Bio:

Dr. Khalkhal is an associate professor in the Mechanical Engineering department at SFSU. She has a BSc and MSc in Chemical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology (Tehran, Iran) and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal (Quebec, Canada, 2012) and has served as a postdoc fellow at Yale University (2012-2013) and UC Berkeley (2014-2016). Her research interest is in extending the understanding of the physics of soft matter and the development of the structure-property relationship in complex fluids. Such studies are critical in designing multi-functional materials and flow processes with biomedical, aerospace, and energy applications. She has developed several techniques to design more fuel-efficient lubricants for car engines and composites for the transportation industry. Furthermore, she has experience designing and optimizing microfluidic devices for diagnostics and has studied flow instabilities in many industrial applications. She has also worked for Schlumberger Ltd. (2000-2005), providing consulting services to oil companies to re-engineer their economic evaluation system, portfolio management, and risk analysis.

Other areas of research interest: engineering education, engineering identity, broadening participation, rheology, flow visualization, particle image velocimetry, microscopy, microfabrication, and computational modeling.

Current funding: 

1) Strengthening Pathways to Success in STEM (SP2S), Title V US Department of Education ($232,864, 2018-2023, role: Co-PI).

2) Strengthening Student Motivation and Resilience through Research and Advising (NSF-HSI iUSE, $1.0 million, 2021-2024, role: Co-PI).

3) Understanding Teamwork Experience and its Linkage to Engineering Identity of Diverse Students (NSF RIEF EEC: $199,919.0; 2021-2023, role: Co-PI).

Research in (engineering) Education:

       1) Strengthening Pathways to Success in STEM (SP2S), Title V US Department of Education ($232,864, 2018-2023)

This collaborative project between Skyline College and SFSU is intentionally designed to increase social and emotional support, persistence, retention, transfer, and graduation for Hispanic and low-income students by strengthening Skyline college's infrastructure and implementing collaborative activities with SFSU. The collective experience of faculty at Skyline College and SFSU will inform evidence-based strategies employed in supporting hundreds of Hispanic and low-income students in STEM education each year and recognize the complex needs and risk factors that create barriers to their academic success.

      2) Strengthening Student Motivation and Resilience through Research and Advising ( NSF-HSI iUSE, $1.0 million, 2021-2024) 

This collaborative effort between SF State, Skyline, and Canãda College will enhance undergraduate engineering education and build capacity in the School of Engineering (SoE) for a successful transition of Hispanic and underrepresented minority (URM) students to the engineering profession. In this project, we pursue three objectives: 1) to increase current retention and graduation rates for URMs, particularly, Hispanic students by 30%; 2) to enhance internships, networking with industry, and career development for URMs, by establishing a student success center; 3) to raise awareness and present evidence of student success through faculty enrichment programs. The knowledge gained from this project will address the national need for a diverse and well-prepared STEM workforce.

      3) Understanding Teamwork Experience and its Linkage to Engineering Identity of Diverse Students (NSF RIEF: $199,919.0; 2021-2023).

Engineering Identity (EI) is an indicator of persistence and retention in engineering and measures how strongly a person identifies with being an engineer. In recent years, there have been repeated calls for developing teamwork skills in recent university graduates from engineering employers and educational accreditation bodies. This emphasis has led to a wide range of studies about the effect of teamwork on different skills, including metacognitive ability and communication. Through the lens of dispersion theory and our lived experiences as women in pre-dominantly male-oriented engineering disciplines, we explore how teamwork disagreements inform or are informed by the formation of EI, particularly among women and URM students. The outcome of this research will inform our future efforts in inclusive teaching, learning, advising, and research mentorships.

Research areas in Complex Fluids Lab (CFL):

       1) Development of structure-property relationship in complex fluids

One of the research goals of the Complex Fluids Lab is focused on uncovering the mechanisms involved in the formation of different flow structures in complex fluids, particularly in milli- and micro-channels. Complex fluids are mixtures of a fluid (liquid or gas) and another phase (liquid, gas, or solid) that exhibit unusual mechanical responses to applied stress or deformation due to the geometrical constraints (e.g., the shape of the microstructure) that the phase coexistence imposes. Examples of the applications of these materials are to be found in printing inks, food products, personal care products, lubricating oils, liquefied natural gas, and medicine, to name a few.

The development of new multi-functional complex fluids highly relies on our ability to accurately measure, characterize, and control the microstructure often by studying the mechanical and physical behavior of complex fluids in bulk. Given the non-trivial nature of the relationship between the microstructure and mechanical properties of complex fluids, we pursue to establish this relationship by exploring the correlations between comprehensive experimental and theoretical results. By combining computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with experimental techniques such as rheometry, optical microscopy, and flow visualization, we attempt to answer fundamental questions such as: how do materials’ pristine properties, the processing conditions, and molecular/mesoscopic interactions affect the bulk properties? What are the mechanisms of structure formation under the influence of various parameters? What is the time scale of structural evolution under different processing conditions? How to control material bulk properties by manipulating the properties at smaller scales? To what extent do different forces contribute to the transport of soft materials (such as vesicles, double emulsions, colloidal suspensions, etc.)?

sample publication:

• Khalkhal, Fatemeh, Ajay Singh Negi, James Harrison, Casey D. Stokes, David L. Morgan and Chinedum Osuji (2017), Evaluating dispersant stabilization of colloidal suspensions from the scaling behavior of gel rheology and adsorption measurements, Langmuir, 34 (3), 1092-1099.
• Khalkhal, Fatemeh, Pierre J. Carreau and Gilles Ausias (2011) Effect of flow history on linear viscoelastic properties and the evolution of the structure of MWCNT suspensions in an epoxy, J. Rheology, 55(1),153-175.

       2) Fabrication of low-cost microfluidic devices using fast prototyping techniques

Microfluidic devices (or chips) are miniaturized devices containing micron size chambers with dimensions as small as the thickness of a human hair (~ 75 microns) or smaller, through which fluids flow or are confined. Due to their small size, they can operate at minimal quantities of samples, which is critical in many biomedical applications, including lab-on-a-chip (e.g., blood glucose test strips), diagnostics (e.g., cancer, HPV), organ-on-a-chip (e.g., an artificial heart) and drug delivery (e.g., insulin patches). Such devices can save us millions of dollars annually due to the much shorter time of experiments (by parallelizing experiments on a single device) and by saving the lab space by performing the experiments on a small chip. Microfluidic devices can facilitate early cancer diagnostics and reduce the risk of human error as a result of the low concentration of cancer cells in the blood at the very early stages of the disease.

Microfluidic devices are traditionally fabricated using soft photolithography techniques. These devices need to have a relatively high channel depth or high aspect ratio [aspect ratio = channel depth/channel width] for specific applications. Fabrication of high-aspect-ratio microfluidic devices with conventional soft photolithography such as SU-8 based techniques is very challenging. On the other hand, molds with a wide range of aspect ratios can be prepared by laminating a single or multiple layers of a thin, dry film photoresist onto metal wafers; we can make devices as deep as 500 um and with aspect ratios as high as 10.

Similarly, milli-channels can be designed and fabricated using additive manufacturing techniques for desired applications, such as analyzing the bifurcating flow of complex fluids. The fast prototyping lab in the school of engineering is equipped with multiple 3D printers and several workstations complete with 3D modeling software including SolidWorks/Simulation, AutoCAD, Creo, and Fusion360.  

sample publication:

• Khalkhal, Fatemeh, Kendrick Chaney and Susan Muller (2016), Optimization and application of dry film photoresist for rapid fabrication of high-aspect-ratio microfluidic devices, Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, 20 (11), 153.
• Hidema, Ruri, Fatemeh Khalkhal, and Susan Muller, Optimizing a microfluidic device to produce double emulsion droplets, International Congress on Rheology, Kyoto, Japan, August 2016.

       3) Generation and migration behavior of monodisperse double emulsion droplets

Double emulsion droplets are used in many applications, including drug delivery and models for cells for in vitro studies, in the absence of actual cells. In drug delivery applications, it is crucial to generate droplets that have the same size (i.e., are monodisperse) to ensure uniform distribution of drugs to different parts of an organ and different organs. The uniform size can be measured using a polydispersity index (PDI); larger values of PDI correspond to a broader size distribution. PDI can be defined as the standard deviation (σ) of the particle diameter distribution divided by the mean particle diameter. We use flow-focusing microfluidic devices to generate mono-disperse (uniform size, ~100 um in diameter) droplets of water in oil in water (W/O/W) with PDI of 1.0005.

