Dr. Larsen has been an Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 1993. He completed his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Mar Del Plata (Argentina) in 1985 and his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Yale University in 1992.
He is also active in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, UNL Student Chapter, as an advisor. Currently, Dr.Larsen is a consultant for ABB Lummus Global, Inc., and Kraft Food Inc. He has also held esteemed positions such as Proposal Review Panelist, Proposal Mail Reveiwer for the National Science Foundation in the past. Dr. Larsen is also the founder of LNKChemsolutions, a nanotech company with nanoparticle and nanofiber applications as core business.
There are currently seven major areas of sponsored research in the laboratory:
Partial oxidation reactions over hybrid (organic/inorganic) Ti-containing gels
Synthesis of inorganic oxide materials with tailored porosities and well-defined (catalytically active) metal particle sizes using macromolecular templates
Design of zeolite- and amorphous silica/cellulose composites for separation applications
Molecularly imprinted inorganic, and hybrid (organic/inorganic) oxides
Design of macroporous supports for immobilized enzymes utilized in reactions involving bulky biomolecules (with H. Noureddini, Dept. of Chemical & Biomolecular Eng., UNL)
Design of catalytic nanofibers based on electrospinning of sol-gels (with Y. Dzenis, Engineering Mechanics Dept., UNL.)
Computational chemistry of alkoxides and alcogel formation
Over the past seven years, the group has received strong federal, state, private and non-profit support. Average annual research expenditures for the past three years (excluding joint proposals) are on the order of $200-250K.
"Synthesis and Evaluation of Scaffolds for Potential Use in Cartilage Tissue Engineering," A. Subramanian, H. Lin, D. Vu, and G. Larsen, J. Biomat.Sci.-Polym.,Ed 16, 861 (2005).
"Electrohydrodynamics and Hierarchical Structure Control: Submicron-thick Silica Ribbons with an Ordered Hexagonal Mesoporous Structure," G. Larsen, R. Spretz, and R. Velarde-Ortiz; J. Mater. Chem., 14, 2372 (2004).
"Synthesis and evaluation of scaffolds prepared from chitosan fibers for potential use in cartilage tissue engineering," A. Subramanian, H. Lin, G. Larsen, and D. Vu, Biomed. Sci. Instrum., 40, 117 (2004).
"Electrically Forced Coaxial Nanojets for One-Step Hollow Nanofiber Design," I. G. Loscertales, A. Barrero, M. Marquez, R. Spretz, R. Velarde-Ortiz, and G. Larsen, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 126, 5376 (2004).
"Templating of inorganic and organic solids with electrospun fibres for the synthesis of large-pore materials with near-cylindrical pores," G. Larsen, R. Spretz and R. Velarde-Ortiz, J. Mat. Chem., 14, 1533 (2004).
"Use of Coaxial Gas Jackets to Stabilize Taylor Cones of Volatile Solutions and to Induce Particle-to-Fiber Transitions," G. Larsen, R. Spretz and R. Velarde-Ortiz, Adv. Mater., 16, 166 (2004).
For additional publications, please click the Digital Commons link in the right column of the page.
