Vol. 14, No. 2 August 2010 University of Connecticut Institute of Materials Science Dr. Samuel J. Huang, of Hampton, beloved husband, father, and brother, passed away on April 23, 2010 after a short and courageous battle with colon cancer. Dr. Huang passed peace- fully with his family by his side. He was born in Canton, China on March 14, 1937 and grew up during tumultuous times. The family fled mainland China during World War II and took refuge in Hong Kong. After the war, the family settled in Tai- wan, where Dr. Huang attended and graduated from Taiwan National University. He immigrated to the United States in 1961 and received his Ph D. in polymer chemistry from Inside this issue: Fledgling Biodiesel Industry Fights to Survive Page 2 Faculty Receive Honors Page 3 New Faculty Welcomed Page 4 IMS Long Range Plan Page 4 Former UConn Startup Expanding Page 5 Sample Preparation Page 6 Fall Semester Starts Page 7 Polymer Poster Presentations Page 8-9 Yong Wang Receives NSF Award Page 10 Capstone Design Projects Page 11 New Biomarker Technique Page 12 Department Seminars Page 13 Annual Meeting Page 14 IMS Employment Page 15 Toxic and Bio- Contaminated Samples Page 15 Mid-Length Projects Program Page 15 IMS Picnic on The Patio Page 16 In Memoriam: Dr. Sam Huang New Materials for Protecting our Infrastructure In 2002, as a response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, President Bush announced the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to coordinate “homeland security” efforts. The mission of the office and collaborative partners is to “prevent terrorist attacks within the United States; reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism; minimize the damage, and assist in the recovery from terrorist attacks that do occur within the United States” (www.dhs.gov). Compelling these efforts was the catastrophic failure of IMS Associates Program Newsletter Better Catalyst to Reduce NOx Emissions A UConn team is developing a novel device aimed at improving the performance, dura- bility and cost of automotive emission re- duction equipment in both heavy- and light- duty vehicles. Dr. Gao, an assistant profes- sor in the CMBE Department and the Insti- tute of Materials Science specializing in nano-materials, leads the project team, which includes colleagues Drs. Pamir Alpay and Ramamurthy Ramprasad (resident IMS faculty, ed.)– who bring expertise in thin film From the University of Connecticut School of Engineering, emaginations, by Kate Kurtin. For the complete article see http://news.engr.uconn.edu/new-materials-for-protecting-our- infrastructure-2.php . From the School of Engineering News and Events. For the complete article see: http://news.engr.uconn.edu/catalystreducenoxemissions.php Dr. Samuel Huang Continued page 6 Continued page 9 Continued page 7
Transcript
Vol. 14, No. 2 August 2010
University of Connecticut Institute of Materials Science
Dr. Samuel J. Huang, of Hampton, beloved husband, father, and brother, passed away on April 23, 2010 after a short and courageous battle with colon cancer. Dr. Huang passed peace-fully with his family by his side. He was born in Canton, China on March 14, 1937 and grew up during tumultuous times. The family fled mainland China during World War II and took refuge in Hong Kong. After the war, the family settled in Tai-wan, where Dr. Huang attended and graduated from Taiwan National University. He immigrated to the United States in 1961 and received his Ph D. in polymer chemistry from
Inside this issue:
Fledgling Biodiesel Industry Fights to Survive
Page 2
Faculty Receive Honors
Page 3
New Faculty Welcomed
Page 4
IMS Long Range Plan Page 4
Former UConn Startup Expanding
Page 5
Sample Preparation Page 6
Fall Semester Starts Page 7
Polymer Poster Presentations
Page 8-9
Yong Wang Receives NSF Award
Page 10
Capstone Design Projects
Page 11
New Biomarker Technique
Page 12
Department Seminars
Page 13
Annual Meeting Page 14
IMS Employment Page 15
Toxic and Bio-Contaminated Samples
Page 15
Mid-Length Projects Program
Page 15
IMS Picnic on The Patio
Page 16
In Memoriam: Dr. Sam Huang
New Materials for Protecting our Infrastructure
In 2002, as a response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, President Bush announced the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to coordinate “homeland security” efforts. The mission of the office and collaborative partners is to “prevent terrorist attacks within the United
States; reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism; minimize the damage, and assist in the recovery from terrorist attacks that do occur within the United States” (www.dhs.gov). Compelling these efforts was the catastrophic failure of
IMS Associates Program Newsletter
Better Catalyst to Reduce NOx Emissions
A UConn team is developing a novel device aimed at improving the performance, dura-bility and cost of automotive emission re-duction equipment in both heavy- and light-duty vehicles. Dr. Gao, an assistant profes-sor in the CMBE Department and the Insti-
tute of Materials Science specializing in nano-materials, leads the project team, which includes colleagues Drs. Pamir Alpay and Ramamurthy Ramprasad (resident IMS faculty, ed.)– who bring expertise in thin film
From the University of Connecticut School of Engineering, emaginations, by Kate Kurtin. For the complete article see http://news.engr.uconn.edu/new-materials-for-protecting-our-infrastructure-2.php.
