ZAKIN RECEIVES FULBRIGHT TO STUDY SURFACTANTS IN ISRAEL
COLUMBUS -- Jacques L. Zakin of WORTHINGTON, professor of
chemical engineering at The Ohio State University, has been
awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study cationic surfactants at
the Technion in Haifa, Israel, for six months beginning in
September.
Zakin, who chaired the Department of Chemical Engineering at
Ohio State from 1977 until June 30, will conduct research on the
use of cationic surfactants to reduce the energy required in
pumping fluids through pipes. By reducing energy requirements,
pumping costs can be reduced in district heating and district
cooling systems. Such systems continuously recirculate hot or
cold water and are used in some cities in Europe and the United
States to heat or cool a series of buildings via pipelines.
In a district heating test conducted recently in the Czech
Republic, Zakin and his colleagues were able to reduce the pumps
needed in a small district heating system from three to two,
thereby saving one-third of the energy.
Under the Fulbright grant, Zakin and a colleague at the
Technion plan to examine what occurs when the surfactant
molecules aggregate, forming micelles embedded throughout the
liquid, and what the resulting micellar structures look like.
They plan to use a technique called Cryo-TEM, involving, first,
the rapid cooling of solutions to solidify the micellar
structures, and, then, studying pictures of them using high
powered microscopy.
Through the research, Zakin says he hopes to develop a
better understanding of the effects of changes in the chemical
structures of the surfactant on micellar structures and how that
affects energy reductions.
"We know what the energy effect is," he said. "But, what
does the micellar structure look like?"
Zakin, who has a doctorate in chemical engineering from New
York University, served as a visiting professor at Technion from
1968 to 1969 and again in 1983. He also taught at Hebrew
University in Jerusalem in 1987. Zakin also has worked at Socony
Mobil Oil Co. and taught at the University of Missouri-Rolla.
Zakin won the Hlavka Medal from the Czechoslovakian Academy
of Science in 1992 and was named Columbus Technical Council
Technical Person of the Year in 1987. This year he received the
Outstanding Engineering Educator of the Year Award from the Ohio
Society of Professional Engineers.
He is one of about 2,000 American students, teachers and
scholars to study, teach and conduct research around the world
under the Fulbright program in the 1994-95 academic year. In
addition, foreign nationals engage in similar activities in the
United States.
The program was established in 1946 by Congress, and was
named in honor of former senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas
who introduced the legislation designed "to increase mutual
understanding between the people of the United States and the
people of other countries."
Individuals are selected on the basis of academic and
professional qualifications and their ability and willingness to
share ideas and experiences with people of diverse cultures.
Scholarships are awarded through open competition, with final
selections made by the presidentially appointed J. William
Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
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Contact: Jacques Zakin, (614) 292-6986; U.S. Information Agency,
Office of Public Liaison, (202) 619-4355.
Written by Tom Spring.
[Submitted by: REIDV (reidv@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu)
Fri, 15 Jul 1994 09:34:53 -0500 (EST)]
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