8th Excellence in Polymer Graduate Research Symposium

 

San Diego, CA - March 25-27, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The eighth symposium on "Excellence in Polymer Graduate Research" took place at the national ACS meeting in San Diego, California, on March 25-27, 2012.  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 should fill out an application form and have a nominating letter from the research advisor and a letter from the department head.

This year we received 31 submissions.  We were very pleased with the quality of the papers and the caliber of the students.  The symposium was organized into four half-day oral sessions, a poster session, and a networking social. In the oral sessions on Sunday and Monday 24 students gave talks on their papers, and in the Tuesday poster sessions 7 students presented their work.  In addition, the 7 poster presentations were selected by POLY for the ACS Sci-Mix session on Monday evening, and the students were able to present their work to a large audience there as well.  These oral and poster sessions went very well.  Many graduate students asked questions during the talks, and it was enjoyable to see them interacting during and after the sessions. 

 

As part of the recognition, each student received a certificate plus a cash award.  We were pleased that Dr. Bassam Shakhashiri, the 2012 ACS President, sent a written message, which was read to the students.  In addition, Dr. Joseph Mabry, the 2012 POLY Chair, attended the session and spoke to the students for 10 minutes, encouraging them to excel in their work.  A reception followed.  It was wonderful that many established and well-known polymer scientists came to the reception, talking and mingling with the students.

 

This symposium was organized by the ACS Polymer Division (POLY), and cosponsored by Presidential Event (PRES), Young Chemists Committee (YCC), Division of Professional Relations (PROF), and Society Committee on Education (SOCED).  The symposium had the generous support of POLY and Industrial Advisory Board of the Polymer Division (IAB).  The detailed symposium program is attached.

 

Symposium Organizing Committee:

H. N. Cheng (POLY Councilor, USDA)
Christopher Ellison (POLY Member, Univ. of Texas at Austin)
Christine Landry-Coltrain (POLY Alternate Councilor, Eastman Kodak Company)
Timothy E. Long (POLY Past Chair, Virginia Tech )

 

Symposium Program

 

Excellence in Polymer Graduate Research, March 25-27, 2012

 

Sponsored by the Division of Polymer Chemistry (POLY), cosponsored by Presidential Event (PRES), Young Chemists Committee (YCC), Division of Professional Relations (PROF), and Society Committee on Education (SOCED)

 

Organized by POLY (H. N. Cheng, Chris Ellison, Tim Long, Christine Landry-Coltrain, co-organizers)
Financial Support: ACS Polymer Division, POLY Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) 

 

 Oral Session 1.  (Sunday morning) Moderators:  H. N. Cheng, Chris Ellison 

 Introductory Remarks
11669 Glycosylated polypeptides by ring opening polymerization of glycosylated N-carboxyanhydrides 
 Kramer, Jessica, UCLA Chemistry
16002 Comparative study of linear and cyclic polypeptoids' thermo-responsive property
 Lahasky, Samuel, Louisiana State Univ.
14455 Modulating supramolecular assemblies and mechanical properties of engineered protein materials by fluorinated amino acids 
 Yuvienco, Carlo, Polytechnic Institute of NYU
 Intermission
13942 Phosphonium-containing polyelectrolytes for nonviral gene delivery 
 Hemp, Sean, Virginia Tech, Chemistry
13940 Tunable elastin-mimetic multiblock hybrid copolymers for biomedical applications
 Grieshaber, Sarah, U of Delaware, Material Science
17056 Controlled release of model therapeutics from hydrogel depots by photodegradation
 Griffin, Donald, UCLA Biomed
    
