Angelopoulos named Chemical and Environmental Engineering department head

University of Cincinnati professor Anastasios Angelopoulos has been named department head of chemical and environmental engineering in UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science.

He begins the new role Aug. 15.

Angelopoulos most recently served as Associate Head of the department. He earned his Ph.D. from Princeton and both a master’s and bachelor’s degree from Tufts University. He began his career as a research assistant at the U.S. Army Materials Technology Laboratory.  He later gained industry experience as a staff engineer at the IBM Corporation and as a senior materials scientist at the General Motors Corporation.  Angelopoulos was also assistant professor in chemistry at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell before joining UC 13 years ago.

“His dedication to the department and college is much appreciated and I am confident that he will bring value to this position and contribute to the mission of our College,” Interim Dean Paul Orkwis said.

Angelopoulos’ teaching background includes fuel cells, colloid science, thermodynamics, mass transfer and chemical engineering unit operations. He has advised more than a dozen graduate students as well as numerous undergraduates during his UC career. 

His primary research interests include inorganic nanoparticle synthesis and assembly for electronics, fuel cells and batteries, as well as polymer membrane catalysts for next-generation optical sensors and the separation of toxic agents. 

He has dozens of publications, patents and conference presentations in his name, as well as substantial grant and contract experience with private industries, non-profit organizations, internal sources and federal funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation. 

Angelopoulos’ administrative experience includes serving as Chairman of the Chemical Engineering Program. In that position, he facilitated a more than 40% increase in total undergraduate student enrollment by working with a diverse group of stakeholders to upgrade and expand the capacity of the undergraduate teaching laboratory. He also played an integral role in the strategic planning that led to the hiring of new faculty as well as successful program accreditation.

Angelopoulos takes over for UC professor George Sorial who served as the department head for past six years.