From the School of Engineering News and Events. For the complete article see: http://news.engr.uconn.edu/catalystreducenoxemissions.php
It's an industrial-strength irony — used restaurant fryer oil is valuable enough for environmentalist early-adopters to steal it from outdoor tanks to power their cars, but the companies that collect it and process it can't charge enough to make a profit. Only two Connecticut companies produce bio-diesel fuel commercially. Biodiesel, which has long generated interest in alternative-energy circles, is made from vegetable oil rather than petroleum, and can be used anywhere regular diesel is used — in vehicles' diesel engines or in home heating oil tanks. "The really cool thing about biodiesel is, unlike ethanol, you don't need to make any changes in your home heating system or your car," said Rich-ard Parnas, a University of Connecticut chemical engineering professor (resident IMS faculty, ed.). In Connecticut and around the nation, environmen-
tally conscious entrepreneurs are working to turn waste oil into a common part of the fuel mix. The trouble is, biodiesel costs a dollar a gallon more to produce than petroleum diesel, at current prices. The entrepreneurs are unapologetic about gov-ernment subsidies, saying their industry should be seen in context of the huge support for the oil industry, which includes forgiving royalties on deep water drilling, Naval protection for oil tank-ers and the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Connecticut legislators have agreed, spending $600,000 to set up a biodiesel testing lab at UConn that now employs two chemists and a part-time lab director. The clients who use the tests nearly cover the annual operating costs. It opened nine months ago, and gives Connecticut clients a discount on fees.
Fledgling Biodiesel Industry Fights To Survive
From the Hartford Courant. For the complete article see http://www.courant.com/business/hc-biodiesel-0610-20100611,0,4278037.story
From left, Anthony Provatas, Chris Perkins, Richard Parnas, and Michael Willig, in the biodiesel labs. Photo by Frank Dahlmeyer
From the School of Engineering News and Events. For the complete article see: http://www.engr.uconn.edu/twofacultyhonored.php
gies Corporation Professor of Advanced Materials in recognition of his contributions to analytical and experimental research in the areas of microme-chanics of composites, thermal barrier coatings and production of ceramic coatings. In his ex-panded role, Dr. Jordan will provide leadership and vision in the development of advanced tech-nologies and processes, the enhancement of graduate and undergraduate education, and the elevation of UConn's visibility and reputation for excellence in materials science and materials proc-essing. Dr. Jordan is a pioneer in the development of a liquid precursor plasma spray technique for the application of novel coatings and powders. Among the materials he is currently developing are thermal barrier coatings, dense ceramics, opti-cal ceramics and fluorescing seed particles for fluid flow diagnostics. He is a member of the Connecti-cut Academy of Science and Engineering, a Fellow of ASME and a former Associate Editor for the ASME Journal of Engineering Materials and Tech-nology. Dr. Jordan's work has been cited over 2,000 times in the literature, and he holds three U.S. patents. Emmanouil Anagnostou, a professor of Civil & En-vironmental Engineering (CEE), was selected the Northeast Utilities Foundation Chair of Environ-mental Engineering in recognition of his contribu-tions in the field of hydrometeorology.
