Rate My Professor Srinivas Palanki

Srinivas Palanki serves as the Chairperson and Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at West Virginia University’s Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, where he joined in 2021. A chemical engineer by training, he obtained his B.Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 1986, M.S. in 1987, and Ph.D. in 1992, all in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His academic career spans over three decades, beginning at Florida State University in 1992 as Assistant Professor, promoted to Associate Professor in 1997, and Full Professor in 2003. From 2007 to 2015, he was Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of South Alabama. Subsequently, at Lamar University from 2015 to 2021, he held positions as Dean of the College of Engineering until 2018, Associate Provost for Research and Sponsored Programs until 2019, and Regional Director for TMAC-Southeast, a federally funded Manufacturing Extension Program center, from 2019 to 2021. Throughout his career, Palanki has developed strong research-based academic programs across four state universities and maintained an active portfolio in research, teaching, and service.

Palanki’s research specializes in applying systems engineering tools to engineering and biological problems, with theoretical contributions to real-time optimization of finite-time processes, nonlinear robust control, and nonlinear process modeling. Practical applications include systems for pilot-scale fluidized bed hydrochlorination reactors (Mitsubishi Polysilicon), polymerization reactors (Honeywell), lab-in-a-chip (Applied Liquid Logic), UV-induced skin carcinogenesis protection (Mitchell Cancer Institute), baffle-making process improvement (Metalforms), and methanol production optimization (Natgasoline). His work has received funding from the National Science Foundation, Army Research Laboratories, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Education, Abe Mitchell Cancer Research Fund, and Alabama Space Grant Consortium, as well as chemical industry partners. Current projects encompass process design for 1,3-butadiene production using ASPEN Plus simulations, hierarchical advanced control systems for natural gas dehydration and Allam power cycles, mathematical modeling of ethanol reformers coupled with fuel cell stacks, analysis of Affordable Care Act impacts on diabetes incidence via econometric methods, and pilot-scale hydrochlorination reactor studies comparing experimental and model yields.