Monodisperse double emulsion droplets can also be used as models for cells for in vitro studies, in the absence of actual cells; an example includes using these droplets to mimic the migration behavior of red blood cells in microfluidic channels. In a preliminary study, we examined the inertial migration behavior of double emulsion droplets in straight channels (at Re ~ 17-18) compared to rigid spheres. The elastic droplets were more focused on the center of the channels near the outlet, while the rigid particles traveled very close to the channel walls. This work in progress can help us to better understand the mechanisms of blood cell migration at different flow rates and uncover the underlying mechanisms in blood clotting.

sample publication:

• Khalkhal, Fatemeh, and Susan Muller, Dynamics of Double Emulsion Droplets in a Wall-Bounded Shear Flow, American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, November 2015 (oral presentation).

Invited Talks

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology: A new insight into the characterization of the microstructure of colloidal suspensions, Cambridge, MA, November 2013.
• California Polytechnique State University: Application of rheology in efficiency evaluation of engine oil, Pomona, CA, April 2016.

Peer-Reviewed Journals

^* corresponding author      

1. Necdet Aslan, and Fatemeh Khalkhal, "Numerical investigation of micro-channel flows by matrix distribution scheme with preconditioning" (submitted, full paper).
2. Ian Bucog, Fatemeh Khalkhal^* , and Jose Villanueva, "A comparative numerical study in extensional flow behavior of various non-Newtonian fluids in microrheometric devices" (in preparation).

3. Khalkhal, Fatemeh^*  and Susan J Muller (2022), “Analyzing flow behavior of shear-thinning fluids in a planar microfluidic abrupt contraction/expansion geometry”, Phys. Rev. Fluids 7, 023303.
    

    
4. Khalkhal, Fatemeh, Ajay Singh Negi, James Harrison, Casey D. Stokes, David L. Morgan and Chinedum Osuji (2018), Evaluating dispersant stabilization of colloidal suspensions from the scaling behavior of gel rheology and adsorption measurements, Langmuir, 34 (3), 1092-1099.
5. Khalkhal, Fatemeh, Kendrick Chaney and Susan Muller (2016), Optimization and application of dry film photoresist for rapid fabrication of high-aspect-ratio microfluidic devices, Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, 20 (11), 153.
6. Ren, Fang, Stacy A. Kanaan, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Codruta Zoican Loebick, Gary L. Haller and Lisa D. Pfefferle (2013), Controlled cutting of single-walled carbon nanotubes and low-temperature annealing, Carbon, (63), pages 61-70.
7. Khalkhal, Fatemeh and Pierre J. Carreau (2012) Critical shear rates and structure build-up at rest in MWCNT suspensions, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, 171-172, pages 56-66.
8. Khalkhal, Fatemeh and Pierre J. Carreau (2011) Scaling behavior of the elastic properties of non-dilute MWCNT-epoxy suspensions, Rheologica Acta, 50(9), 717-728.
9. Khalkhal, Fatemeh, Pierre J. Carreau and Gilles Ausias (2011) Effect of flow history on linear viscoelastic properties and the evolution of the structure of MWCNT suspensions in an epoxy, J. Rheology, 55(1),153-175.

Theses

• Khalkhal, Fatemeh, Characterization of flow-induced structures in carbon nanotube suspensions, Ph.D. thesis, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Montreal, Canada, 2012.
• Khalkhal, Fatemeh, Modeling, and fluid flow analysis in fractured reservoirs, Master of Applied Science thesis, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, 2003.

