Maher A. Alodan, Ph.D

Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering Department

King Saud University

Date of Birth:                    1386 H (1966)

Marital Status:                  Married with 2 children

Education:

-          B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering with First Degree Honor (King Saud University, 1990).

-          Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering (University of Minnesota, 1996)

Employment History:

-          Research and Teaching Assistantship: University of Minnesota              (1990-1996)

-          Post-Doctorate: Corrosion Research Center, U. of Minnesota                 (1996-1997).

-          Senior Advisory Development Engineer: Seagate Technology                (1997- 2000).

-          Assistant Professor: King Saud University, Chem. Eng. Dept.               (2000-2005)

-          Associate Professor: King Saud University, Chem. Eng. Dept.               (2/2005-present)

Honors, Recognition and Achievement:

-          Received King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud  Legion of Honor Medal for the first degree for Scientific patent, based on the Royal Directive Decision Patronized by H.R.H. Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz in 1427H (2006 G).

Academic  Activities:

-          Developed different curriculum for materials science and engineering.

-          Teaching: Principal Instructor in Chemistry of Engineering Materials, Materials Science, Materials Engineering and Corrosion Engineering.

-          Teaching and supervising several graduate students (Currently three Master level and One PhD level)

-          Working  as part time consultant for Saudi Arabian Basic Industry Company (SABIC) and King Abdullaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST).

-          Part of the Executive Committee of SABIC grant for chair in polymer engineering and science. Duties of the committee to build research (including labs and facilities) and educational program specialized in polymer engineering and science.

Research and Publications:

-          Published over 50 research studies and papers in different refereed Journals and in refereed conferences.

Patents:

1. Maher Alodan, Lance Stover, and Dan Burbank, “Coils with Ultra-high Packing Density”, Provisional application # SEA 8697.01 Dec./1997.

2. Lance Stover and Maher Alodan, “Patterned and Directional Selective Roughening at a Slider Air Bearing Surface”, US Patent number 6366429

      3. M. Alodan and D. Burbank, “Photoresist Develop Rate Monitor By Electrochemical Impedance Analysis”, Sept. 1998.

4. M. Alodan, KSU, L. Stover, J. Hoehn, S. Reimer, A. Xidis, N Amin, Seagate Technology, “ Sacrificial Anode to Minimize Magnetic Head Corrosion”, 2001.

-          Conduct multiple research funds as principal investigator in corrosion and corrosion protection. Major Research topics are: Mapping of Atmospheric Corrosion rate in Saudi Arabia. Cathodic protection of pipeline: Characterization and modeling of corrosion. Funds were granted from KACST, SABIC, and KSU.

-          The Electrochemical Society.

-          International Society of Electrochemistry.

-          American Electroplaters and Surface Finishers Society and Metal Finishing. 

-          National Association of Corrosion Engineers. American Society of Materials.  

Invention Summary

Abstract:

The basic principle is based on selectively removing (etching) one phase of the surface at the nanoscale boundaries. The etching is a solution containing several acidic chemicals that attack one phase and leave the other phase intact. Such nanoscale etching is responsible to reduce the friction forces between the moving surfaces especially at very high speed. One of the main applications of the patent is in information handling systems such as a disk drive. In the slider area of the hard disk drive, the roughened surface portion of the contact area is formed by one of several techniques. One of the techniques uses a wet etch to remove at least one of the phases of a multi-phase material. Another technique defines the area to be roughened using photolithography. After exposing the photoresist using either a mask or a laser, a portion of photoresist is removed and the areas unprotected by photoresist are dry etched to form the roughened contact area.