Professor Randy Vander Wal PhD

Dr. Vander Wal is a professor in the John and Willie Leone Family Dept. of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State University. His general research theme is nanomaterials for energy engineering. Under this rubric his research has encompassed the areas of energy control, conversion, efficiency, generation and storage, with focus upon carbon allotropes and materials. Related environmental interests lie in combustion-generated soot: its measurement via laser-based methods, complemented by flame synthesis of nanotubes, characterizing each carbon form by microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. Parallel analytical interests are micro-plasma-based environmental and mineral analyses. After graduating with a PhD in Chemical Physics, Dr. Vander Wal was a fellow at Sandia National Labs, rose to senior scientist while working at NASA with research spanning space and aeronautic programs prior to joining the Energy Engineering program at Penn State.