“I have worked with Alex Harris for the last two years at Ingersoll Rand and I have found Alex to not only be knowledgeable but dedicated to developing solutions that are practical and effective while being creative. Alex is well respected by the team and builds confidence with the clients through effective communications and responsiveness. It has been a pleasure to work with Alex. ”
Activity
-
Last week we were honored to receive "NXP Way" from the City of Chandler, Arizona, commemorating 30 years of innovation 🛣🌟 Big thanks to the City…
Last week we were honored to receive "NXP Way" from the City of Chandler, Arizona, commemorating 30 years of innovation 🛣🌟 Big thanks to the City…
Liked by Alex Harris
-
I am beyond thrilled to announce that in two months, I will be starting as an assistant professor at the University of Vermont in the Department of…
I am beyond thrilled to announce that in two months, I will be starting as an assistant professor at the University of Vermont in the Department of…
Liked by Alex Harris
-
Hello everyone. Today I started a new journey as a Technician with Beyond Silicon, Inc. I am excited to start working, and looking forward to helping…
Hello everyone. Today I started a new journey as a Technician with Beyond Silicon, Inc. I am excited to start working, and looking forward to helping…
Liked by Alex Harris
Experience
Education
Volunteer Experience
-
Cofounder & Manager
University of Arizona Compost Cats
- 2 years 10 months
Environment
• Cofounded and managed a student-run and student-employed composting project (Compost Cats) at the University of Arizona whose goal is to divert food, green, and animal wastes from local landfills to a student operated composting facility with an annual budget of $37,000 in 2012.
• Partnered with administrative leadership to successfully implement this project on campus, which today has extended its reach to the greater Tucson community. In 2016, the program was recognized by the EPA’s…• Cofounded and managed a student-run and student-employed composting project (Compost Cats) at the University of Arizona whose goal is to divert food, green, and animal wastes from local landfills to a student operated composting facility with an annual budget of $37,000 in 2012.
• Partnered with administrative leadership to successfully implement this project on campus, which today has extended its reach to the greater Tucson community. In 2016, the program was recognized by the EPA’s annual Food Recovery Challenge for their waste diversion data from 2015. -
Chair
University of Arizona Green Fund
- 1 year 10 months
Environment
• Led a team of ten graduate and undergraduate students through soliciting, reviewing, and approval of $400,000 allocated for environmentally sustainable projects across the University that involve and/or educate students in sustainability efforts.
• Served as the student representative on the President’s Advisory Council on Environmental Sustainability. -
Mentor
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound
- Present 10 years 9 months
Children
Assigned as a trusted and positive role model for a struggling underprivileged youth by offering consistency and encouragement through a variety of shared activities. Enthusiastically worked with my little brother to set and fulfill academic and athletic goals for bettering his future.
-
Volunteer/Coordinator
Junior Achievement USA
- 2 years 2 months
Education
• Taught 5 pre-arranged lessons with hands-on activities focused on entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and work readiness.
• Actively working to establish a strong partnership between Junior Achievement Colorado and the University of Colorado Boulder by engaging graduate students with teaching opportunities.
-
Nominated Member
Graduate Student Advisory Board
- 2 years 11 months
Education
Actively working with the College of Engineering leadership to strength collaborative relationships between the graduate student community and faculty, as well as, advocating for graduate level resources by identifying cross-departmental issues and developing objectives to minimize concerns.
Publications
-
Bridging bio-nano interactions with photoactive biohybrid energy systems
Molecular Systems Design & Engineering
Understanding how proteins interface with synthetic nanomaterials has become increasingly important for a range of applications from nanomedicine to fuel generation. The nature of these bio-nano interactions is dynamic and specific to both the properties of the nanomaterial and protein. Here, we highlight recent work focused on understanding the general molecular forces responsible for initiating these bio-nano interactions and their effect on the protein's structural conformation with a…
Understanding how proteins interface with synthetic nanomaterials has become increasingly important for a range of applications from nanomedicine to fuel generation. The nature of these bio-nano interactions is dynamic and specific to both the properties of the nanomaterial and protein. Here, we highlight recent work focused on understanding the general molecular forces responsible for initiating these bio-nano interactions and their effect on the protein's structural conformation with a variety of different nanomaterial properties, specifically, composition, size, shape, and different surface functionalities. Building from this, we will then discuss redox active biohybrid systems, where electron transfer occurs across the bio-nano interface, that incorporate semiconductor nanomaterials for energy generation applications and provide insights on how to improve our understanding of these photoactive bio-nano interfaces.