Faculty Receive Honors
Two facu l t y members have been honored w i th d i s t i n -guished chair faculty posi-t ions in the School of En-gineering: Drs. E r i c J o r d a n a n d E m -manouil Anag-nostou. They were chosen based on the impact of their research con-
tributions, national reputations and leadership in their areas of expertise. Dean of Engineering Mun Y. Choi said, "The School of Engineering is richly endowed with vi-sionary, dedicated researchers who are contribut-ing enormously to technological advancement. I applaud Drs. Jordan and Anagnostou for their achievements and look forward to their leader-ship." Eric Jordan, a professor of Mechanical Engineering (IMS faculty, ed.), was named the United Technolo-
Dr. Mu-ping Nieh joins the IMS Polymer Pro-gram, with the Chemical Engineering program and CMBE his academic home, in August 2010 as an Associate Professor. Dr. Nieh received a B.S in Chemical Engineering from the National Taiwan University and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering/Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachu-setts. He did post-doctoral work at the National Research Council of Canada and most recently was an Associate Research Officer also at the National Research Council of Canada. Central to his research interests is soft matter physics, especially the nanoscopic structural characterization of self-assembled systems using
scattering techniques. Another important aspect of his research interests is the investigation of the structural phases of “bicelles”, which are commonly used for aligning membrane proteins in order to study proteins’ morphologies under physiologically relevant conditions. Some recent publications include: (Review Article) T. A. Harroun, N. Kučerka, M.-P. Nieh and J. Katsaras “Neutron and X-ray scattering for biophysics and biotechnology: ex-amples of self-assembled lipid systems” Soft Matter, 5, 2694-2703 (2009). X. Gao, N. Kučerka, M.-P. Nieh, J. Katsaras, S. Zhu, J. L. Brash and H. Sheardown “Chain con-formation of a new class of PEG-based ther-moresponsive polymer brushes grafted on sili-con as determined by neutron reflectometry” Langmuir, 25, 10271-10278 (2009). N. Kučerka, M.-P. Nieh, J. Pencer, J. N. Sachs, J. Katsaras “What determines the thickness of a biological membrane” General Physiol. & Bio-phys., 28, 117-125 (2009). M.-P. Nieh, M. D. Guiver, D. S. Kim, J. Ding, T. Norsten “Morphology of Comb-Shaped Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Copolymers Based on a Neutron Scattering Study” Macromole-cules, 41, 6176-6182 (2008).
IMS Associates Program Newsletter
Mu-Ping Nieh
IMS Long Term Plan on Web Site
The IMS long range plan was developed by an IMS faculty committee, and then reviewed and modi-fied from input of both the IMS External and Internal Advisory Boards. It is now available on our website at: http://www.ims.uconn.edu/news-index/IMS%20Long-range%20plan%203_5_2010.pdf
Mashikian, accurately pinpoints the location of weak spots in underground cable, facilitating targeted repair and reducing the costs. It also provides diagnostic information that predicts future cable performance, improving the reliability of the cable. Incorporated in 1995, the com-pany has been located at the University’s Depot Campus and joined the Technology Incuba-t ion Program when i t was formed some years later. The program supports UConn start-ups and those from outside the University that can benefit from a University relationship. The company operates under license from UConn and pays royalties to the University. IMCORP was listed in 2009 in Inc. magazine as an Inc. 5000 company, in recognition of its significant business growth. Be-tween 2005 and 2008, its reve-nue grew from $1.9 million to $5.3 million. Its major clients are wind farm plants and the utility industry; it also has industrial and government clients. The company is expected to
create 25 more positions in the next three years, bring-ing its workforce total to 50. Gov. M. Jodi Rell says the fact that IMCORP started in Connecticut and has made the decision to grow here is great news for the state. “It underscores the impor-tance of bringing new ideas and technologies from our universities to the commer-cial marketplace,” Rell says. “This type of activity creates jobs, supports entrepreneur-ship, and fosters innovation.”
A former UConn start-up com-pany that improves the reliabil-ity of power cable systems has moved into a larger facility and will expand its operations in Connecticut. IMCORP, which got its start at the University of Connecticut (in IMS, ed.) and has received support from UConn’s Technology Incuba-tion Program, is a leading pro-vider of underground power cable reliability enhancement solutions. The company had outgrown its space in Storrs, and moved in June into a leased facility at 50 Utopia Road in Manchester. The new site will house the company’s headquarters, pro-duction operation, and research and development center. A European office is located in Belgium. IMCORP was founded on the basis of technology developed at the University of Connecti-cut Institute of Materials Sci-ence by professor emeritus of electrical and systems engineer-ing Matthew Mashikian. The t e chno l og y , p a t en t ed b y
From UConn Today, by Rita Zangari. For the complete article see http://today.uconn.edu/?p=16743
Professor emeritus Matthew Mashikian, founder of IMCORP. Photo from the School of Engineering
In Memoriam: Dr. Sam Huang (continued from page 1) dishes he cooked for family and friends. Dr. Huang also loved his garden and being near the water. Many days, he could be found minding the raised beds he built to grow snow peas, peppers, and Chinese broccoli, or walking along the edge of the stream that ran by his home. He was a huge fan of U-Conn basketball, par-ticularly the women’s team. A frequent traveler, Dr. Huang enjoyed frequent trips to Italy and Carmel, Cali fornia. Dr. Huang leaves behind his wife, Phoebe Huang, of 41 years, 2 children, and 3 siblings. Left be-hind are his son, Min Huang of Columbia, his daughter, Wendy Waszmer of Washington DC, and his sisters, May Huang of New Brunswick NJ, Sufenne Hung of Knoxvi l le TN, and brother, Paul Huang, of Atlanta GA.
Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. He followed his degree with a one-year post-doctoral fellow-ship at the University of Illinois. In 1964, Dr. Huang accepted a position with the University of Connecticut as an assistant pro-fessor of chemistry. Over a 39-year career, he was the author or co-author of over 190 papers in peer reviewed journals, editor or co-editor of 4 books, and was the major advisor of 52 Ph D. students and 30 post-doctoral fellows and visiting professors. Dr. Huang was an internationally renowned pioneer in the biode-gradable polymers and materials field. He was a leader in the area of biodegradation of polymers in the 1970’s, biodegradable poly-mers in biomedical applications in the 1980’s, and biodegradable polymers from renewable re-
sources for environmentally com-patible consumer products in the 1990’s. Dr. Huang’s students are now major contributors in these fields in both academic and industrial laboratories. He was the founding Director of the graduate level Polymer Program at the Univer-sity of Connecticut, which now includes 14 faculty and about 80 graduate students and postdoc-toral research associates and ranks among the top programs in the country. He founded the Environmentally Degradable Poly-mer Society in 1992. Dr. Huang’s family knew him as a gifted scientist, but also as an immensely creative and artistic person. His creat iv i ty came through in everything he touched, including the fabulous seafood
Page 6 IMS Associates Program Newsletter
In many projects that the Associates Program deals with, such as adhesion and coatings, surface analy-sis techniques are extremely important. The tech-niques used for such analysis, particularly Gas Chromotography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) are extremely sensitive to small amounts of material on the sur-face. It is important to make efforts not to con-taminate these surfaces during sample preparation, collection and shipment. Shipment in common plastic bags should be avoided! Common plas-tic bags typically contain significant amounts of ad-ditives used to prevent the plastics from adhering to themselves and other materials. These additives
will migrate to the sample during shipment and at best make interpretation difficult and sometimes impossible. It is much better to ship such samples in common kitchen aluminum foil (not industrial aluminum foil which is often coated with an oil or other release agent). Samples can also be shipped in glass containers with aluminum foil over the opening under the cap. Alternatively special polyester bags that do not contain such additives can be purchased. One source of such bags is the Kapak Corporation (now Ampac) Typical price is about $200 per thou-sand depending on the exact size. Be sure to spec-ify non-contaminating/non-plasticized material.
Sample Preparation
rely heavily on costly platinum and palladium; the researchers aim to either replace these pre-cious metals with oxide-based composite nanomaterials or to reduce the amount needed in the nano-catalyst. “Our nanocatalyst technology sees beyond current technolo-gies and will, we hope, offer the next generation of automotive catalysts used in the near fu-ture,” remarked Dr. Gao.
