Michael Barankin

Teaching Associate Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering

I see teaching as a mutually beneficial process between the professor, with significant knowledge and/or experience in the subject and the student, inspired to obtain it. I believe this reciprocal relationship allows the professor to learn as much as the student—continually becoming an even better teacher—if the lines of communication are open and students are actively learning. As a result, I spend a lot of time focusing on communication techniques, both in and out of the classroom (including digital methods). While this focus on communication was crucial in my first years as a lecturer/researcher at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen—as I taught most courses in Dutch, which I only learned to speak later in life—I have since expanded this focus to include numerous “blended learning” techniques such as animated videos, flash lectures, and anonymous online quizzes (formative assessments). I have had significant success establishing a “partial flip” (the “flipped classroom”) for individual lectures at the Hanze which I plan to bring to Mines, and I am excited to explore the possibility of publishing some of these results.

While at the Hanze I taught many different courses, ranging from an interdisciplinary honors course (teaching students from different majors how to conduct a chemical experiment in a lab) to a master’s course on bio-fuels for mobility applications, but my favorite courses to teach include catalysis (reaction kinetics), fluid mechanics (including transport phenomena), and design using Aspen Plus. I also very much enjoyed integrating research into the undergraduate curriculum: supervising group research projects of both senior chemical engineering students and honors masterclass students.

While my lab research experience has been diverse, it has been generally focused on Renewable Energy or Sustainable Energy Systems. At UCLA I worked with atmospheric pressure plasmas to deposit both transparent conducting oxides and self-cleaning (hydrophobic) coatings for photovoltaic cells. At Delft I studied the production of atomic clusters of gallium in a spark discharge, in the hopes they will one day demonstrate superconducting properties. Finally, while at the Hanze I worked on several projects focused on Power-to-Gas technologies, including biological/biochemical solutions. These provided me with experience in thin film & semiconductor analysis techniques (SEM, AFM, ellipsometry, etc.), aerosol & nanoparticle instruments, life-cycle assessment methods, and more. I have also supervised several internship projects using Comsol (formerly FEMLab).

Education

• BS – University of California, Los Angeles
• MS – Technical University of Delft (the Netherlands)
• PhD – University of California, Los Angeles
• Post-Doctoral Study – Technical University of Delft (the Netherlands)

Selected Publications & Presentations

• M. D. M. Barankin, K. J. Cash “Chemical Engineering Senior Design at Colorado School of Mines: Recent Innovations & Achievements“ ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings, 2020.
• M. D. M. Barankin, J. F. Shaffer, L. Nimer “Work in Progress: Development, Implementation, and Student Perceptions of Pre-Class Thermodynamic Videos” ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings, 2019.
• M. D. M. Barankin, T. Q. Gardner, J. C. Ganley “Best Practices in Teaching Unit Ops: the ‘Field Session’ Lab Experience at the Colorado School of Mines” ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings, 2019.
• M. D. M. Barankin, K. Stratman “Effect of Online Recorded Video ‘Review Session’ on Student Test Preparation and Performance for Fluid Mechanics Midterm at a University in the Netherlands” ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Salt Lake City, UT, USA 23 June 2018.
• Adrian Jimenez, M. D. M. Barankin “Comparative Life Cycle Assessments of Methane Production with Renewable Energy and Carbon Dioxide Sources” Next Energy PPRE Symposium, Oldenburg, Germany 30 January 2013.
• Botta, M. D. M. Barankin, S. Walspburger, “Synthetic Methane for Power Storage,” Energy Delta Gas Research (EDGaR) Research Day, Poster, Nunspeet, the Netherlands 25 April 2013.
• M. D. M. Barankin, E. Gonzalez II, S. Habib, L. Gao, and R. F. Hicks “Hydrophobic coatings by atmospheric pressure plasma curing of a liquid precursor” Langmuir, 25(4), January 2009, 2495-2500.
• Moravej, X. Yang, M. D. M. Barankin, J. Penelon, S. E. Babayan, and R. F. Hicks, “Properties of an atmospheric pressure radio-frequency argon and nitrogen plasma,” Plasma Sources Sci. Technol, 15, February 2006, 204-210.

Google Scholar Citations Page

Honors and Awards

• CBE Outstanding Faculty Member Award, Senior Class, CSM 2020
• “Most Likely to Go the Extra Mile”, Blue Key/Omega/Tau Beta Pi Awards, CSM 2019
• Teaching Assistant of the Year, Chemical Engineering, UCLA 2006