-
Investigating Protein–Nanocrystal Interactions for Photodriven Activity
ACS Applied Bio Materials
We illustrate how intermolecular interactions facilitate ATP-free electron transfer between either native or engineered MoFe protein (MoFeP) from nitrogenase and a CdS nanorod (NR) by following the reduction of H+ to H2. First, by varying the charge on the surface of the NR, we show the role of electrostatic interactions on MoFeP binding to the particle surface and subsequent H+ reduction. Next, the role of strong, semicovalent thiol–CdS interactions was tested using free cysteines on the…
We illustrate how intermolecular interactions facilitate ATP-free electron transfer between either native or engineered MoFe protein (MoFeP) from nitrogenase and a CdS nanorod (NR) by following the reduction of H+ to H2. First, by varying the charge on the surface of the NR, we show the role of electrostatic interactions on MoFeP binding to the particle surface and subsequent H+ reduction. Next, the role of strong, semicovalent thiol–CdS interactions was tested using free cysteines on the MoFeP. By blocking free cysteines, we show that the presence of free thiols on the protein has little to no influence on CdS binding and resultant photocatalytic activity. We next studied methods to covalently bind the protein to CdS by modifying the free cysteines with dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO) and reacting the CdS NRs capped with a mixture of negatively charged thioglycolic acid and thiol-PEG3-azide ligands. As compared to that of the unmodified proteins, a 32.2 ± 1.5% and 61.7 ± 2.1% increase in H2 production was observed from MoFeP and C-MoFeP, respectively. At last, to test the effect of both charge and covalent tethering, positively charged cysteamine/azide CdS NRs were reacted with DBCO-modified C-MoFeP, which showed little improvement over native C-MoFeP alone under irradiation. These results show the importance of both electrostatic associations between the NR and protein and covalently tethering the protein to the semiconductor surface for enhanced electron transfer and photodriven activity.
-
Solar Photocatalytic Phenol Polymerization and Hydrogen Generation for Flocculation of Wastewater Impurities
ACS Applied Polymer Materials
Achieving global sustainability will require balancing encroaching climate changes while maintaining the existing quality of life. Using sunlight to purify wastewater while simultaneously generating usable fuels is an opportunity to approach both targets in a cost-efficient manner. In addition, converting biomass products to usable polymers is a sustainable approach for potentially replacing polystyrene or other petroleum-derived polymers. Phenols from medical, manufacturing, and agricultural…
Achieving global sustainability will require balancing encroaching climate changes while maintaining the existing quality of life. Using sunlight to purify wastewater while simultaneously generating usable fuels is an opportunity to approach both targets in a cost-efficient manner. In addition, converting biomass products to usable polymers is a sustainable approach for potentially replacing polystyrene or other petroleum-derived polymers. Phenols from medical, manufacturing, and agricultural waste are commonly found in many water sources, and they are known to foul common reverse osmosis membranes. Here, we show oxidative polymerization of guaiacol, an aromatic compound derived from biomass, with concurrent hydrogen gas generation by using platinum-seeded cadmium sulfide nanorods (Pt@CdS) as photocatalysts. Rather than forming short oligomers as typically made by enzymes such as laccase and peroxidase, the resulting polymers show higher molecular weights that can more easily flocculate out of water. By comparing guaiacol conversion to molecular weight and dispersity, we found the guaiacol to polymerize via a chain-growth process. We also show that Pt@CdS can polymerize other phenols as well by testing the monomers phenol, 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid, gallic acid, and vanillin. Lastly, because the aqueous solubility of these aromatic polymers decreases dramatically with molecular weight, polymerization reactions were also tested in biphasic solutions to determine whether chain growth could propagate in the oil phase. We show that the Pt@CdS nanoparticles can form stable Pickering emulsions in various biphasic combinations and that both H2 formation and polymer molecular weight correlated to the partition coefficient of guaiacol into the oil phase as well as the solubility of the growing polymer chains.
Other authorsSee publication -
Click Nucleic Acid Mediated Loading of Prodrug Activating Enzymes in PEG-PLGA Nanoparticles for Combination Chemotherapy
Biomacromolecules
The simultaneous delivery of multiple therapeutics to a single site has shown promise for cancer targeting and treatment. However, because of the inherent differences in charge and size between drugs and biomolecules, new approaches are required for colocalization of unlike components in one delivery vehicle. In this work, we demonstrate that triblock copolymers containing click nucleic acids (CNAs) can be used to simultaneously load a prodrug enzyme (cytosine deaminase, CodA) and a…
The simultaneous delivery of multiple therapeutics to a single site has shown promise for cancer targeting and treatment. However, because of the inherent differences in charge and size between drugs and biomolecules, new approaches are required for colocalization of unlike components in one delivery vehicle. In this work, we demonstrate that triblock copolymers containing click nucleic acids (CNAs) can be used to simultaneously load a prodrug enzyme (cytosine deaminase, CodA) and a chemotherapy drug (doxorubicin, DOX) in a single polymer nanoparticle. CNAs are synthetic analogs of DNA comprised of a thiolene backbone and nucleotide bases that can hybridize to complementary strands of DNA. In this study, CodA was appended with complementary DNA sequences and fluorescent dyes to allow its encapsulation in PEG-CNA-PLGA nanoparticles. The DNA-modified CodA was found to retain its enzyme activity for converting prodrug 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) to active 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) using a modified fluorescent assay. The DNA-conjugated CodA was then loaded into the PEG-CNA-PLGA nanoparticles and tested for cell cytotoxicity in the presence of the 5-FC prodrug. To study the effect of coloading DOX and CodA within a single nanoparticle, cell toxicity assays were run to compare dually loaded nanoparticles with nanoparticles loaded only with either DOX or CodA. We show that the highest level of cell death occurred when both DOX and CodA were simultaneously entrapped and delivered to cells in the presence of 5-FC.
