Dr. Michael Heying

Research Interests

• Improving theoretical descriptions of the thermodynamic properties (pressure, density, chemical potential, etc.) and structures (pair distribution functions) of model fluids
  • Utilizing these improvements to better understand and predict phenomena like phase changes in these systems
  • Building (theoretically) more non-idealities into these “ideal” fluids to better mimic more realistic and more interesting systems
  • Simulating model fluids (hard particles, soft potentials, etc.) in various ensembles as a way of providing comparative experimental data
• Reactor Kinetics
  • Continuous reactors, where reactors are continually fed in and products are continually removed are often used for large-scale production
  • Investigating the kinetics of fermentation of beer through a set of continuous reactors as a way of potentially making what are complicated fermentation rate equations simpler and easier to study.  We hope to use our kinetic equations to consider how we can make this process more advantageous, in terms of maximizing the rate of production while minimizing the concentration of off-flavor compounds