Santiso receives Sigma Xi faculty research award

Dr. Erik Santiso, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University, has been awarded the 2017 Faculty Research Award by the university’s chapter of Sigma Xi.

The award recognizes the consistent research excellence of young scientists within five years of their first tenure track appointment. Santiso was nominated by Dr. Peter Fedkiw, head of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Santiso’s research group focuses on computer-based discovery of materials and chemicals using modeling techniques, metaheuristic sampling and machine learning methods. The applications of the group’s research are wide-ranging, from discovering environmentally friendly surfactants for carbon dioxide/water systems to aid oil recovery and carbon sequestration to finding preventative treatments of calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease, which is a common cause of rheumatoid arthritis. Using computer simulations accelerates the discovery of a new material and is cost effective.

Santiso was recognized at the annual Sigma Xi ceremony held April 19th.

He received a B.S. (1995) and M.S. (1999) in chemical engineering from Universidad Simón Bolívar and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from NC State (2007).

– keller –