Kenneth Roberts

North Carolina A&T State University
Department of Chemical Engineering
330 McNair Hall
Greensboro, NC 27411-0001

phone: (336) 334 7654
fax: (336) 334 7904
email: kroberts@ncat.edu

Research Interests  Education   Professional Employment Honors & Awards
Professional Affiliations & Activities  Technical Publications  Technical Presentations  Graduate Students   Undergraduate Students   K-12 Students   Funded Proposals
Directory of all NSF faculty

Research Interests

Heterogeneous catalysis; synthesis, characterization and evaluation of catalytic materials; focus in the area of environmental catalysis and electrocatalytic materials; Applications of solution thermodynamics and solid/fluid phase equilibria; environmental remediation technology development.

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Education

Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina, 1997
M.S., Chemical Engineering, Georgia Institute Technology, 1992
B. Ch.E., Chemical Engineering, Georgia Institute Technology, 1990

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Professional Employment

1997-Present

 

 Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC.
1992-1996

 

 Research/Teaching Assistant, Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.
1993

 

 Department of Energy Summer Trainee, Equipment Engineering Section, Westinghouse Savannah River Site, Aiken, SC.
1990-1992

 

 Teaching Assistant, School of Chemical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.
1991

 

 Research and Development CO-OP, Amoco chemical Company, Naperville, IL.
1989

 

 Technical Sales Summer Intern, Union Carbide Chemical and Plastics Company, Atlanta, GA.
1988

 

 Production Engineering Summer Intern, Union Carbide Chemical and Plastics Company, Texas City, TX.
1968-1987

 

 Customer Service Summer Intern, Union Carbide Chemical and Plastics Company, Atlanta, GA.
1985 Student Lab Technician, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA.
 

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Honors and Awards

3-M Non-Tenured Faculty Award (1999-2000)

North Carolina-LSAMP Outstanding SMET Faculty Mentor Award (1999)

American Society fro Engineering Education/MIND New Faculty award (1998)

Faculty of the Year of Chemical Engineering, North Carolina A&T State University (1997-1998)

South Carolina Department of Energy/ EPSCoR Fellow (1993-1994)

GEM Master's Fellow (1990-1992)

Georgia Regent's Fellow (1990-1992)

Omega Chi Epsilon Chemical Engineering Honor Society - Georgia Tech Chapter (1989-Present)

Gamma Beta Phi Honor Society - Georgia Tech Chapter 1988-Present)

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Professional Affiliations and Activities

American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Chemical Society, North American  Catalysis Society, Tri-State Catalysis society, Materials Research Society

Visiting Lecturer, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa (1999)

 Program Coordinator, NASA- Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Program at North Carolina A&T State University (1998-Present)

Project Director, US-Ghana Student/Faculty Exchange Program in Chemical Engineering at N.C. A&T State University (1998-Present)

Panel Chair and Reviewer, National Science Foundation, DUE-ILI27 (1998)

Reviewer, National Science Foundation, DUE-CCLI2 (1999)

Reviewer, Journal of Catalysis, Journal of Engineering Education, Waste Management Journal, ACS-Petroleum Research Fund

Member, Waste Management Certification Board, North Carolina A&T State University (1999- Present)

Member, E.E. Smith High School Academy of Mathematics and Science Advisory Board, Cumberland County, Fayetteville, NC (1999-Present)

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Technical Publications

  1. Roberts, K.L., Rousseau, R.W., and Teja, A.S., "Solubility of Long-Chain n-Alkanes in Heptane between 280 and 350K," Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data, vol. 39, pp. 793-795 (1994).

  2. Roberts, K.L. and Markel, E.J., "Generation of Mo2N Crystallites," Journal of Physical Chemistry, vol. 98, pp. 4083-4086 (1994).

  3. Amiridis, M.D., Roberts, K.L., and Pereira, C., "Kinetic Studies of the Selective Catalytic Reduction of NO by Propylene over a Zeolite Supported Pt Catalyst," Applied Catalysis, B, Environmental, vol. 14, pp.203-209 (1997).

  4. Roberts, K.L. and Amiridis, M.D., "Kinetic Investigation of the Selective Catalytic Reduction of Nitric Oxide with Propylene over Pt/Al2O3." Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, vol. 36, pp. 3528-3532 (1997).

  5. Amiridis, M.D., Captain, D.K. , Roberts, K.L. and Dumesic, J.A., "Kinetic and Insitu FTIR Studies of the Selective Catalytic Reduction of NO by Propylene over Supported Pt Catalysts," Preprints of the American Chemical Society, division of Petroleum Chemistry, vol. 42, pp. 851-854, (1997).