Peer-Reviewed Conference Proceedings and Presentations

1. Zhang, Xiaorong, Stephanie Claussen, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Yiyi Wang, Evaluating ChatGPT's Efficacy in Qualitative Analysis of Engineering Education Research, Proceedings of 2024 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, 23-26 June, Portland, OR (full paper).
2. Claussen, S., Khalkhal, F., Zhang, X., Biviano, A.K., and Wang, Y. Qualitative analysis of the relationships between the teamwork experiences of diverse students and their engineering identities at a Hispanic-serving institution. Proceedings of 2023 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, 25-28 June, Baltimore, MD (full paper).
3. Wang, Y., Claussen, S, Zhang, X, and Khalkhal, F. Development and initial outcomes of an NSF RIEF project in understanding teamwork experience and its linkage to engineering identity of diverse students, Proceedings of 2023 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, 25-28 June, Baltimore, MD (full paper).
4. Wang, Y., Zhang, X, Khalkhal, F., Claussen, S., and Biviano, A.K A quantitative analysis on teamwork behavior, disagreement, and their linkages to students’ engineering identities, Proceedings of 2023 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, 25-28 June, Baltimore, MD (full paper).
5. Jose Villanueva, Matthew Hutchinson, Emiliano Lopez, Ian Bucog, and Fatemeh Khalkhal^*, Towards preparing a diversified and skilled STEM workforce by providing hands-on mechanical design experience to community college students, Proceedings of the 2023 American Society of Engineering Education - The Pacific Southwest Section Annual Conference, 13-15 April, Los Angeles, CA (full paper).
6. Fatemeh Khalkhal^*, Jenna Wong, Xiaorong Zhang, Zhaoshuo Jiang, Yiyi Wang, Christopher Pong, Fostering student success through faculty development workshops, Proceedings of the 2023 American Society of Engineering Education - The Pacific Southwest Section Annual Conference, 13-15 April, Los Angeles, CA (full paper).
7. Fatemeh Khalkhal^*, Zhaoshuo Jiang, Xiaorong Zhang, Jenna Wong, Christopher Pong, Analyzing student peer mentor experiences in a collaborative summer internship project between San Francisco State University and local community colleges in San Francisco Bay Area, Proceedings of the 2023 American Society of Engineering Education - The Pacific Southwest Section Annual Conference, 13-15 April, Los Angeles, CA (full paper).
8. Zhaoshuo Jiang, Xiaorong Zhang, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Jenna Wong, David Quintero, Yiyi Wang, Christopher Pong, Robert Petrulis, Strengthening Student Motivation and Resilience through Research and Advising, Proceedings of the 2023 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exhibition, 25-28 June, Baltimore, MD (full paper).
9. Xiaorong Zhang^*, David Quintero, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Zhaoshuo Jiang, Zhuwei Qin, Jenna Wong, Yiyi Wang, Wenshen Pong, and Robert Petrulis, Development and First-Year Outcomes of an NSF-Funded Summer Research Internship Program to Engage Community College Students in Engineering Research,  Proceedings of the 2023 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exhibition, 25-28 June, Baltimore, MD (full paper).
10. Jenna Wong, Zhaoshuo Jiang, Fatemeh Khalkhal, David Quintero, Robert Petrulis, Wenshen Pong, Yiyi Wang, and Xiaorong Zhang (2023). Kickstarting an Engineering Success Center at a Hispanic Serving Institute, Proceedings of 2023 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition, June 25-28, Baltimore, MD (full paper).
11. Cheng, Chen, Zhaoshuo Jiang, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Nick Langhoff, J. Le, Christopher Wenshen Pong, Xiaorong Zhang, “A Collaborative Project between Skyline College and San Francisco State University to Strengthen Pathways to Success in STEM”, 7th IAFOR International Conference on Education, Hawaii, Jan 6-9, 2022.
12. Zhaoshuo Jiang, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Chris Wenshen Pong, David Quintero, Yiyi Wang, Jenna Wong, Xiaorong Zhang, An Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) project funded by the National Science Foundation, Hispanic-Servicing Institutions Program at San Francisco State University, 21^st Annual Hawaii International Conference on Education, Jan. 3-6, 2023, Honolulu, Hawaii.
13. Chatterjee, Ajay, and Fatemeh Khalkhal (2019), Stability and scalar transport in laminar non-Newtonian flow in a bi-furcating T-junction, Proceedings of the ASME 17th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels (ICNMM 2019), St John's, NL, Canada, June 23-26, V001T01A004. ASME.
14. Hidema, Ruri, Fatemeh Khalkhal, and Susan Muller, Optimizing a microfluidic device to produce double emulsion droplets, International Congress on Rheology, Kyoto, Japan, August 2016 (oral presentation).
15. Khalkhal, Fatemeh, and Susan Muller, Dynamics of Double Emulsion Droplets in a Wall-Bounded Shear Flow, American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, November 2015 (oral presentation).
16. Khalkhal, Fatemeh, and Susan Muller, Microfluidic Studies of Emulsions and Suspensions in Wall-Bounded Shear Flow, American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, November 2015 (poster presentation).
17. Khalkhal, Fatemeh, and Chinedum Osuji, Scaling behavior of colloidal gel elasticity in the context of dispersant surface activity, Society of Engineering Science (SES) 50th Annual Technical Meeting, Brown University, Providence, RI, July 2013 (oral presentation).
18. Khalkhal, Fatemeh, and Pierre J. Carreau, Analyzing the kinetics of structure build-up in carbon nanotube suspensions, Proceedings of 18th International Conference on Composite Materials (ICCM18), 21-26 August 2011, Jeju Island, Korea (oral presentation).
19. Khalkhal, Fatemeh, and Pierre J. Carreau, Development of structure-property relationships in carbon nanotube suspensions, Canadian Society of Rheology: Current Topics and Trends in Rheology, Montreal, QC, Canada, June 2011 (poster presentation).
20. Khalkhal, Fatemeh, and Pierre J. Carreau, Flow-induced evolution of the microstructure of MWCNT suspensions at small deformations, 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society of Rheology, Santa Fe, NM, October 2010 (oral presentation).
21. Khalkhal, Fatemeh and Pierre J. Carreau, Transient behavior of carbon nanotube suspensions in an epoxy, 81st Annual Meeting of The Society of Rheology, Madison, WI, October 2009 (oral presentation).
22. Khalkhal, Fatemeh and Pierre J. Carreau, Effect of flow history on the rheology of MWNT-epoxy suspensions, VIII World Congress of Chemical Engineering, Montreal, QC, August 2009 (oral presentation).

