Aaron Thomas

Aaron Thomas, Assistant Professor
Chemical Engineering
November 2- Idaho Commons Whitewater Room
12:30 pm

Abstract: This presentation begins with a brief overview of research involving oscillatory flows as a novel mechanical separation mechanism for gas species. Flow oscillations cause species that are present in a mixture to transport at different rates and thus give rise to a separation. The phenomena observed for flow oscillations in gas separations are also applied to the separation of biological materials on the microscale. Work is currently being conducted on demonstrating the separation that can be achieved on the mixtures of DNA samples with varying numbers of base pairs. Furthermore, this talk will address STEM education and the Native American/ Alaska Native communities. For many Native American/ Alaska Native students, they have lived much of their life on the reservation or in their respective villages. Moving away from a close-knit environment of family, elders, and culture to pursue higher education is a daunting proposition. Activites at the University of Idaho aimed to help recruit and retain students in higher education and the STEM fiels will be presented.