Chemical Engineering

Heterogeneous Catalysis; Reaction Engineering; Nanoporous Materials; Catalyst Design; Zeolite; Sustainable Chemical Process; Hydrogen Technology; Chemical Sensor; Biomass Conversion; Environmental Remediation

Dr. Yu Feng (冯宇) is a Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at Oklahoma State University, Affiliated Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and a center investigator at the Oklahoma Center for Respiratory and Infectious Diseases (OCRID). He is an NSF EPSCoR Fellow, Distinguished Early Career Faculty Awardee at OSU, OSU CEAT Dean's Professorship Awardee, ConocoPhillips Faculty Fellow in Chemical Engineering Education at OSU, OSU Excellence in Research Mentoring Awardee, and OSU President's Fellows Faculty Research Awardee. He previously served as a Research Assistant Professor and Lab Manager of the Computational Multi-Physics Laboratory (CM-PL) at North Carolina State University, and also held an affiliation as a Research Scientist II with the DoD Biotechnology HPC Software Applications Institute (BHSAI). He completed his B.S. in Engineering Mechanics in 2007 from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Zhejiang University in China. He then joined the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at North Carolina State University, where he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 2010 and 2013, respectively. He founded the Computational Biofluidics and Biomechanics Laboratory (CBBL) at Oklahoma State University, which focuses on developing and applying advanced CFPD, DEM, and PBPK models for various applications related to pulmonary healthcare. With over 15 years of experience in modeling lung aerosol dynamics on Ansys CFX and Fluent platforms and numerous publications in top fluid dynamics and aerosol science journals, he has established a reputation as an expert in this field. His research group aims to understand and consider more underlying physics and chemistry and provide non-invasive, cost-effective, and accurate numerical tools for multiple biomedical applications such as health risk assessment, pulmonary drug evaluation and improvement, and non-invasive disease diagnosis. They strive to make significant contributions to the medical field and improve human life by providing effective solutions to patient-specific pulmonary health issues through the use of multi-scale modeling techniques. 

Process systems engineering, sustainability, digital agriculture, industrial decarbonization, food-energy-water nexus

Dr. Lee leads the Geomechanics & Rock-physics for In-situ Technologies (GRIT) research group, and his research focuses on reservoir geomechanics, hydraulic fracturing, rock fracture mechanics, and induced seismicity.

His research interests include:
- Interaction between hydraulic fractures and natural fractures
- Mixed-mode fracture propagation in subsurface conditions
- Induced seismicity related to injection and production
- Drilling-induced fractures

I received Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Wayne State University and held a research fellow position at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School/Shriners Hospital for Children. I started in January 2002 as an Asisstant Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering (ChE) at Oklahoma State University (OSU). I am currently a Professor (with tenure). I serve as the undergraduate program coordinator, and ABET accreditation coordinator for ChE.  From 2011-16, I served as the Graduate Coordinator for Chemical Engineering and newly formed Petroleum Engineering. I held Edward Joullian Chair in Engineering from 2012-2016 and BP faculty fellowship from 2016-2020. I served on the Graduate Faculty Council ifor four years, helping on various task force and catalog updates. I also served as the Chair for RPT Committee Formation in College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. In 204-25, I served on the OSU strategic initiative on six year graduation rates.  

Research Interests:
My expertise is in the area of stem cell-based tissue engineering. In particular, I am interested in cellular behavior (stem cells, co-cultures) in the three-dimensional polymeric structures. To mimic various components present in the body, my group evaluates polymer-polymer interactions using either synthetic or natural polymers. He has published several peer-reviewed publications from each project. As a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Shriners Hospital for Children, Ievaluated various molecular aspects of burn injury, immune dysfunction, and hepatocyte differentiation from bone marrow CD34+ cells. I used various animal models and connected genetic changes to phenotypic changes. I utilized intracellular albumin staining to identify hepatocytes from the pool of adult stem cells, and urea production.

I have mentored 3 post-docs, 15 Ph.D. students, 21 MS students, 70 undergraduate students, 7 k-12 teachers, and a few high school students. 

I have organized more than 45 sessions in national and international conferences including a symposium on Use of Stem Cells in Biomaterial Applications at the 7th World Biomaterial Congress in 2004, Chemical Engineering Division American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) 2009 conference, 2012 ASEE Summer School for Faculty Training, Meet the Faculty Candidates Poster Session (since 2004) and Future Faculty Mentor at AIChE. I received 2021 George Lappin Program Committee Service Award from AIChE. I was elected to be a Fellow of AIChE in 2025 and Fellow of AAmerican Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows. I served on the interational editorial board of Biomaterials from 2008 to 2011, and as the Guest Editor for Cell Adhesion and Migration.