Dr. Nigel Reuel is ready and eager to start the fall semester at Iowa State University as the newest assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. “I am very excited to teach and conduct research here,” said Reuel. “From my first visit to campus I was impressed with the caliber and collegiality of the faculty and students. Now that I have been able to spend more time on site, I have continued to be impressed with the care that faculty members show for their students and the dedication the students have toward their work. I hope to continue to develop collaborative new projects that span across departments and to train a highly creative work force of the future.”
Originally from Rio Rancho, NM, Reuel first experienced the excitement and reward of scientific research with high school projects in fuels (rocketry and efficient electrolysis). He obtained a B.S. in chemical engineering from Brigham Young University, with undergraduate research projects in MEMS (microelectromechanical system) design, conducted with Sandia National Laboratories; and computation fluid dynamic software for predicting thrombus growth in medical devices. The latter he helped transfer to a company in Salt Lake City, UT upon graduation.
He obtained his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from MIT, with the Strano Research Group. His research led to new tools for protein quality measurements with direct applications in antibody manufacturing. After two years of working with this technology in his startup, Volvox Biologic, Inc., he helped transfer the glycoprotein sensor technology to a larger life science tools company in Maryland. From 2014 to 2016 he held a principal investigator position at DuPont, conducting research at the interface of materials and biology research. In 2016 he was drafted to a new position to help identify key, external technologies that helped DuPont meet its growth objectives.
Reuel will teach CH E 310, Computational Methods in Ch E, in the fall semester at Iowa State.