  6. Captain, D.K., Roberts, K.L., and Amirids, M.D., "The Selective Catalytic Reduction of Nitric Oxide by Propylene over Pt/SiO2.," Catalysis Today,vol. 42, pp. 93-100 (1998).

  7. Markel, E.J., Burdick, S.E., Leaphart, M.E., and Roberts, K. L., "Synthesis, Characterization, and Thiophene Desulforization Activity of γ-Mo2N Crystals," Journal of Catalysis, vol. 182, pp. 136-147 (199).

  8. Roberts, K.L. and Markel, E.J., "Structure Effects of High Surface Area Molybdenum Nitride Powders, Macrocrystals and Nanoparticles as Catalysts for Thiophene Desulferization," Advanced Catalystic Materials, P. Lednor, D. Nagaki, and L. Thompson editors, Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, vol. 549, pp. 51-57 (1999).

  9. Roberts, K.L., Spence, T. S., Forbes, J.E., Pritchard, V. E., Saunders, K.B. and White, G.L., "Surfactant/Supercritical Hydrocarbon Cleaning of Metallic Substrates," Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research (Accepted).

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Technical Presentations (31 Total)

  1. Roberts, K.L., Rousseau, R. W., and Teja, A.S., "Solid-Liquid Equilibria in Solutions of Normal Alkanes with Significant Chain Length Differences," AIChE 1992 Annual Meeting, Miami Beach, FL.

  2. Markel, E.J. and Roberts, K.L., "High-Temperature Synthesis of Molybdenum Nitride Nanoparticles," AIChE 1993 Annual Meeting Saint Louis, MO.

  3. Markel, E.J., Roberts, K.L., and Burdick, S.E., "Synthesis and Characterization of Porous γ-Mo2N Macrocrystals," AIChE 1994 Spring National Meeting, Atlanta, GA.

  4. Roberts, K.L. and Markel, E.J., "High-Temperature Synthesis of Molybdenum Nitride,"AIChE 1994 Annual Meeting, San Francisco,C.A.

  5. Amiridis, M.D., Roberts, K.L., and Pereira, C.J., "Kinetic Studies of the Selective Catalytic Reduction of NO by Hydrocarbons over Supported Platinum Catalysts," AIChE 1995 Annual Meeting, Miami Beach, FL.

  6. Roberts, K.L. and Amirdis, M.D., " A Kinetic Investigation of the Selective Catalytic Reduction of NOx by Propylene over Supported Pt Catalysts, "AIChE 1996 Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.

  7. Amiridis, M.D., Captain, D.K., Roberts, K.L. and Dumesic, J.A., "Kinetic and in-situ FTIR studies of the selective catalytic reduction of NO by propylene over supported Pt catalysts, "Presented at the ACS 214th National Meeting, September 7-11, 1997, Las Vegas, NV.

  8. Gause, T.R., Clark, J.A., Exum, K.D., Ryan, D., Watson, M.A., and Roberts, K.L., "Environmental Applications of Heterogeneous Catalysis," AIChE Triad Local Section Meeting, September 23, 1997, Greensboro, NC.

  9. Howell, R.M., Crowell, A.M., Parker, T.J., Ryan, D.L., Roberts, K.L., and Amiridis, M.D., "Preparation and Characterization of Transition Metal-Based Catalysts for the Selective Catalytic Reduction of NOx and N2O by Hydrocarbons," North Carolina Alliance for Minority Participation Undergraduate Research Conference, April 4, 1998, Charlotte, NC.

  10. Watson, M.A., Beatty, L.I., Gause, T.R., Roberts, K.L., and Amiridis, M.D., "Kinetic Investigation of the Selective Catalytic Reduction of NOx by Propylene over Noble Metal-Based Catalysts," North Carolina Alliance fro Minority Participation Undergraduate Research Conference, April 4,1998, Charlotte, NC.

  11. Roberts, K.L. and Markel, E.J., "Hydrotreatment of Sulfur-Containing Organics using High Surface Area Molybdenum Nitride Catalysts," National Conference on Environmental Remediation Science and Technology, September 11, 1998, Greensboro, NC.

  12. Watson, M.A., Gause, T.R. and Roberts, K.L., " Selective Catalytic Reduction of National Conference on Environmental Remediation Science and Technology, September, 12, 1998, Greensboro, NC.

