The University of Tennessee
The Department of Chemical Engineering



The Computational Materials Research Group (CMRG)

current members

current faculty collaborators
  • David Keffer (associate professor, chemical & biomolecular engineering, UTK)
  • Sandeep Agnihotri (assistant professor, civil & environmental engineering, UTK)
  • Bob Compton (professor, chemistry, UTK)
  • Pete Counce (professor, chemical & biomolecular engineering, UTK)
  • Shengting Cui (research professor, chemical & biomolecular engineering)
  • Brian Edwards (professor, chemical & biomolecular engineering, UTK)
  • Miguel Fuentes-Cabrera (faculty, Joint Institute of Computational Science, UTK)
  • Bamin Khomami (Armour T. Grainger and Alvin & Sally Beaman Professor and Head, chemical & biomolecular engineering, UTK)
  • Jerzy Leszczynski (professor, chemistry, Jackson State University)
  • James P. Lewis (professor, chemistry, West Virginia University)
  • Don Nicholson (staff scientist, Computer Science and Mathematics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
  • Stephen Paddison (associate professor, chemical & biomolecular engineering, UTK)
  • Simioan Petrovan (research professor, chemical & biomolecular engineering, UTK)
  • Petr Plechac (associate professor, mathematics, UTK)
  • Claudia Rawn (assistant professor, materials science & engineering, UTK)
  • Bill Steele (adjunct professor, chemical & biomolecular engineering, UTK)
  • Brock Thomas (research scientist, Eastman Chemical Co.)
current post-doctoral researchers
  • Shenghong Zhang (chemical and biomolecular engineering, advisors: Keffer & Paddison)
current graduate student researchers
  • Jun Mo Kim (Ph.D. student, chemical engineering, advisors: Edwards & Keffer)
  • Junwu Liu (Ph.D. student, chemical engineering, advisors: Keffer)
  • Ruichang Xiong (Ph.D. student, chemical engineering, advisors: Keffer & Steele)
  • Myvizhi Esai Selvan (Ph.D. student, chemical engineering, advisors: Keffer)
  • Qifei Wang (Ph.D. student, chemical engineering, advisor: Keffer & Thomas)
  • Nethika Suraweera (Ph.D. student, chemical engineering, advisor: Keffer)
  • Jared Johnson (Ph.D. student, chemical engineering, advisor: Counce & Keffer)
current undergraduate student researchers
  • J.P. Luna (high school student, 2008-9 advisor: Keffer)

former members

former faculty collaborators
  • Jamie Adcock (professor, chemistry, UTK)
  • Hank Cochran (staff scientist @ Oak Ridge National Laboratory & adjunct professor, chemical engineering)
former post-doctoral researchers
  • Jared Fern (chemical engineering, 2007-8, advisors: Keffer & Nicholson)
  • Bangwu Jiang (chemical engineering, 2005-8, advisors: Keffer & Edwards)
  • Carrie Y. Gao (chemical engineering, 2006-7, advisors: Keffer & Nicholson)
  • Tudor Ionescu (chemical engineering, 2006, advisors: Edwards & Keffer)
  • Chunggi Baig, (chemical engineering, 2005-6, advisors Edwards & Keffer)
former graduate student researchers (in reverse chronological order of graduation)
  • Jared Fern (Ph.D., chemical engineering, 2007, advisors: Keffer & Steele)
  • Joseph Rajkumar (M.S., chemical engineering, 2007, advisors: Edwards & Keffer)
  • Mohamad Kassaee (M.S., chemical engineering, 2007, advisors: Keffer & Steele)
  • Tudor Ionescu (Ph.D., chemical engineering, 2006, advisors: Edwards & Keffer)
  • Johanna Santiago (M.S., chemical engineering, 2006, advisors: Keffer & Edwards)
  • Chao Li (M.S., chemical engineering, 2006, advisors: Keffer & Steele)
  • Carrie Gao (Ph.D., chemical engineering, 2005, advisor: Cochran)
  • Prajakta Kamerkar (Ph.D., chemical engineering, 2005, advisor: Edwards)
  • Chunggi Baig (Ph.D., chemical engineering, 2005, advisors: Cochran, Edwards & Keffer)
  • Bangwu Jiang (Ph.D., chemical engineering, 2005, advisors: Edwards & Keffer)
  • Austin Newman (M.S., chemical engineering, 2004, advisor: Keffer)
  • Parag Adhangale (Ph.D., chemical engineering, 2003, advisor: Keffer)
  • Jiandong Zhou (M.S., chemical engineering, 2007, advisor: Cochran)
  • Mithun Kamat (M.S., chemical engineering, 2002, advisor: Keffer)
former undergraduate student researchers
  • Rebecca Empting (B.S. student, chemical engineering, 2006-8, advisor: Keffer)
  • Ian Moore (B.S. student, chemical engineering, 2006-8, advisor: Keffer)
  • Lauren Johnson (B.S. student, chemical engineering, 2007-8, advisors: Keffer & Steele)
  • Mark Hoffman (B.S. student, chemical engineering, 2007, advisors: Keffer & Steele)
  • Barrett Roden (B.S. student, chemical engineering, 2007, advisors: Keffer & Steele)
  • Opeoluwa Kolawole (B.S. student, chemical engineering, 2007, advisors: Keffer & Steele)
  • Febi Pangloli (B.S. student, chemistry, 2005-7, advisors: Steele & Keffer)
  • Zhao Wang (B.S. student, chemical engineering, 2007, advisors: Keffer & Khomami)
  • Anne Wells (B.S. student, chemical engineering, 2007, advisors: Edwards & Keffer)
  • Matt Milazzo (B.S. student, chemical engineering, 2007, advisors: Edwards & Keffer)
  • Hannah Bailey (B.S. student, chemical engineering, 2007, advisors: Edwards & Keffer)
  • Chris Otuonye (B.S. student, chemical engineering, 2005-2006, advisor: Edwards)
  • Oleg Melnichenko (B.S., chemical engineering, 2004, advisors: Keffer & Steele)
  • Mohamad Kassaee (B.S., chemical engineering, 2004-2005, advisors: Keffer & Steele)
  • Patrick Rockwell (B.S., chemical engineering, 2005, advisors: Keffer & Steele)
  • Kevin Smith (B.S. student, chemical engineering, 2003, advisor: Edwards)
  • Karen Williams (B.S. student, mechanical engineering, Vanderbilt, 2002, advisor: Edwards)
  • Kevin Tucker Jr. (B.S. student, computer science, New Jersey Inst. Tech., 2002, advisor: Edwards)
  • Chris Reneau (B.S., chemical engineering, 2002, advisor: Edwards)
  • Nick Allred (B.S., chemical engineering, 2002, advisor: Edwards)

contact information:

Dr. David Keffer
Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Tennessee
1512 Middle Drive
Knoxville, TN 37996-2200
phone: (865) 974-5322
fax: (865) 974-7076
email: dkeffer@utk.edu
web: website







Contact:  email