-
DNA assembled photoactive systems
Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science
Advances in the utilization of DNA to fabricate a wide array of rigid and flexible multi-dimensional nanostructures has inspired scientists to build photoactive and responsive materials. Because many of these hybrid systems have shown improved and controllable optical and electronic properties as compared to single components, there has been significant effort in exploring their use for biomedical and energy applications in the past decade. Here, we introduce the chemistry used to conjugate DNA…
Advances in the utilization of DNA to fabricate a wide array of rigid and flexible multi-dimensional nanostructures has inspired scientists to build photoactive and responsive materials. Because many of these hybrid systems have shown improved and controllable optical and electronic properties as compared to single components, there has been significant effort in exploring their use for biomedical and energy applications in the past decade. Here, we introduce the chemistry used to conjugate DNA oligonucleotides to photoactive nanomaterials and the use of DNA assembly to fabricate hybrid photoactive nanomaterial systems and their utilization for in vitro and in vivo biosensing, bioimaging as well as solar energy harvesting and conversion. As DNA structures become more robust and scalable, and our understanding of energy and charge transfer in DNA assembled systems progresses, we expect increasing efforts to use DNA as a structure directing agent to build highly functional photoactive systems that function in both biological and non-biological systems.
-
Conversion of Ethanol to 2-Ethylhexenal at Ambient Conditions Using Tandem, Biphasic Catalysis
ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
Ethanol is a ubiquitous fermentation product well-tolerated by microbes, but purification from growth media requires multiple distillations or other energy intensive processes. Converting such metabolites to larger, hydrophobic products would both yield higher energy products and facilitate separation. Here, we demonstrate the conversion of C2 ethanol to C8 2-ethylhexenal via a sequential oxidation–aldol–hydrogenation–aldol process with solar energy as the only required input. Photocatalysis…
Ethanol is a ubiquitous fermentation product well-tolerated by microbes, but purification from growth media requires multiple distillations or other energy intensive processes. Converting such metabolites to larger, hydrophobic products would both yield higher energy products and facilitate separation. Here, we demonstrate the conversion of C2 ethanol to C8 2-ethylhexenal via a sequential oxidation–aldol–hydrogenation–aldol process with solar energy as the only required input. Photocatalysis was utilized to drive enzymatic oxidation of ethanol, while biphasic media in conjunction with aldol coupling and Pd assisted hydrogenation kept the oxidation and reduction processes physically and chemically separated. Using this process, 2-ethylhexenal was produced from ethanol in both buffer and diluted yeast media.
Other authorsSee publication -
Light-Driven Catalytic Upgrading of Butanol in a Biohybrid Photoelectrochemical System
ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
This paper reports the design and preparation of a biohybrid photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) that can drive the tandem enzymatic oxidation and aldol condensation of n-butanol (BuOH) to C8 2-ethylhexenal (2-EH). In this work, BuOH was first oxidized to n-butyraldehyde (BA) by the alcohol oxidase enzyme (AOx), concurrently generating hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). To preserve enzyme activity and increase kinetics nearly 2-fold, the H2O2 was removed by oxidation at a bismuth vanadate (BiVO4)…
This paper reports the design and preparation of a biohybrid photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) that can drive the tandem enzymatic oxidation and aldol condensation of n-butanol (BuOH) to C8 2-ethylhexenal (2-EH). In this work, BuOH was first oxidized to n-butyraldehyde (BA) by the alcohol oxidase enzyme (AOx), concurrently generating hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). To preserve enzyme activity and increase kinetics nearly 2-fold, the H2O2 was removed by oxidation at a bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) photoanode. Organocatalyzed aldol condensation of C4 BA to C8 2-EH improved the overall BuOH conversion to 6.2 ± 0.1% in a biased PEC after 16 h. A purely light-driven, unbiased PEC showed 3.1 ± 0.1% BuOH conversion, or ∼50% of that obtained from the biased system. Replacing AOx with the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), which requires the diffusional nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide cofactor (NAD+/NADH), resulted in only 0.2% BuOH conversion due to NAD+ dimerization at the photoanode. Lastly, the application of more positive biases with the biohybrid AOx PEC led to measurable production of H2 at the cathode, but at the cost of lower BA and 2-EH yields due to both product overoxidation and decreased enzyme activity.
