12th Excellence in Polymer Graduate Research Symposium

 

San Diego, CA  March 13-17, 2016

see previous years

 

The twelfth symposium on "Excellence in Polymer Graduate Research" took place at the national ACS meeting in San Diego, California on March 13-17, 2016.  The purposes of this symposium were to provide recognition to outstanding graduate students in polymer science and engineering, to foster networking and exposure, and to help develop the careers of future leaders in our field.  We publicized this symposium via the POLY list server, POLY web page, and direct email messages to over 100 departments that are active in polymer research.  We requested that each department nominate one outstanding graduate student to speak on his or her original research in this special symposium.  Each student filled out an application form and had a nominating letter from the research advisor and a letter from the department head.
 
This year we had 31 students in the symposium, with 22 oral presentations and 9 posters.  Both the oral and the poster sessions went very well.  The quality of the papers was generally high.  There were a lot of stimulating questions during the oral sessions and good discussions during the poster session. 

Dr. Karl Haidar, 2016 Chair of POLY, came to the symposium at around noon on Monday to give an encouraging talk to the students.   A group photo was taken with the students, Dr. Haidar, and the symposium organizers.  As part of the recognition, each student received a certificate plus a cash award.  In addition, Wiley (Journal of Polymer Science) presented a book award (worth $250 each) to Nick Pavlopoulos, Morgan Schulze, Lauren Brown, and Jeff Foster.  RSC (Polymer Chemistry) gave a one-year journal subscription to Adam Hauser. 

This symposium was sponsored by the ACS Polymer Chemistry Division (POLY), and cosponsored by Presidential Event (PRES), Younger Chemists Committee (YCC), Division of Professional Relations (PROF), and Society Committee on Education (SOCED).  The symposium had the generous support of POLY, Industrial Advisory Board of the Polymer Division (IAB), Tosoh, Wiley and RSC.  The detailed symposium program is attached below.
 
Symposium Organizing Committee:
H. N. Cheng, USDA
Christopher Ellison, University of Texas
Christine Landry-Coltrain, Eastman Kodak Company
Timothy E. Long, Virginia Tech

 Symposium Program

Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Symposium, San Diego, 2016  
Sponsored by POLY, cosponsored by PRES, PROF, SOCED, YCC    
Supported by POLY, Industrial Advisory Board of POLY, Tosoh, Wiley, RSC    

 
ORAL Session - Monday morning. Session Chairs: Christine Landry-Coltrain, H. N. Cheng
Location: Marriott Marquis - Balboa Room  

 Introductory Remarks   8:00 AM
2394961 Synthesis and Dipolar Assembly of Tetrapod Functional Colloidal Monomers: Colloidal Polymers with “Giant t­butyl groups”, Nick Pavlopoulos, Arizona 8:05 AM
2401302 Synthesis of star­like and brush polymers via grafting­through of macromonomers by ATRP, Pawel Krys, Carnegie-Mellon 8:35 AM
2391763 Assembly of branched polymers into responsive 2D and 3D microstructure, Weinan Xu, Ga Tech- Materials 9:05 AM
 BREAK   9:35 AM
2394725 Optimizing surface treatments for the directed self­assembly of silicon­containing block copolymers, Gregory Blachut, Texas - Chem 9:50 AM
2370676 Enhanced supramolecular self­assembly of P3HT by copolymerization with methacrylate attached liquid crystalline mesogens, Taniya Kekunawela Pathiranage, Texas-Dallas 10:20 AM
2400435 Long Range Ordering of Poly(3­ hexylthiophene) in Fluids and Films: Effects of Self­Assembly Techniques on Liquid Crystallinity, Material Properties and Device Performance, Nabil Kleinhenz, Ga Tech - Chem 10:50 AM

Special Remarks by POLY Chair, Karl Haidar, and Photo Session   11:20 AM
Special Book Awards and Recognition  of Poster Presenters   11:30 AM
     
ORAL Session - Monday afternoon. Session Chairs: Christopher Ellison, Timothy Long

