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Giovanniantonio Natale

PhD, PEng

Positions

Associate Professor

Schulich School of Engineering, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering

Contact information

Web presence

Location

Office: END204-B
Laboratory: ENG324

Background

Educational Background

B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Napoli, 2009

M.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Napoli, 2011

Doctor of Philosophy Chemical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, 2015

Biography

Before coming to the University of Calgary, Dr. Natale was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia. In the group of Prof. S. Hatzikiriakos, he worked on the dynamics of self-propelling particles in complex fluids. Dr. Natale holds a PhD from École Polytechnique de Montréal under the supervision of Prof. P.J. Carreau, M.C. Heuzey and J. Férec (from Université de Bretagne-Sud). There, he studied the rheology of rod-like particles suspensions and specifically, carbon nanotube suspensions. Dr. Natale’s work is published in multiple peer-reviewed journal publications (Journal of Rheology, AIChE Journal, Food Hydro-colloids, Journal of Material Chemistry, etc.) and presented at national and international conferences (Society of Rheology, European Society of Rheology, American Physical Society, Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference and more). Since 2021, Dr. Natale is the elected vice president of the Canadian Society of Rheology.

Courses

Course number Course title Semester
ENCH 331 Process Fluid Dynamics Winter 2017 - 2022
ENCH 613 AdvancedTopicsInMassTransfer Winter 2017 - 2022
ENCH 631 Advanced Topics Fluid Mechanic Fall 2017 - 2022

Projects

Complex Fluid Laboratory

Dr. Natale’s research interests lie at the interface between rheology, soft matter and active/passive colloidal suspensions. A combination of modeling and experiments is applied to explain in depth the rheological behaviour of complex/structured fluids.

More details on the current research projects can be found in the personal webpage. The Complex Fluids Laboratory is always looking for new challenges and collaborations. Feel free to contact and visit us.

Awards

  • Schulich School of Engineering Faculty Teaching Award, University of Calgary. 2019
  • Schulich School of Engineering Departmental Teaching Achievement Award, University of Calgary. 2018
  • Presentation Award , Annual European rheology conference (AERC). 2015

Publications

More Information

If you are interested in joining Dr. Natale’s Complex fluids laboratory, whether as an undergraduate or graduate student, or as a postdoctoral scholar, please contact him with your research background, a current CV, and a short one page statement of why you want to study colloidal science and/or rheology. Please, check the department guidelines to ensure that you will meet the requirements for admission: https://www.ucalgary.ca/future-students/graduate/explore-programs/chemical-petroleum-engineering-doctor-philosophy-thesis-based.  

Experience in low Reynolds hydrodynamics, rheology, microscopy and colloidal science is definitely an asset. Also, researchers with different backgrounds than chemical engineering (physics, chemistry, applied mathematics, etc.) are also very welcome.