Rate My Professor Patrick Pinhero

Patrick Pinhero is a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering within the College of Engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He earned a BS in chemistry from Creighton University and MS and PhD degrees in physical chemistry and chemical physics from the University of Notre Dame. Prior to his appointment at the University of Missouri in 2007, Pinhero served as an instructor at Iowa State University's Ames Laboratory from 1998 to 1999 and as a research scientist at the Idaho National Laboratory, where his work focused on nuclear energy systems. At the University of Missouri, he advanced to professor of chemical engineering, holding leadership positions such as department chair and co-chair of the Chemical Engineering department and director of research for the nuclear engineering program.

Pinhero's research employs material interfaces to understand, control, and regulate chemical processes. His research groups develop nanoantenna arrays for solar energy collection via interfacial molecular assembly, special ballistic self-curing lubricants, and molecularly-assembled nanoalloys. Additional efforts include pyro-electrometallurgical techniques to segregate elements from spent nuclear fuels for recycling into light water and breeder reactor systems, alongside characterizing structural alloy stability using autoclaves, electrochemistry, and surface science. His scholarship has garnered over 1,444 citations, with prominent publications such as "Theory and manufacturing processes of solar nanoantenna electromagnetic collectors" (2010), "Solar nantenna electromagnetic collectors" (2008), "Pt/TiO2 (rutile) catalysts for sulfuric acid decomposition in sulfur-based thermochemical water-splitting cycles" (2008), "Electrodeposition of copper for three-dimensional metamaterial fabrication" (2017), and early contributions like "Fivefold surface of quasicrystalline AlPdMn: Structure determination using low-energy-electron diffraction" (1998). He holds US Patent 8,071,931 for "Structures, systems and methods for harvesting energy from electromagnetic radiation" (2011). During his tenure at the Idaho National Laboratory, Pinhero's team received two NASA Tech Briefs Nano 50 awards for infrared energy harvesting technology, leading him to co-found RedWave Energy Inc. for rectenna prototype development with US Department of Energy funding. Pinhero contributed to university service as Co-Chair of the Campus Budget Committee, Executive Committee member of the Faculty Council, and on committees including Academic Affairs Inter-semester Subcommittee and COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction. He has mentored PhD students awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships.