After joining the Chemical Engineering faculty at the University of Idaho in the summer of 2001, Dr. Eric Aston branched out into various areas of colloids, thin films, polymeric and magnetic materials, nanotechnology and nanomechanics using atomic force microscopy (AFM), Langmuir-Blodgett deposition, and other complimentary techniques. He teaches ChE Thermodynamics and Separation Processes, as well as special topics courses each year--usually related to interfacial science, nanotechnology, materials science and physics. In 2006, Dr. Aston joined colleagues in the Biological Applications of Nanotechnology (BANTech) group to collaborate in highly-interdisciplinary research and team-teaching on uses of nanomaterials for biomolecular engineering. His personal attentions are currently focused toward polymeric and nanomaterials studies that combine direct analysis of chemical structure and morphology using confocal Raman spectroscopy and the Digital Pulsed Force Mode (WITec, Germany) of atomic force microscopy. Both mapping techniques provide local information about chemistry, mechanical properties and other materials behavior at the microscale and down to the nanoscale.
Technical Specialties
Colloids and Interfacial Phenomena: Scanning Probe Microscopy, Nanowires, Adhesion and Thin Films, Microfluidics and Chemical Sensors, Polymers and Composites, Nanotechnology
Professional Experience
2007 — present -- Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Idaho
2001 — 2007 -- Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Idaho
2002 — present -- Adjunct Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Idaho
2000 — Adjunct Professor, Division of Natural and Social Science, Northwest University, Kirkland, WA
1995 — Resident Associate, Argonne National Laboratories — West, Idaho Falls, ID
1994 — Research Assistant, School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN