://www.princeton.edu/~chemical/html/prudhomme.html
Phone: 609-258-4577
Fax: 609-258-0211
Research Statement:

Professor Prud'homme's research involves two major themes: self-assembly and biomacromolecules. In the area of self-assembly weak forces are used to control both the equilibrium phase behavior as well as the kinetics of assembly. In the first case we consider hydrophobically modified polymers intereacting with surfactant mesophases or lipid bilayer surfaces. In the second case we study the kinetics of co-self-assembly of block copolymers and wax crystals or pharmaceutical actives to create stable nano-particles and stable fluids. In the second area of biopolymers we work on understanding how nature uses weak hydrogen bonding forces to tailor interactions between biomacromolecules. These forces determine polymer solubility and rheology. New techniques such as fluorescence probe photobleaching and osmotic stress diffraction allow us to probe molecular level interactions.

Education:
1969 BSE Chemical Engineering Stanford University
1973 Graduate Studies Program in Environmental Science and Public Policy Harvard University
1978 PhD Chemical Engineering University of Wisconsin- Madison
Positions:
1978- Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Princeton Materials Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

Selected Honors:

  • National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award (l984)
  • Board of Directors, AIChE Materials Science and Engineering Division (l982-1992)
  • Executive Committee, U.S. Society of Rheology (1989-l991)
  • Editorial Board, Butterworths Publishers Series in Chemical Engineering (l983-present)
  • Editorial Board, "Polymer Gels and Networks", Elsevier Science Publishers (l992-present)
  • Director, Program in Engineering Biology, Princeton University (l990-present)
  • Board of Directors, Rheometrics Inc., Piscataway, NJ (l982-present)
  • Steering Committee, National Bureau of Standards Chemical Engineering Center Mixing Study, Boulder, CO (l984)
  • Advisory Committee, Water Soluble Polymer Research American Cyanamid Central Research, Stamford, CT (1985)
  • Task Force on Exxon Research and Engineering University Cooperative Research, Florham Park, NJ (l979-l981)
  • Operations Advisory Group, New Jersey Center for Biomaterials & Devices (1997)
  • Materials Science Technical Advisory Board Dow Chemical Company (2000-present)