and computational materials, and Dr. Christopher Brooks of the Honda Research Institute, a principal scientist and emissions control expert. With $1.25 million in support from the U.S. Department of Energy/National Energy Tech-nology Lab, the researchers in-tend to develop a new class of oxide-based three-dimensional (3D) composite nanocatalysts that may be used in nitrogen oxide (NOx) storage and re-duction, hydrocarbon and car-bon monoxide (CO) oxidation, and particulate matter filtering under lean burn conditions. The team intends to build a better catalytic converter. Catalytic converters are lo-cated in an automobile’s ex-haust system and process ex-haust gases before they are
vented through the tailpipe. Conventional converters, ex-plained Dr. Gao, are efficient at oxidizing carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) into carbon dioxide and water when operating in so-called “lean” (oxygen-rich) conditions. However, while they are well suited for CO and HC reduc-tion, lean conditions actually prevent current catalytic con-verters from also reducing NOx efficiently. Dr. Gao and his colleagues also aim to reduce the cost of mate-rials and to enhance the dura-bility of the catalyst, which is an ongoing challenge due to the harsh environment – character-ized by high temperature, high-velocity exhaust gas flow, etc. – within the converter as it works to clean the exhaust. Current catalytic converters
Page 7 August 2010
Better Catalyst (continued from page 1)
Fall Semester Starts
MSE 5301 Thermodynamics of Materials H. Brody MSE 5322 Materials Characterization B. Huey MSE5334 Struct. & Defects in Materials G. Rossetti CHEM5380 Polymer Synthesis D. Adamson CHEM5381 Polymer Physical Chemistry T.A.P. Seery CHEM5382 Polymer Characterization Y. Lin CHEG5351 Polymer Physics A.V. Dobrynin MCB5015 X-ray Structure Analysis P. Burkhard
Fall semester classes start August 30, 2010. Some courses that may be of interest include the following:
Page 8 IMS Associates Program Newsletter
Polymer Program Poster Session Held May 21st
Directed Silica Condensation via Silicatein α Inspired Block Copolymer Students: Chetan Hire, Gina Macek Advisor: Douglas Adamson Synthesis and Surface Modification of Functionalized Graphene Sheets Student: AJ Oyer Advisor: Douglas Adamson A Microfluidic Device for Producing Monodisperse Polymersomes with Precise Control Students: Kevin Huang, Michael Stredney Advisor: Douglas Adamson Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Polycaprolactone by Metal Catalyzed Living Polymerization Student: Olumide Adebolu Advisor: Alexandru Asandei Cp2TiCl-Controlled Radical Polymerization of 1,3-Dimethylbutadiene Initiated from Epoxides, Aldehydes, and Halides Student: Chris Simpson Advisor: Alexandru Asandei Self-assembling Polypeptide Nanoparticles as a Vaccine for Influenza Student: Toby Neef Advisor: Peter Burkhard Peptide Nanoparticles as Novel Immunogens: Design and Biophysical Analysis of a Prototype SARS Vaccine Student: Tais Pimentel Advisor: Peter Burkhard Conformation Specific Display of 4E10 and 2F5 Epitopes on a Self Assembling Polypeptide Nanoparticle as a Prototype HIV Vaccine Student: Newton Wahome Advisor: Peter Burkhard Peptide Nanocapsules and their Conjugation with Inorganic Nanoparticles Student: Yongkun Yang Advisor: Peter Burkhard Shape Memory Behavior of Side-Chain Liquid Crystalline Elastomers by Dual Transition Temperature Students: Sik-kyun Ahn, Prashant Deshmukh Advisor: Rajeswari Kasi Morphology, Dynamic Viscoelasticity and Concentration Dependence of Micelle-Gel Transition of Poly(styrene-b-N-tert-butylacrylamide) Copolymer Solution Student: Nitin Sharma Advisor: Rajeswari Kasi
Magnetic Nanoparticles Stabilized with Liquid Crystalline Am-phiphilic Block Copolymers Student: Yxiang Zhou Advisor: Rajeswari Kasi Design and Characterization of Polypeptide-containing Macro-molecules with Different Architectures Student: Ranjan Kamat Advisor: Yao Lin Rational Design and Characterization of Polypeptide-containing Macromolecules with Different Architectures Student: Jing Wang Advisor: Yao Lin Enhanced Individualization of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Using Glucose-assisted Flavin Mononucleotide Helical Assemblies Student: Darlington Abanulo Advisor: Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos Time Dependent Organization of Flavin Mononucleotide around Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes Student: Chris Badalucco Advisor: Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos Oxygen-Assisted Unidirectional Growth of CdSe Nanorods Using a Low-Temperature Redox Process Student: Jonathan Doll Advisor: Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos Synthesis and Application of Substituted Lumazines to the Dispersion of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Student: William Kopcha Advisor: Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos Highly Sensitive and Reusable Pt-black Microfluidic Electrodes for Long Term Electrochemical Sensing Student: Liangliang Qiang Advisor: Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos Electropolymerization for Sensor Applications Student: Vincent Ustach Advisor: Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos Enhanced Performance of Implantable Glucose Sensors Coated With Biocompatible Poly(vinyl alcohol) Hydrogels Student: Sagar Vaddiraju Advisor: Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos Particle Filled Wheat Protein Nano-Composites Student: Sudsiri Hemsri Advisor: Richard Parnas Dual Support Layer Pervaporation Membranes for In-Situ Bio-Butanol Student: Si-yu Li Advisor: Richard Parnas
Continued Page 9
New Materials (Continued from page 1) Hebert’s primary task is synthesis – how to make the materials to be used, and specifically, how to com-bine and select composite materi-als. Drs. Huey and Rossetti are col-laborating on the characteristics side and on micro-structures. Dr. Kim will perform computer model-ing of the new materials at the mi-crostructure level which will pro-vide the team with a unprece-dented understanding of the mate-rial behavior. At Rutgers, mean-while, Dr. Riman is in charge of de-veloping advanced oxide materials and on attaching them to the metal. Dr. Shukla, a blast expert, will ex-pose the sample materials to blast loadings in his specialized labora-tory at the University of Rhode Island.