non-Peer-Reviewed Showcases

1. Tianyou Huang, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Investigation on Optimal Design of Thermal Management System for Data Centers, College of Science and Engineering Showcase, Spring 2024 (poster).
2. Candace Castro, George Anwar, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Automatic Refillable Tabletop Electronic Machine Mixing In Spices (ARTEMMIS), College of Science and Engineering Showcase, Spring 2023 (poster).
3. Miles Phillips, Justin Baskin, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Design, prototyping, manufacturing and testing of a 3D-printed Go Kart Brake Pedal, College of Science and Engineering Showcase, Spring 2023 (poster).
4. Carlos Acuna, Mario Acuna, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Design, prototyping, manufacturing and testing of a 3D printed Monitor Mount, College of Science and Engineering Showcase, Spring 2023 (poster).
5. Ian Bucog, Jose Villanueva, and Fatemeh Khalkhal, A comparative study on the extensional flow behavior of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids in micro-rheometric devices, School of Engineering Showcase, Fall 2022 (poster).
6. Tyler Casaclang, Nathaniel Albert, Jackie Guo, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Design, prototyping, manufacturing and testing of a hook that fit into a predetermined railing and able to withstand 40 pounds without breaking, School of Engineering Showcase, Fall 2022 (poster).
7. Jocelynn Nazarit, Joyce Bulatao, Fatemeh Khalkhal, One Trip Grip Multiple Bag Holder, School of Engineering Showcase, Fall 2022 (poster).
8. Gabriel Ruiz, John Tobie, Vasav Juthani, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Exploration of Stress and Strain Results of 3D Printed Screwdriver Handle, School of Engineering Showcase, Fall 2022 (poster).
9. Franklin Monzon, Nuzhat Shaikh, Andy Wong, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Double Wishbone Suspension Design, School of Engineering Showcase, Fall 2022 (poster).
10. Joey Conway, David Luckett, Tristan Moore, Fatemeh Khalkhal, 3-D Design and Printing Methodologies Stubby Handle Screwdriver, School of Engineering Showcase, Fall 2022 (poster).
11. Cesar Lopez, Daniel Nguyen, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Design, prototyping, manufacturing and testing of a hook that fit into a predetermined railing and able to withstand 40 pounds without breaking, School of Engineering Showcase, Fall 2022 (poster).
12. Brian A. Lopez Rocha, Crystal Perez Genchi, Rakan Shannan, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Design, prototyping, manufacturing and testing of a laptop stand, School of Engineering Showcase, Fall 2022 (poster).
13. Ritvik Kumar, Reid Nakano, Leonardo Vigil Ruiz, Fatemeh Khalkhal, Design, prototyping, manufacturing and testing of a sturdy hook, School of Engineering Showcase, Fall 2022 (poster).
14. Ian Bucog, Jose Villanueva, and Fatemeh Khalkhal, Numerical and experimental investigation of flow around an obstacle in milli- and microfluidic channels, College of Science and Engineering Showcase, Spring 2022 (poster).

If you are interested in applying for graduate studies, please be informed that the school of engineering at SF State does not offer a Ph.D. program. We are kicking off a new master in mechanical engineering (MSME) starting Fall 2022. Please review the admission criteria and apply here: https://www.calstate.edu/apply/international.

For other questions, please visit Graduate Programs: Frequently Asked Questions for Prospective Students.

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