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Welcome Contact Information:Isabel C. Escobar, PhD Professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering Department Acting Director of the Catharine S. Eberly Center for Women (419) 530-8570 Interim Assistant Dean for Research Development and Outreach College of Engineering (419) 530-8267 (phone) The University of Toledo Toledo, OH 43606-3390 isabel.escobar@utoledo.edu
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Dr. Isabel Escobar is a professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Toledo, Ohio. In July 2010, she was appointed to be the first College of Engineering Interim Assistant Dean for Research Development and Outreach. This is a new position, created for her as a result of her consistent efforts in both areas. As Interim Assistant Dean for Research Development and Outreach, she has been charged with organizing and coordinating multi-investigator and interdisciplinary grant proposals, working with funding agencies to identify opportunities, and the development of young faculty. Her charge will also include enhancing geographical and ethnical diversity within the College of Engineering by developing a broad impact plan for outreach and engagement.
In August 2010, she also became the Acting Director of The University of Toledo Catharine S. Eberly Center for Women. The Center is named in honor of Catharine S. Eberly who served on the Board of Trustees from 1974 to 1977. It specializes in helping women who are in transition (e.g., going through a divorce, recently widowed, empty nesters, women coming out of an abusive relationship, or recently laid off from a job) consider returning to college to begin or complete a degree. We also work to advocate on behalf of UT women students, staff and faculty. The most recent efforts have included Women In STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Medicine) Excelling (WISE) mentor program which is aimed at increasing the number of undergraduate women majoring in STEMM, and Forward to Professor Grant in support of increasing the diversity of women faculty in STEMM. More information can be obtained at The Catharine S. Eberly Center for Women. In 2009, she was awarded the Northwest Ohio YWCA Milestone Award for Education, The University of Toledo College of Engineering Outstanding Teacher Award, and the Toledo 20 Under 40 Leadership award. Also in 2009, she became the Associate Editor of Environmental Progress and Sustainable Energy Journal, a quarterly publication of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; Editor: Martin Abraham, Youngstown State University. Lastly, she edited with Andrea Schaefer (University of Edinburgh) a book entitled Sustainable Water for the Future—Water Recycling versus Desalination. Elsevier Science, The Netherlands: 2009. ISBN: 9780444531155. In 1997, she was awarded an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science To Achieve Results (STAR) Fellow, which allowed her to study impacts of water treatment changes on organic parameters relevant to biological stability. In 2000, Isabel Escobar received a Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Central Florida. That same year, she joined the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department at The University of Toledo as a tenure-track assistant professor. While at The University of Toledo, she has graduated three doctoral student, 10 masters students, and over 20 undergraduate students. Currently, she is advising three doctoral, two masters and three undergraduate students. Escobar's membrane separations research group has been the feature of a WGTE Plugged In Series, and a public lecture at the Lake Erie Center. As lead investigator, she has received over $1million in research funding from federal sources (National Science Foundation, Department of Interior, US EPA, and Office of Naval Research) and state sources (Ohio Department of Education). She has one patent, and has published/submitted over 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals. She and her research group have made over 100 presentations at national/international conferences, and 10 invited presentations. She was invited to present at the 2004 Gordon conference, Membranes: Materials and Processes, and to give a session keynote address at the 2008 International Conference on Membranes (Hawaii, July 2008). She was also invited to be the guest editor of several journals, such as Separations Science and Technology and Environmental Progress and Sustainable Energy. Dr. Escobar participated in organizing and/or running professional meetings, workshops or seminars: North American Membrane Society2012 Annual Meeting co-Chair, New Orleans, LA, June 2012
2009 Annual Meeting Fundraising Chair, Charleston, SC, 20–24 June 2009
2007 Annual Meeting Chair, Orlando, FL, 11–16 May 2007
2006 Annual Meeting Student Chair, Chicago, IL, 12–17 May 2006 American Water Works Association (AWWA)
Organizing Committee, 2007 AWWA Membrane Technology Conference, Tampa, FL, March 2007
2006 Desalination Symposium Chair, Honolulu, Hawaii, 21–22 May 2006
2005 Water Reuse Conference
Expert Committee, Wollongong, NSW, Australia 14–17 February 2005
Dr. Escobar has been involved in the following professional society committees related to the topic of separations:
1. Colleen Gorey (PhD) – low-fouling membranes using temperature-sensitve polymers actived using superparamagnetic iron nanoparticles (a collaboration with Professor Geoff Bothun, University of Rhode Island)
2. Richard Hausman (PhD) – anti-biofouling polypropylene feed spacers (led to one patent)
3. Amr Zaky (PhD) – biofouling mechanisms (advisor: Professor Cyndee Gruden, The University of Toledo)
4. Sepideh HkimElahi (MS) – nanoparticle fouling mechanisms
5. Michael Flanagan (MS) – polybenzoimidizole forward osmosis membranes Past PhD graduate students:
1. Tilak Gullinkala (May 2010), now with HTI Water.
2. Rama Chennamsetty (December 2007), now a post-doc.
3. Weihua Peng (December 2004) with United Water. My past MS graduate students are:
1. Kevin Good
2. Mashesh Bordawekar (co-advised with Professor Glenn Lipscomb, The University of Toledo)
3. Srinivas Kappagantula
4. Michelle Sharp
5. Stanley King
6. Colleen Gorey
7. Deepthi Mettu
8. Brett Digman (co-advised with Professor Maria Coleman, The University of Toledo)
