When
Monday, November 17, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.
David Hogan
Assistant Research Professor
Environmental Science and the School of Mining Engineering and Mineral Resources
University of Arizona
"Designed by Nature: Bioinspired Glycolipid Technologies to Advanced Sustainability"
Harshbarger Building, Room 118A-A1
ABSTRACT: The world increasingly faces challenges arising from growing populations, developing economies and advancing technologies. Among these challenges are increasing aridity, rapidly rising demand for mineral resources and the degradation of arable lands. Addressing these issues requires new strategies, resources and technologies that are both effective and sustainable. Biosurfactants are microbially produced surfactants characterized by diverse structures, high surface activity and excellent environmental compatibility. These attributes have led to their exploration across a wide range of applications. However, large-scale implementation has been constrained by challenges in biosynthetic production and economics. Recent advances in green organic chemistry have enabled the synthetic production of glycolipids, a class of biosurfactant-inspired molecules, opening the door to an entirely new generation of environmentally friendly surfactants modeled after nature's designs. In this seminar, I will provide an overview of my group's efforts to characterize these materials and develop technologies that harness their physicochemical properties to address pressing environmental challenges. Specifically, I will highlight applications in remediation of metal contamination, critical material recovery, fugitive dust mitigation and agricultural pathogen control. Together, this work demonstrates how bioinspired molecular design can transform environmental management by enabling practical, scalable technologies that support cleaner water, healthier soils and more sustainable resource use.
BIOSKETCH: David Hogan is an assistant research professor in the Department of Environmental Science and the School of Mining Engineering and Mineral Resources at the University of Arizona. He earned his bachelor's in microbiology at New Mexico State University and his PhD in Environmental Science at the University of Arizona. Hogan is an interdisciplinary scientist working at the intersection of microbiology, environmental chemistry and sustainable materials science. His research focuses on developing bioinspired surfactant technologies to tackle pressing challenges related to critical resource recovery, environmental quality and sustainable agriculture.