  13. Roberts, K.L., Sharmin, s., Watson, M.A., Howell, R.M., Parker, T.J., Crowell, A.M., Ryan, D.L., and Gause, T.R., "The Effect of Transition Metal-Based Catalyst Parameters on the Selective Catalytic Reduction of of NOx and N2O by Propylene," AIChE National Meeting , November 13-18, 1998, Miami Beach, FL.

  14. Roberts, K.L. and Markel, E.J., "The Hydrodesulfurzation of Thiophene over Unsupported Mo2N Powders, Macrocrystals and Nanoparticles,"  Materials Research Society National Meeting, December 2, 1998, Boston, MA.

  15. Exum, K.D., Sexton, T.R. and Roberts, K.L., "Synthesis of High Surface Area γ-Mo2N Nanoparticles from Mo2N Crystallites via Topotactic Conversion of Polycrystalline MoO3 Powders," National Society of Black Engineers Region II Spring Meeting , Philadelphia, PA, January 30,1999.

  16. Roberts, K.L., "Environmental Applications of Heterogeneous Catalysts and Novel Catalytic Materials, "  DOE Technology Transfer Sessions of HBCU/OMI Symposium, March 18, 1999, Miami, FL.

  17. Ford, T.N., Watson, M.A., Gause, T.R. and Roberts, K.L., "Destruction of Volatile Organic Compounds over Supported Noble Metal-Based Catalysts," North Carolina LS-AMP Undergraduate Research Conference, April 16,1999, Durham, NC.

  18. Brown, A.D., Forbes, J.E., Prichard, V.E., Saunders, K.B., Roberts, K.L. and White, G.L., "Phase Behavior of Near-Critical and Supercritical Fluid/Surfactant Mixtures," North Carolina LS-AMP Undergraduate Research Conferance, April 16,199, Durham, NC.

  19. Slater, A.D., Forbes, J.E., Pritchard, V.E., Saunders, K.B., Roberts, K.L. and White, G.L., Novel Method for the Cleaning of Metal Substrates Using Surfactant/Supercritical Fluid Mixtures,"  North Carolina LS-AMP Undergraduate Research Conference, April 16,1999, Durham, NC.

  20. Casanova, R., Hall, A., Saunders, K.B. and Roberts, K.L., "Biosurfactant Cleaning of Metallic and Polymeric Substrates," NASA-SURE Research Symposium, July 22, 1999, Greensboro, NC.

  21. Stewart, C.J. and Roberts, K.L., "Equilibrium, Stirred Agitation and Ultrasonic Cleaning of Metallic and Polymeric Substrates," NASA-SURE Research Symposium, July 22,1999, Greensboro, NC.

  22. Hall, A., Stewart, C.J., and Roberts, K.L., "Characterization of Surfactant/Fluid Phase Behavior,"  Alabama LS-AMP Summer National Research Conference, August 2, 1999, Birmingham, AL.

  23. Dean, W.E., and Roberts, K.L., "Optimization of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Performance," Alabama LS-AMP Summer National Research Conference, August 2,1999, Birmingham, AL.

  24. Calcano Velazquez, D. and Roberts, K.L., "Surfactant Cleaning of Substrates via Stirred-Agitation Methods," NASA SHARP PLUS Research Conference, August 5,1999, Greensboro, NC.

  25. Forbes, J.E., Pritchard, V.E., Saunders, K.B., Roberts, K.L., and White, G.L., "Surfactant/Supercritical Fluid Cleaning of Metal Substrates," American Chemical Society 218th National Meeting, August, 23, 1999, New Orleans, LA.

  26. Forbes, J.E., Pritchard, V.E., Saunders, K.B., Roberts, K.L., and White, G.L., "Effect of Pressure and Contaminates on Surfactant/Supercritical Fluid Mixtures fro Metal Substrate Cleaning", AIChE National Meeting, November 2, 1999, Dallas, TX.

  27. Forbes, J.E., Pritchard, V.E., Saunders, K.B., Roberts, K.L., and White, G.L., 'Surfactant/Supercritical Fluid Mixtures for Metallic Substrate Cleaning,"  AIChE National Meeting, November 3, 1999, Dallas, TX.

  28. McDowell, D.J., Watson, M.A., Gause, T.R. and Roberts, K.L., "Catalytic destruction of volatile Organic compounds over Supported Noble Metals," AIChE National Meeting, November 3, 1999, Dallas, TX.

  29. Robinson, A.N. and Roberts, K.L., "Catalytic Oxidation of Volatile Organic Compounds over Supported Transition Metal Catalysts," North Carolina SOARS Undergraduate Research Conference, November 12, 1999, Winston-Salem, NC.

