Louisiana
Wesson, Dr. Laura
Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering
Degrees
BS – Chemistry:
PhD – Chemical Engineering:
Contact Info
Office: 233 Bogard Hall
Email: lwesson@latech.edu
Phone: (318) 257-3987
Home Page:
Areas of Specialization
- Surfactant Systems with an emphasis on
- Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC) determination
- Absorption behavior
- Solubilization potentials
- Absolubilization potentials
- Winsor Microemulsion development
Research Areas/Interests
· My primary research interests have focused on the fundamental behaviors of surfactant molecules which have included the following:
o Examining the adsorption behavior onto porous solids such as river alluvium and a-alumina.
o Determining critical micelle concentrations from surface tension measurements at the air/solution interface at various salinities and temperatures.
o Determining the solubilization potential of an organic contaminant, 2-naphthol, using semiequilibrium dialysis cells.
o Determining the adsolubilization potential of the same contaminant using a-alumina as the solid surface under the same conditions as the adsorption studies.
o Developing Winsor type microemulsion systems using various alkanes and chlorinated hydrocarbons as the oil phases.
These studies had the dual purpose of increasing the fundamental knowledge concerning the behavior of several isomers from a single suite of anionic surfactants and determining their possible use in environmental remediation applications. Future research goals involve conducting similar studies using isomers from a different surfactant suite with an emphasis on the properties of the gemini forms and their possible industrial applications.
Educational Interests
·
Currently, my education interests are focused on the development of engineering
laboratory experiments for the freshmen engineering classes.
In an ongoing attempt to integrate the material covered in the freshmen
engineering courses with the material covered in the corresponding math and
chemistry courses, calculator based laboratories have been added to the curriculum.
These laboratories provide more “hands-on”
experience earlier in the engineering student’s academic career and
are designed to illustrate basic principles and/or to illustrate the connections
between engineering, mathematics and chemistry. The laboratory experiments that have been
developed have examined the following relations, the rate of cooling as a
function of the ambient conditions, angle of incline and the value of the
gravitational constant, and the voltage and current through resistors and
capacitors in various electrical circuits.
These laboratories have provided the students opportunities to develop
their curve fitting abilities, apply basic trigonometric principles, and to
examine the basic electrical relations which govern electrical circuits. Additional laboratories are being developed
which allow for the examination of the physical properties of materials and
the principles governing material balances is a system.
Courses Taught
· Chemical Reaction Engineering
· Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics II
· Thermodynamics I
· Engineering Problem Solving I
· Engineering Problem Solving II
·
Engineering Problem Solving III