Reza Foudazi

Email: rfoudazi@ou.edu
Phone: +1 (405) 325-0465
Office: Sarkeys Energy Center, T-314
Google Scholar
Research Group Website

Education
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, 2010
Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa
M.Sc. Polymer Engineering, 2004
Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
B.Sc. Polymer Engineering, 2002
Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Research Focus

• Rheology of complex fluids
• Polymers in/for environmental challenges
• Soft matter: liquid crystals, suspensions, emulsions, nanoemulsions, microemulsions
• Colloid and interface science

Experience and Awards

• NMSU Intellectual Property Award, New Mexico State University (2021).
• American Chemical Society PMSE Young Investigator (2020).
• PPS Early Career Award, Awarded by Polymer Processing Society (PPS) to outstanding young researcher in the field (2019).
• Winner of Arrowhead LAUNCH Competition, Project: Prosthetic Sleeve Liner, $20,000 award by the Hunt Family Foundation, LAUNCH is a four-month accelerator in which the commercial potential of promising inventions is developed with support and guidance from Arrowhead Center at New Mexico State University. (2018).
• Best Poster Award, 2017 Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) Annual Meeting, Los Alamos National Laboratory (2017).
• University Research Council, Early Career Award, New Mexico State University (2016).
• Recognized in the Mentoring Excellence program of New Mexico State University (2016).
• PPG Award for Applied Polymer Excellence (2012).

About

The current research activities in Dr. Foudazi’s group are self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules, templating approach for synthesis of porous polymers, and rheology of soft matter, with the long-term goal of producing responsive multifunctional materials for sustainability and environmental applications. Some examples of projects in Dr. Foudazi’s lab are:

• Stimuli-responsive ultrafiltration membranes: ultrafiltration membranes are used for water treatment, protein purification, viral filtration, etc. Currently, the available membranes have a fixed pore size, and thus a limited selectivity. Additionally, a lot of solvent is needed for making membranes which is harmful to the environment. In this research, we produce membranes that have better separation performance compared to conventional membranes and are also responsive to temperature and pH.
• PFAS removal from water resources: PFAS  are Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, known as forever chemicals as they do not break down in the environment. In the U.S., PFAS contaminated water supplies are found in 49 states. PFAS have severe health effects to the wildlife, human, and environment. In this research, we are developing an efficient system for PFAS removal from drinking water.
• Porous polymers for environmental applications: We synthesize multifunctional porous polymers through emulsion- and foam-templating methods. The obtained porous polymers  are used for different applications, such as water retention in soil for agriculture, microfiltration membranes, and adsorbents for heavy metal removal.
• Rheology of structured liquids: We measure rheological material functions (e.g., yield stress, relaxation time, viscoelastic moduli) for suspensions, (nano)emulsions, liquid crystals, etc. in different states (liquid, glass and gel).