Other authorsSee publication -
Multicatalytic, Light-Driven Upgrading of Butanol to 2-Ethylhexenal and Hydrogen under Mild Aqueous Conditions
ACS Catalysis
Microbes produce low-molecular-weight alcohols from sugar, but these metabolites are difficult to separate from water and possess relatively low heating values. A combination of photo-, organo-, and enzyme catalysis is shown here to convert C4 butanol (BuOH) to C8 2-ethylhexenal (2-EH) using only solar energy to drive the process. First, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) catalyzed the oxidation of BuOH to butyraldehyde (BA), using NAD+ as a cofactor. To prevent back reaction, NAD+ was regenerated…
Microbes produce low-molecular-weight alcohols from sugar, but these metabolites are difficult to separate from water and possess relatively low heating values. A combination of photo-, organo-, and enzyme catalysis is shown here to convert C4 butanol (BuOH) to C8 2-ethylhexenal (2-EH) using only solar energy to drive the process. First, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) catalyzed the oxidation of BuOH to butyraldehyde (BA), using NAD+ as a cofactor. To prevent back reaction, NAD+ was regenerated using a platinum-seeded cadmium sulfide (Pt@CdS) photocatalyst. An amine-based organocatalyst then upgraded BA to 2-EH under mild aqueous conditions rather than harsh basic conditions in order to preserve enzyme and photocatalyst stability. The process also simultaneously increased total BuOH conversion. Thus, three disparate types of catalysts synergistically generated C8 products from C4 alcohols under green chemistry conditions of neutral pH, low temperature, and pressure.
Other authorsSee publication
Organizations
-
Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society
Member
- -
Theta Tau Engineering Fraternity
Member
- -
Volunteering Canterbury (New Zealand)
Volunteer
-• Participated in a neighborhood clean-up effort to assist with the Christchurch Earthquake Relief.
Recommendations received
1 person has recommended Alex
Join now to viewMore activity by Alex
-
I wish the circumstances and the atmosphere were different, but we're living in a tough neighborhood... Last week, I received an official letter…
I wish the circumstances and the atmosphere were different, but we're living in a tough neighborhood... Last week, I received an official letter…
Liked by Alex Harris
-
I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Individual Contributor at Intel Corporation!
I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Individual Contributor at Intel Corporation!
Liked by Alex Harris
-
Our company, Revision Autonomy Inc., is excited to be joining the National Coalition for Open Roads, NCFOR (https://ncfor.us/). Every year in the…
Our company, Revision Autonomy Inc., is excited to be joining the National Coalition for Open Roads, NCFOR (https://ncfor.us/). Every year in the…
Liked by Alex Harris
-
I'm very humbled to receive the Woodward Global Supply Chain Lifesaver Award for the month of September 2023! Thank you to Joseph Patterson, Ryan…
I'm very humbled to receive the Woodward Global Supply Chain Lifesaver Award for the month of September 2023! Thank you to Joseph Patterson, Ryan…
Liked by Alex Harris
-
Happy new (Jewish) year from the laboratory of nanobio interfaces! I'm so lucky and honored to lead such an amazing group of scientists to develop…
Happy new (Jewish) year from the laboratory of nanobio interfaces! I'm so lucky and honored to lead such an amazing group of scientists to develop…
Liked by Alex Harris
-
I was honored to receive the Hershel Rich Technion Innovation Award, as part of the board of governors meeting, 2023. While It is a personal prize…
I was honored to receive the Hershel Rich Technion Innovation Award, as part of the board of governors meeting, 2023. While It is a personal prize…
Liked by Alex Harris
-
NXP family day. Great day out with the family and kids! #nxpsemiconductor #nxp #familyday2023 #familyfunday
NXP family day. Great day out with the family and kids! #nxpsemiconductor #nxp #familyday2023 #familyfunday
Liked by Alex Harris
-
This Friday, March 31st, 2023, I am retiring after a career of over 37 years at Ingersoll Rand. During that span of time, I have held 9…
This Friday, March 31st, 2023, I am retiring after a career of over 37 years at Ingersoll Rand. During that span of time, I have held 9…
Liked by Alex Harris
People also viewed
Explore collaborative articles
We’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.
Explore MoreOthers named Alex Harris in United States
-
Alex Harris
-
Alex Harris
Talent Acquisition Professional
-
Alex Harris
Managing Director - Global Complex Program Lead for CBRE@google
-
Alex Harris
-
Alex Harris
989 others named Alex Harris in United States are on LinkedIn
See others named Alex Harris