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Emily Asenath-Smith

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Engineering

Research Materials Engineer, CRREL

Overview

Dr. Emily Asenath-Smith is a senior research materials engineer at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, NH, where she leads both the Ice Adhesion Facility and the Advanced Materials Team. She completed her formal academic studies in the fields of chemistry, ceramic engineering, and materials science and engineering and has leveraged her training to build a thriving research team who is focused on the materials science of ice and crystalline materials. Her research portfolio and team are currently focused on three broad areas related to ice: ice modulation, ice interfaces, and structural ice. Applications include ice mitigation, ice friction, ice inhibition & amp promotion, as well as high performance ice as a building material. Sponsoring agencies include the US Army, DARPA, NASA, and ONR as well as an assortment of small businesses and corporations. Across all these efforts, The Advanced Materials Team and Dr. Smith strives to solve complex challenges and provide novel solutions to US military needs in cold and complex environments.

Research Interests

Ice adhesion; surfaces and interfaces in materials; mechanisms of thermal transport in crystalline materials; crystallization of ice and inorganic compounds from aqueous media; energy transfer processes in crystalline materials; bioinspired composite and hierarchical materials; strategic manipulation of material properties with solutes and impurities

Education

  • AB, Chemistry, Mount Holyoke College 2008
  • MS, Ceramic Engineering, Alfred University 2010
  • PhD, Cornell University 2015

Professional Activities

  • Member, American Chemical Society, 2008–present
  • Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation, 2008–2011
  • IGERT Traineeship in Advanced Materials for a Sustainable Future, National Science Foundation, 2011–2014

Selected Publications

  • Tague DW, Schutt TC, Shukla MK, Asenath-Smith E. (2024) "Reversible Color Loss in Aqueous Methyl Orange Solutions Induced by Freezing." The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.4c05054I.
  • Rehfeld N, Brassard JD, Yamazaki M, Sakaue H, Balordi M, Koivuluoto H, Mora J, He J, Pervier M-L, Dolatabadi A, Asenath-Smith E, Jarn M, Hou X, Stenzel V. (2024) "Round-Robin Study for Ice Adhesion Tests." Aerospace. 11(2): 106.
  • Lever JH, Asenath-Smith E, Taylor S, Lines AP. (2021) "Assessing the Mechanisms Thought to Govern Ice and Snow Friction and Their Interplay with Substrate Brittle Behavior." Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering. 7: 57.
  • Asenath-Smith E, Ambrogi EK, Barnes E, Brame JA. (2020) "Colloidal Suspensions of Fe₂O₃ through Synergistic Reactive Oxygen Species Interactions." Colloids and Surfaces A. 603: 125179.
  • Asenath-Smith E, Hoch GR, Erb CT. (2020) "Adhesion of Freshwater Columnar Ice to Material Surfaces by Crystallization from the Melt." Journal of Crystal Growth. 535: 12563.
  • Asenath-Smith E, Ambrogi EK, Moores LC, Newman S, Brame JA. (2018) "Leveraging Chemical Actinometry and Optical Radiometry to Reduce Uncertainty in Photochemical Research." Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry. 372: 279–287.
  • Asenath-Smith E, Hovden R, Uhl AM, DiCorato A, Noble JM, Kim YY, Kourkoutis LF, Meldrum FC, Estroff LA. (2017) "Composite Mesoscale Architectures Formed by Bio-Inspired Growth in Confinement: Cuprite (Cu₂O) Rods with Incorporated Au Nanoparticle Arrays." Chemistry of Materials. 29: 555–563.
  • DiCorato AE, Asenath-Smith E, Kulak AN, Meldrum FC, Estroff LA. (2016) "Facilitating the Interaction Between Copper (I) Oxide and Gold Nanoparticles Through Crystallization in Confinement." Crystal Growth & Design. 16: 6804–6811.
  • Asenath-Smith E, Hovden R, Kourkoutis LF, Estroff LA. (2015) "Hierarchically Structured Hematite Architectures Achieved by Growth in a Silica Hydrogel." Journal of the American Chemical Society. 137: 5184–5192.
  • Sai H, Wee Tan K, Hur K, Asenath-Smith E, Hovden R, Jiang Y, Riccio M, Muller D, Elser V, Estroff LA, Gruner SM, Wiesner U. (2013) "Hierarchical Porous Polymer Scaffolds from Block Copolymers." Science. 341: 530–534.
  • Asenath-Smith E, Li HY, Keene EC, Seh Z, Estroff LA. (2012) "Crystal Growth in Hydrogels as a Model for Biomineralization." Advanced Functional Materials. 22: 2891–2914.
  • Asenath-Smith E, Chen W. (2008) "How to Prevent the Loss of Surface Functionality Derived from Aminosilanes." Langmuir. 21: 12405–12409.

Patents

  • Tribometer with real-time observation of interface processes | 11835444
  • System and method for testing adhesion of brittle materials | 11719619
  • Vertical draw system and method for surface adhesion of crystalline materials | 11421340
  • Multi-spectral photocatalytic compounds | 11298689
  • Multi-spectral photocatalytic materials for removal of small molecule contaminants from water | 11298689