Villanova University
AC-9: Academic Research

Robert Traver, Director VACSE and Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering Aaron Wemhoff, Dept of Mechanical Engineering Andrea Welker, Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering 
Bridget Wadzuk, Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering Gerard Jones, Sr. Associate Dean Grad. Studies and Research, Dept of Mechanical Engineering Justinus Satrio, Dept of Chemical Engineering Pritpal Singh, Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering Amy Fleischer; Dept of Mechanical Engineering Jens Karlsson, Dept of Mechanical Engineering Metin Duran, Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering Randy Weinstein, Dept of Chemical Engineering Leslie Myers McCarthy; Civil and Environmental Engineering Deri Park; Civil and Environmental Engineering Michael Smith Department of Engineering Adam Langley, Dept of Biology John Olson, Dept of Biology R. Kelman Wieder, Dept of Biology Michael Russell, Dept of Biology Robert Curry, Dept of Biology Ronald Balsamo, Dept of Biology Samantha Chapman, Dept of Biology Vikram Iyengar, Dept of Biology Alfonso Ortega, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs Amanda Grannas, Dept of Chemistry Jared Paul, Dept of Chemistry Temer Ahmadi, Dept of Physical Chemistry Chaone Mallory, Dept of Philosophy Chara Armon, Core Humanities John Kozup, Dept of Marketing and Business Law, School of Business Tina Yang, Dept of Finance, School of Business Jonathan Doh, Center for Global Leadership, Management, School of Business Ronald Hill, Dept of Marketing and Business Law, School of Business Elizabeth Keech, College of Nursing Marsha Costello, College of Nursing Ruth McDermott-Levy, College of Nursing Francis Galgano, Dept of Geography and the Environment Keith Henderson, Dept of Geography and the Environment Lisa Rodrigues, Dept of Geography and the Environment Nathaniel Weston, Dept of Geography and the Environment Steve Goldsmith, Dept of Geography and the Environment Joseph Dellapenna, Environmental Law, Law School Todd Aagaard, Environmental Law, Law School Paul Rosier, Dept of History

Emails were sent out to department leaders to identify those who had done sustainable research.

Samantha Chapman (Biology) conducts research at the intersection of ecosystem processes (including biotic influences on carbon and nutrient cycling) and sustainable practices. Her research is directed to inform ecosystem management and stakeholders. Ongoing projects in these areas include (1) mangrove community dynamics, plant-soil feedbacks, and shifting ranges; (2) carbon storage in Christmas tree farms; (3) interactions of native and non-native plant diversity with nitrogen availability associated with non-native plant invasion; and (4) microbial degradation of oil. http://www99.homepage.villanova.edu/samantha.chapman/chapman_ecosystem_ecology_lab/Home.html Justinus Satrio (Chemical Engineering) just established the Biomass Resources & Conversion Technologies (BRCT) center, an education, research and development program in the College of Engineering at Villanova. Research focuses on utilizing biorenewable materials to produce energy, liquid fuels and chemical products, that typically are still primarily derived from non-renewable carbon resources. These include (1) improvement of biomass qualities and biorefinery feedstocks; (2) energy densification of biomass by liquefaction; (3) utilization of liquefied biomass (BCO); (4) assessments of sustainability and techno-economics of biomass utilization systems. http://www3.villanova.edu/biomass/ Robert Traver (Civil and Environmental Engineering) serves as Director of both the Center for the Advancement of Sustainability in Engineering, and the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership. He conducts research on topics that include modeling of stream hydraulics, urban hydrology, water quality, and sustainable stormwater management.  He initiated the Stormwater Best Management Practice Demonstration and Research Park on the Villanova Campus.  Kelman Wieder and Melanie Vile (Biology) conduct research in biogeochemistry and ecosystem ecology. Current research focuses on carbon cycling in boreal Sphagnum-dominated peatlands, especially with respect to ongoing climate change. As the earth's climate changes, in part driven by anthropogenic factors, it is unknown whether peatlands globally will continue to represent a net sink for atmospheric CO2, or whether they will shift and begin releasing stored C back to the atmosphere. Using a combination of field and laboratory, descriptive and experimental, studies, their research group strives to quantify pools of carbon in peat, carbon fluxes within peat and between peat and the atmosphere, and the biotic and abiotic controls on those fluxes. http://www13.homepage.villanova.edu/kelman.wieder/index.html Professor Jonathan Doh from the Villanova School of Business has been elected at Professional Development Chair (2013), Program Chair (2014), Division Chair-elect (2015), and Division Chair (2016) for the Academy of Management Organization and Natural Environment (ONE) Division. Paul Rosier in the History Department at Villanova recently published an article on the American Indians' attitudes to environmental crisis and how it led to considerations for alternative energy in the 1970s. Professor Jared Paul in the Department of Chemistry collaborated with a laboratory at University of Alabama to create a paper on water oxidization and prospects for using water as a fuel source. This paper was featured on the cover of the Inorganic Chemistry journal in August 2013.