Oral Session 2.  (Sunday afternoon)  Moderator:  Chris Ellison
 Recognition of Posters  
15099 Photoresponsive hydrogels to predictably control the mechanics and biochemistry of the cell niche 
 Tibbitt, Mark,  Univ. of Colorado
12916 Chemistry and photophysical properties of conjugated organic functionalized T10/12 silsesquioxanes 
 Furgal, Joseph, Univ of Michigan
13939 Improved hydrogel properties through photopolymerization in lyotropic liquid crystal templates 
 Forney, Bradley, Univ of Iowa
 Intermission   
17544 Ambipolar field-effect charge transport properties of conjugated polymer semiconductors
 Kim, Felix, Univ of Washington
10984 Atomistic band gap engineering in donor-acceptor polymers 
 Gibson, Gregory, Univ of Toronto
13437 Morphology of charged block copolymers of fluorinated isoprene and sulfonated styrene
 Wang, Xiaojun, Univ of Tennessee
 Remarks by POLY Chair Joe Mabry and Written Message from ACS President Bassam Shakhashiri    
 

Photo Session   
 Graduate/Undergraduate Reception  
    
Oral Session 3.  (Monday morning)  Moderator:  Christine Landry-Coltrain  
17057 Synthesis and self-assembly of shape amphiphiles: Hydrophobic polystyrene tethered hydrophilic POSS/C60 nanoparticles 
 Yu, Xinfei, Univ. of Akron
13488 Synthesis and self-assembly of side-chain metallocene-containing block copolymers
 Hardy, Christopher, U of South Carolina
12591 Synthesis and self-assembly of bio-responsive amphiphilic block copolymers 
 Kelley, Elizabeth, U. of Delaware, Chem Engineering
 Intermission   
12193 Synthesis and photophysics of fluorescent conjugated polymers as chemosensors for iron cations 
 Fegley, Megan, SUNY at Binghamton
11824 The preparation of photodegradable polymers containing metal-metal bonds Via click chemistry 
 Brady, Sarah, Univ of Oregon
11028 Metathesis route to light harvesting polymers with tunable molecular weights and compositions 
 Speros, Joshua, U of Minnesota
    
Oral Session 4.  (Monday afternoon)  Moderator:  Christine Landry-Coltrain  
16693 Versatile synthetic routes to create functional polymer surface utilizing thiol-click reactions 
 Hensarling, Ryan, U of Southern Mississippi
16958 Hydrocarbon polymers from salt in water. C1 polymerization of a sulfoxonium salt
 Luo, Jun, U of California Irvine
16761 Preparation of low equivalent weight perfluorinated ionomers with water insolubility
 Sayler, Todd, Univ. of Alabama
 Intermission   
12128 Derivatization strategies for the polysaccharide alginate 
 Pawar, Siddhesh, Virginia Tech, Macromolecular
10610 Edge electrospinning for high throughput production of quality nanofibers 
 Thoppey Muthuraman, Nagarajan, North Carolina State U.
14401 Spatio-temporal correlations in unfolded biopolymers: theory and simulations 
 Cheng, Ryan, U of Texas, Chemistry
    
Poster Session (Tuesday evening).  Also ACS Sci-Mix Session (Monday evening)
10654 Developing poly (benzobisazoles) as new semiconducting materials for organic electronics 
 Intemann, Jeremy, Iowa State Univ
11268 Synthesis and self-assembly of novel temperature responsive functional caprolactone polymers 
 Hao, Jing, Univ of Texas Dallas
11391 Synthesis and direct visualization of dumbbell-shaped molecular brushes 
 Li, Ang, Texas A&M Univ, Chemistry
16571 Novel polyelectrolyte nanocages via “crystal-forming” miniemulsions 
 Li, Yukun, SUNY at Buffalo
17559 Monodisperse conjugated organoborane oligomers: Correlation of structure with optoelectronic properties 
 Chen, Pangkuan, Rutgers Univ
17343 Tailoring the properties of PDMS-PEG hydrogel scaffolds 
 Bailey, Brennan, Texas A&M Univ, Biomed
14009 Environmentally-friendly plasticizers from a renewable biosource 
 Sun, Wenxiao, Central Michigan Univ.