Introduction

I am currently a doctoral candidate at the University of South Florida and expect to complete my PhD in Chemical Engineering in the spring of 2010. My research is focused on solar desalination as I am experimentally and theoretically simulating a novel solar flash desalination system under a hydrostatically sustained vacuum. I am fortunate enough to work under the direct supervision of Dr. D. Yogi Goswami, a pioneer in solar energy research and the editor–in–chief of Solar Energy journal and Advances in Solar Energy review. In addition, I received a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the University of South Florida in the fall of 1999. My research then was concerned with investigating the thermodynamic bounds of phosphate lattice loss during the manufacture of phosphoric acid by the commercial dihydrate process.

I have worked with different engineering industries before embarking on my PhD research giving me a diverse background and a broad range of skills. My experience includes designing control systems, optimizing unit operations, customizing process equipment, developing fiber–optic and coaxial broadband networks, administering US patent laws, and others. My experience also includes college level teaching of undergraduate engineering students who repeatedly award me with grateful evaluations. Moreover, I have dealt with graduate studies in energy conversion, environmental chemodynamics, geographical information systems, mass transfer, optical sensing, phosphoric and sulfuric acid manufacturing, polymer chemistry, process analysis and modeling, process control, reaction engineering, solar energy, solution thermodynamics, water desalination, and other topics.