Associate Professor Patrick Spicer
Patrick Spicer is an Associate Professor in 国民彩票鈥檚 School of Chemical Engineering. He is leader of the Complex Fluids group, a team that works with industry and academic partners to design smart fluids with unique response and flow behaviour linked directly to product and material performance. His lab at 国民彩票 combines broad microscopy, microfluidic, and rheology capability that can be used to understand the behaviour of fluid coatings, films, and other complex products. Before 国民彩票, Pat ran a central engineering research department for the Procter & Gamble Company in the US for 15 years. His group developed new product and process technology there for all of P&G鈥檚 billion-dollar brands. He is co-inventor of P&G鈥檚 $30 million cubosome patent portfolio that Children鈥檚 Hospital Cincinnati used to develop the first product to prevent life-threatening infections in premature infants. He is also the inventor of P&G's recently-patented responsive droplet technology.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Areas of focus:
Formulated product development and scale-up听-听Develop and evaluate innovative microstructured fluid products with biological and industrial relevance.
Rheology measurement and design听- Novel approaches to understanding the microstructure behind commercial fluid flows and performance
3D printing听听- Use surprising materials to print three-dimensional designs. How will your new food, biomaterial, cosmetic, or coating behave when you try to 3D print with it?
Engineered nanocellulose -听Harness bacterial producers of cellulose nanofibers to weave, template, and manufacture advanced materials.听
Emulsions and their shapes -听Emulsion droplets are used in vaccines, pesticides, cosmetics, and foods by dispersing one liquid, like an oil, in another, like water.
Cubosome and hexosome nanoparticles -听Nanostructured liquid crystal particles with unique shape and biological function.
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Recent Funded Project History:
ARC Linkage Project听LP200201026 -听Plant plasters: Efficient spray micro-coatings for plant delivery听- Study and commercially scale the production of听natural cellulose films to diverse plant leaves, stalks, and fruit to improve delivery of active chemicals, protection from pests, reduction of environmental runoff, and shelf-life of food.
2022 Procter & Gamble - High-throughput extensional rheology for automated learning听- Develop an automated microrheometer system able to measure thousands of commercial and developmental fluids to produce machine learning training sets and accelerate new product development efforts.
2022 v2Food - Plant-based meat microstructure modeling听- Provide fundamental imaging characterization of commercial plant-based meat formulations to link raw material and process variables with performance relative to animal meat.
ARC LIEF Project LE200100221 - Australian Rheo-Scattering Facilities -听Build rheoscattering facilities at ANSTO Lucas Heights and Clayton campuses, enabling study of high-speed, stretching, and other complex flows, matching applied processes.
ARC Discovery Project DP190102614: Engineering better sprays for leaf coating -听Develop and test new high-performance sprays with unique cling to harmful plants and insects.
ARC Discovery Project DP190100376: Cause and effect: new mechanisms of particle formation in thunderstorms -听Perform the first studies of pollen rupture behavior in extreme conditions.
ARC Discovery Project DP150100865:听Smartdrops: Shaping the future of particle technology -听Develop novel shaped aerosol particles to greatly enhance drug delivery.
My Teaching
CEIC4007: Product Design Project Thesis A
CEIC4008: Product Design Project Thesis B
CEIC6711: Complex fluid microstructure and rheology