Dr. Carlos M. Rinaldi-Ramos is the Chair and Dean’s Leadership Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and a Professor in the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida. He was born and raised in Puerto Rico, receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez in 1998. He completed degrees in Master of Science in Chemical Engineering (2001), Master of Science in Chemical Engineering Practice (2001), and Doctor of Philosophy (2002) in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to the University of Florida, Dr. Rinaldi-Ramos was a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez from 2002 to 2012. Dr. Rinaldi-Ramos is a leading scientist in the areas of fluid dynamics and colloidal hydrodynamics of magnetic nanoparticle suspensions (ferrofluids) and biomedical applications of magnetic nanoparticles. His research spans theory and simulation of magnetic nanoparticle response to dynamic magnetic fields, nanoparticle synthesis and surface modification, characterization of nanoparticle interactions with biological environments, and studies to advance their biomedical applications.
In the field of ferrofluids, Dr. Rinaldi-Ramos has made fundamental contributions to understanding of suspension-scale flows of magnetic nanoparticles in time-varying and rotating magnetic fields. Through a combination of theoretical and experimental work, his group demonstrated that description of ferrofluid flows in rotating magnetic fields requires consideration of internal angular momentum transport through the so-called couple stress and spin viscosity, unique features in the description of flows of structured continua. In the field of nanomedicine, Dr. Rinaldi-Ramos has made outstanding contributions to harnessing localized nanoscale heating for magnetic nanoparticle thermal cancer therapy. His group was the first to demonstrate that receptor-targeted nanoparticles can kill cancer cells without a perceptible macroscopic temperature rise through disruption of lysosomes and activation of lysosomal death pathways. He has also contributed to understanding the synergistic interactions of nanoscale thermal therapy and traditional chemotherapeutics. Dr. Rinaldi-Ramos has pioneered the development and application of new methods to evaluate nanoparticle stability and diffusion in complex and biological fluids. Based on non-invasive monitoring of nanoparticle response to oscillating magnetic fields, these methods permit quantitative measurements of nanoparticle aggregation state, hydrodynamic size, and diffusion in complex environments such as polymer melts, polymer solutions, highly concentrated protein solutions, whole blood, and tissues. More recently, Dr. Rinaldi-Ramos has contributed to understanding the physics of magnetic nanoparticle response to alternating magnetic fields, enabling rational design of high-sensitivity and high-resolution tracers for magnetic particle imaging, an emerging biomedical imaging technology.
Dr. Rinaldi-Ramos is committed to mentoring new generations of scientists and engineers seeking solutions to biomedical problems and to broadening participation of women and minorities in science and engineering.