Andrew R Teixeira

Andrew is a classically trained chemical engineering with with specialties in the fields of chemical reaction engineering and materials science. He received his B.S. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2009, and continued to pursue his Ph.D. with Professor Dauenhauer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2014, before completing his postdoctoral studies with Professor Jensen at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016, ultimately joining the faculty at WPI in 2017.

Andrew's primary research focus combines a multidisciplinary approach with classical and new experimental techniques to uncover fundamental understandings in the fields of catalysis and reaction engineering for energy and pharmaceutical sciences. Utilizing microfluidics and micro-catalytic reactors, his research group aims to unlock extreme heterogeneous catalytic performance as well as study the intricacies of single crystal crystallization processes.

Key research areas include:

• Dynamic Catalysis

• Waste-to-Energy: Hydrothermal Liquefaction

• Pharmaceutical Engineering and Crystallization

• Continuous Separations for Water Purification

Andrew primarily teaches advanced core chemical engineering concepts in ES3002 Mass Transfer, CHE4401/2 Unit Operations and CHE509 Reactor Design & Kinetics. He takes a fundamental reaction engineering perspective to complex topics by applying assumptions and reducing problems down to their most relevant rate-controlling phenomena. From there, all approaches are on the table: dimensionless numbers, correlations, integrations, or numerical methods. The key in this approach is understanding what the answer should be (qualitatively), then using the right tool to land on a final answer (quantitatively).

From a pedegogical standpoint, Andrew is also interested in advanced learning techniques including flipped classrooms, lab-based-learning, and augmented reality tools.