Robert Tilton

About

Robert Tilton is the Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, where he has been a faculty member since 1992. He is recognized as a Fellow of both the American Chemical Society and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. His research group focuses on complex fluid interfacial phenomena, conducting fundamental investigations into the structure and dynamics of macromolecules, surfactants, and composite nanoparticles in suspension or adsorbed at solid or fluid interfaces. The group's work supports application-driven research in areas such as environmental nanotechnology, aerosolized carriers for pulmonary drug delivery, lubrication, and the development of high-efficiency emulsifiers. A central theme of his research is understanding phenomena that arise in realistic multicomponent mixtures, which are not predicted by the behavior of idealized single-component systems. Professor Tilton's research projects include studying colloidal forces in polymer/surfactant mixtures, where the complexation of polymers and surfactants profoundly alters colloidal forces, particularly affecting the strength and range of the colloidal depletion force. Another key area is the investigation of Marangoni transport in complex surfactant systems, exploring how surface tension gradients influence multiphase flows and how surfactant interactions can amplify or suppress these effects. This research also extends to developing self-dispersing aerosolized…

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Materials science
• Biochemistry
• Composite material
• Nanotechnology
• Horticulture
• Biophysics
• Biology

Selected publications

• Temperature- and pH-Responsive Star Polymers as Nanocarriers with Potential for <i>in Vivo</i> Agrochemical Delivery

  ACS Nano · 2020 · 175 citations

  -PNIPAm star polymers to provide efficient and temperature-programmed delivery of cationic agrochemicals into plants for protection against heat stress.

  DOI

• Towards realizing nano-enabled precision delivery in plants

  Nature Nanotechnology · 2024-06-06 · 110 citations

  reviewOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Star Polymer Size, Charge Content, and Hydrophobicity Affect their Leaf Uptake and Translocation in Plants

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2021 · 74 citations

  star polymer solution. In spite of their property differences, ∼30% of the applied star polymers translocated to other plant organs, higher than uptake of conventional foliar applied agrochemicals (<5%). The property differences affected their distribution in the plant. The ∼6 nm star polymers exhibited 3 times higher transport to younger leaves than larger ones, while the ∼35 nm star polymer had over 2 times higher transport to roots than smaller ones, suggesting small star polymers favor sympl…

  PublisherDOI

• Star Polymers with Designed Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenging and Agent Delivery Functionality Promote Plant Stress Tolerance

  ACS Nano · 2022 · 73 citations

  assimilation, Rubisco carboxylation rate, and photosystem II quantum yield. Mg loaded RSP improved photosynthesis in Mg deficient plants, mainly by promoting Rubisco activity. These results indicate the potential of ROS scavenging nanocarriers like RSP to alleviate abiotic stress in crop plants, allowing crop plants to be more resilient to heat stress, and potentially other climate change induced abiotic stressors.

  PublisherDOI

• Charge, Aspect Ratio, and Plant Species Affect Uptake Efficiency and Translocation of Polymeric Agrochemical Nanocarriers

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2023-05-25 · 67 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  An incomplete understanding of how agrochemical nanocarrier properties affect their uptake and translocation in plants limits their application for promoting sustainable agriculture. Herein, we investigated how the nanocarrier aspect ratio and charge affect uptake and translocation in monocot wheat (Triticum aestivum) and dicot tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) after foliar application. Leaf uptake and distribution to plant organs were quantified for polymer nanocarriers with the same diameter (∼10…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Marangoni Transport Synergism in Mixed Surfactant Systems

  NSF · $353k · 2017–2021

• Equilibrium and Dynamics of Polymer-Grafted Nanoparticles at Fluid Interfaces

  NSF · $337k · 2013–2017

• High Efficiency Nanoparticulate Emulsifiers

  NSF · $240k · 2007–2011

Frequent coauthors

• Gregory V. Lowry

  60 shared

• Michal G. Rose

  VA Connecticut Healthcare System

  54 shared

• Zaoli Jiang

  53 shared

• Edward Chu

  Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center

  53 shared

• Samuel So

  Stanford University

  52 shared

• Angeline Foo

  St. George Hospital

  52 shared

• Yun Yen

  51 shared

• Stephen Garoff

  Carnegie Mellon University

  37 shared

Labs

• Tilton GroupPI

  Complex fluid interfacial phenomena

Education

• B.S.

  University of Delaware

  1986

• M.S.

  Stanford University

  1987

• Ph.D.

  Stanford University

  1991

Awards & honors

• Victor K. LaMer Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in C…
• Fellow of the American Chemical Society
• Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological…
• Excellence in Fluid Mechanics Research and Oral Presentation…
• Victor K. LaMer Award for Graduate Research in Colloid and S…

Similar researchers at Carnegie Mellon University

• Ignacio Grossmannh-117
• Neil Donahueh-116
• Lorenz Bieglerh-92