 Introductory Remarks   1:00 PM
2378202 Sustainable Urethane­ based Vitrimers, Jacob Brutman, Minnesota- Chem 1:05 PM
2393852 Biomass­derived polymers incorporating monolignols, Brianna Upton, UCLA 1:35 PM
2396138 Multifunctional Modification of Cellulose Ethers via Olefin Cross­metathesis Followed by Thiol Michael Addition, Yifan Dong, VPI - Macro 2:05 PM
 BREAK   2:35 PM
2394593 Facile Syntheses of Polypeptide Molecular Brushes with Two­dimensional Controlled Architectures, Jingwei Fan, Texas A&M 2:50 PM
2386941 In vitro illustrations: achieving activated fluorescence in cancer cells, Mary Burdette, Clemson 3:20 PM
2395978 Engineering Responsive Matrices for Controlled Drug Delivery: from Bulk Gels to Nanogels, Yingkai Liang, Delaware- Materials 3:50 PM

ORAL Session - Tuesday morning.  Session Chairs: Christopher Ellison, Timothy Long

2397171 Dynamic Bonds in Covalently Crosslinked Polymer Networks for Photo¬Activated Strengthening and Healing, Melissa Gordon, Delaware- CE 8:00 AM
2393631 Postpolymerization modification of liquid crystal alignment in covalent adaptable networks, Matthew McBride, Colorado- CE 8:30 AM
2398927 ThiolTrifluorovinyl Ether (Thiol¬TFVE) Photochemistry: A New Route to Semifluorinated Materials, Brian Donovan, Southern Miss 9:00 AM
  BREAK     9:30 AM
2374505 Functionalized triptycene based poly (ether ether ketone) for ion exchange membranes, Lionel Moh, MIT- Chem 9:45 AM
2400562 Development of Polyimine- ased Dynamic Covalent Network: From Malleable Polymers to High Performance Composites, Philip Taynton, Colorado - Chem 10:15 AM
2399340  A one-electron process in a gel polymer Li O2 battery, Chibueze Amanchukwu, MIT-CE 10:45 AM

ORAL Session - Tuesday afternoon.  Session Chairs: Christine Landry-Coltrain, H. N. Cheng

2402300 Poly(cyclohexylethylene)­block­poly(ethylene oxide) Block Polymers for Metal Oxide Templating, Morgan Schulze, Minnesota- CE 1:00 PM
2399278 Design and Synthesis of Nitrogen­ doped Hierarchical Carbon for Selective Carbon Capture and Electrocatalysis, John W.F. To, Stanford 1:30 PM
2399687 Optically reprogrammable buckling of nanocomposite polymer films, Adam Hauser, U. Mass 2:00 PM
2382814 Probing the surface­localized hyperthermia of gold nanoparticles in a microwave field using polymeric thermometers, R. Nicholas Carmean, Florida 2:30 PM

Special Industrial Career Panel (organized by POLY Industrial Advisory Board) 4:00 PM
     
POSTER Session.  Tuesday evening, 6:00 - 8:00 pm   
San Diego Convention Center - Hall F

  
2369174 The glass transition temperatures of amorphous linear aliphatic polyesters, Jialong Shen, NC State 6:00 PM
2392780 Sorption and diffusion of organic vapors into PIM­1 and the effects of methanol conditioning, Melinda Jue, Ga Tech- CE 6:00 PM
2379607 Design and Synthesis of Fluorescent Conjugated Polyelectrolytes for Sensing Fluoride Ions, Wei Wu, Binghamton 6:00 PM
2393961 Investigation of Nitrobenzene­Based RedoxActive Polymers for Non­Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries, Kevin Cheng, Illinois 6:00 PM
2404422 Effects of Branching on bis-MPA Polymer: A Comparative Study of Polymer Architecture, Joseph Giesen, Tulane 6:00 PM
2399163 Degradable Ferulic Acid Based Epoxy Thermosets, Anthony Maiorana, RPI 6:00 PM
2401287 Enhancing Lactide Polymerization Control through the use of Redox­active Catalysts, Lauren Brown, Tennessee 6:00 PM
2403521 The effect of electrostatic interactions on the response of zwitterionic glucose sensitive hydrogels designed for bioprocess sensing, Tram Nguyen, Utah 6:00 PM
2400094 Anti­Cancer Activity of H2S­Releasing Micelles, Jeffrey Foster, VPI - Chem 6:00 PM