Center for Particulate and Surfactant Systems (CPaSS) Information

Particulate and surfactants systems are vital to virtually every major industry including pharmaceuticals, detergents, cosmetics, liquid crystals, micro-electronics, advanced materials, energy, minerals, biotechnology, photography, and paints and coatings. Most applications involve the use of dry or wet particulate systems and natural or synthetic surfactants whose effectiveness depends on the synergistic or competitive interactions with each other. Better understanding of the interplay between particles and surfactants will lead to products and processes such as better detergents, faster acting drugs, multimodal contrast agents for early disease detection, and advanced separation technologies. The mission of CPaSS is to advance, develop and promote fundamental understanding of particulate and surfactant systems leading to their enhanced performance and minimal environmental footprint. This mission will be accomplished by achieving the following goals, 1. advancing the fundamental understanding of the particulate – surfactant interactions; 2. establishing a venue for industrial/academic interactions for conducting industrially relevant research; 3. exploring high-risk, high impact research that could lead to technological innovations; and 4. promoting education and training of students in this important field.