University engineer Erdogan Kiran recognized for research

Erdogan Kiran, professor of chemical engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, published an article in the "Journal of Supercritical Fluids" that is the No. 1 cited piece over the past five years.

Kiran, with co-author S.D. Yeo, wrote “Formation of polymer particles with supercritical fluids". Yeo is also a chemical engineering professor, located at Kyungpook National University of Daegu, South Korea.

Supercritical fluids are used in a range of industrial and laboratory processes and usually display properties between those of a gas and a liquid.

Their article is the first comprehensive review specifically focused on the formation of particles from polymers, with an emphasis on articles published during 2000-03, according to the journal.

Kiran and Yeo reviewed publications using two distinct groupings: one involved the production of particles from pure polymers, and the other looked at the production of polymer particles that contain active ingredients, especially those that pertain to pharmaceuticals.

Kiran said in his abstract that the “majority of the efforts in the current supercritical particle formation technology is indeed on the production of polymer particles that are of pharmaceutical significance.”

Kiran earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1974, his master’s from Cornell University in 1971, and his bachelor’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969.