Department Chair: Peter Kofinas

Professor and Chair
Ph.D., MIT, 1994

Room 2113D Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Building
E-mail: kofinas@umd.edu
Phone: (301) 405-1917

Dr. Kofinas, appointed ChBE Chair in July 2017, received his Bachelor's and Master's of Science degrees in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT in 1994 in the interdisciplinary Program of Polymer Science and Technology (PPST). He was then trained as a post-doctoral research associate in the department of Chemical Engineering at MIT for 2 years before joining the faculty at University of Maryland in 1996. Before taking the ChBE Chair, he served as an Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Graduate Programs in the James Clark School of Engineering, where he also served as the Clark School Equity and Diversity Officer.

Dr. Kofinas has written more than 80 papers in archival journals, and has given over 40 invited talks on his work in the U.S., Europe, Korea and Singapore. As a faculty member at UMD, he has graduated 19 Ph.D. students, 3 of which have secured faculty positions. During his tenure at UMD, Kofinas has received the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. He has received several awards from the Clark School of Engineering including the Outstanding Junior Faculty Teaching award, has been named Keystone Professor, the Engaged Faculty Award, the Senior Faculty Outstanding Research Award, and the Faculty Outstanding Service Award.

His current research aims are the synthesis characterization and processing of polymer based architectures used in a variety of technologies and devices ranging from energy storage to medical devices. Present research problems of interest include: solution blow spun functional polymers as surgical sealants; biosensors for the detection of pathogens; point-of-care diagnostics; solid, non-flammable, polymer electrolytes for lithium ion batteries; functional magnetodielectric polymer nanocomposites for flexible antennas.