  30. Meeks, F.T., Hall, A., Saunders, K.B., Roberts, K.L., and White, G.L., "Effect of Pressure and contaminants on Surfactant/Supercritical Fluid Mixtures for Metal Substrate Cleaning," North Carolina SOARS Undergraduate Research Conference, November 12, 1999, Winston-Salem, NC.

  31. Meeks, F.T., Hall, A., Saunders, K.B., Roberts, K.L., and White, G.L., "Surfactant/Supercritical Fluid Reverse Micelle Mixtures for Advanced Cleaning Applications," NSBE Regional Conference, February 18-20, 20000, University Park, PA.

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Graduate Students (5 Total)

Tammie Robinson Gause, M.S. CHEN (1998), Employed with Motorola, Austin, Texas.

Keith B. Saunders, M.S. CHEN (2000), Employed with Authur Anderson consulting, Atlanta, GA.

Tameka S. Spence, M.S. CHEN (Expected, December 2000), Accepted position with Kimberly-Clark, Atlanta, GA.

Meredith A. Watson, M.S. CHEN (Expected May 2000), Accepted Graduate Co-op with IBM, Burlington, VT

Latrell Y. Jackson, M.S. CHEN (Expected, May 2000), Woodland Hall Fellow (1999-2000).

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Selected Undergraduate Students (33 Total, 13 Graduates)

Kelvin D. Exum, B.S. CHEN (1999), M.D. Student in Radiology, UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.

Meredith A. Watson, B.S. CHEN (1998), M.S. CHEN Student at North Carolina A&T State University.

Kelly Y. Goodwin, B.S. CHEN (1998), M.S.  Bioengineering (1999), University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio.

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K-12 Students

 Dayma Calcano Velazquez, NASA SHARP PLUS Student Researcher (1999)

Cristina Rohena, NASA SHARP PLUS Student Researcher (2000)

Christina Snowden, NASA SHARP PLUS Student Researcher (2000)

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Proposals Funded (14 total, 10 Technical and Research-Related Grants)

  1. Roberts, K. (PI), "The Selective Catalytic Reduction of NOx/N2O by Hydrocarbons, " HBCU/MI Environmental Technology / Waste Management consortium Research Initiation Grant, $5,000, 5/1997-9/1997.

  2. Uzochukwu, G. (PI), Adewuyi, Y., Reddy, G., Nwanko, H., and Roberts, K., "Assessment, Evaluation, and Testing of Technologies for Environmental Restoration, Decontamination and Decommissioning and High Level Waste Management, "U.S. Department of Energy - Savannah River Site, $250,00010/1997-9/1998.

  3. Sharpe, L. (PI), Cheek, E., Kelkar, A., Schimmel, K.A., Roberts, K.L., et al. "Integration of NASA Research into Undergraduate Education in Math, Science, Engineering and Technology," NASA, $2,500,000, 7/1998-6/2003.

  4. Roberts, K.L. (PI), "Development of Novel Catalysts for the Remediation of Mixed and Halogenated Organic Wastes," Department of Energy/HBCU Environmental Technology Consortium, $25,000, 6/1998-5/1999.

  5. Roberts, K.L. (PI from G.L. White), "Surfactant/Supercritical Fluid Cleaning of contaminated Substrates," NASA-FAR, $300,000, 10/24/1996-12/22/2000.

  6. Roberts, K.L. (PI), "Optimization of the Cathode Long-Term Stability in Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells, "SC DOE-EPSCoR HBCU Program, $18,350, 5/15/1999-8/31/1999.

  7. DeSimone, J. (PI), Carbonell, R., Uzochukwu, G., Roberts, K., et al., "NSF Center for Environmentally Benign Solvents and Processes," National Science Foundation, $17,979,633, 11/1/1999-10/31/2004.

  8. Roberts, K.L. (PI) "Optimization of Long-Term Performance of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells," the Department of the Army, $100,000, 9/2/1999-9/1/2000.

  9. Ferguson, F. (PI), Roberts, K.L. and Shen, J.Y., "Access to Space through Education and Research," NASA-Langley Research Center, $200,000, 9/1/1999-8/31/2001.

  10. Roberts, K.L. (PI), "Development and Characterization of Novel, Low-Cost, Supported Base-Metal Catalysts for the Remediation of Volatile Organic Compounds", 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Research Grant/3M Company, $15,000, 3/15/2000-3/14/2001

 

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last update: September 15, 2000

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