Technical Seminar: “Image Processing Challenges and Opportunities in Specialty Chemicals” by Chris Wirth

Everyday products – food, cosmetics, personal care, and consumer products – have inherent functionality dominated by interfacial phenomena. Research and development of these products often requires dynamic imaging to probe not only the fundamental physiochemical phenomena driving behavior, but also control quality during the manufacturing process. Our lab has a variety of projects on this spectrum that each tend to rely on imaging to understand the relevant fundamental phenomena or improve the manufacturing process. Image processing (ex. feature identification and tracking) is required as part of this strategy. In this talk, I will describe three projects with opportunities to improve or fundamentally transform the image processing workflow. My aim is to generate discussion on how to adopt existing or develop new tools inherent to the MDS-Rely IUCRC mission.

Bio: Chris Wirth is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). Following completion of his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), he was a research associate at PPG Industries, in conjunction with the Center for Complex Fluids Engineering at CMU. He then joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at KU Leuven, Belgium, as a postdoctoral scholar in the Soft Matter, Rheology and Technology Laboratory. After spending five years on the faculty at Cleveland State University, he moved to CWRU in January 2020. Currently, his lab is interested in the non-equilibrium dynamics of complex fluids and colloidal particles in crowded environments. He is a recipient of the Doctoral New Investigator Award from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund and the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. Projects in his lab are currently funded by the NSF, DOE, and ACS. More information about his group’s work can be found at: https://wirthlab.org/