the Twin Towers in response to the explosive force of the striking airplanes and the subsequent fire that resulted from the attack. Until 9/11, structural studies had focused on the development of buildings capable of withstanding either blast loading or exposure to fire; how-ever, structural materials that can successfully mitigate both threats have yet to be developed. Responding to this need, Rainer Hebert, Bryan Huey, and George Rossetti – all Chemical, Materials & Biomolecular Engineering (CBME) professors from UConn (resident IMS faculty, ed.); Jeong-Ho Kim, of UConn’s Civil & Environmental En-gineering (CEE) (also IMS faculty, ed.); Richard Riman (Rutgers Uni-v e r s i t y ) a n d A r u n S h u k l a
(University of Rhode Island) put together a proposal to develop new material concepts for combined blast and fire resistance. “What we have in mind is to essentially take advantage of the blast waves,” Dr. Hebert explained. “Instead of look-ing at the blast waves as detrimen-tal, we propose to see them as transforming the materials that we have developed into new materials that can then withstand fire.” The proposal was accepted in early 2010 and the team is initiating work on this exciting project. “The goal of the research is pri-marily to develop long-range con-cepts more than quick solutions that can be commercialized in the near term,” Dr. Hebert observed. Working on these solutions, Dr.
Page 9 August 2010
Free Radical Initiated Low Temperature Crosslinking of Phenylethynyl Oligomides Student: Chenliang Gong Advisor: Daniel Scola Free Radical Initiated Low Temperature Crosslinking of Sulfonated Oligomides Student: Chenliang Gong Advisor: Daniel Scola Clay-polynorbornene Nanocomposite: Synthesis and Characterization Student: David Penaloza Advisor: Thomas Seery Novel Approaches to High-Conductivity Structured Membranes for Fuel Cells Student: Chitra Subramanian Advisor: Montgomery Shaw Processes for Making High-Modulus, High Strength Composites that are Completely Biodegradable Student: Shih-Po Sun Advisor: Montgomery Shaw All Organic Electrochromic Spandex Student: Yujie Ding Advisor: Gregory Sotzing
DNA Nanofibers for Optoelectronic Applications Student: Yogesh Ner Advisor: Gregory Sotzing Processable Electrochromic Polymers and Their Devices Student: Michael Invernale Advisor: Gregory Sotzing In Situ Conversion: Preparation of Conjugated Polymers Inside Solid-State Devices Student: Donna Mamangun Advisor: Gregory Sotzing Impedance Biosensor Based On Inkjet Printed Silver Metal Electrode for the Detection of Antibodies to a Peptide Aller-gen Student: Jong Hyun Park Advisor: Gregory Sotzing Conjugated Polymers Prepared from Siloxane Containing Precursor Polymers Student: Ki-Ryong Lee Advisor: Gregory Sotzing Template Polymerization of Conducting Polymers Using Sulfonated Poly(amic acid)s Student: Suttisak Srisuwan Advisor: Gregory Sotzing
Polymer Program Poster Session (Continued from page 8)
silencing in human embryonic stem cells. He is also collaborat-ing on research aimed at devel-oping artificial antibodies capable of locating and destroying tu-mors, and with Dr. Leon Shaw (resident IMS faculty and CMBE, ed.) on the development of tita-nium/hydroxyapatite orthopedic implants.
Yong Wang, an assistant profes-sor of Chemical, Materials & Bio-molecular Engineering (IMS fac-ulty, ed.), has received a prestig-ious National Science Foundation Ear ly Career Deve lopment (CAREER) Award to conduct re-search aimed at creating a new generation of tissue-like biomate-rials using chemical and bio-molecular engineering tools. His nearly $480,000 award was made through NSF's Division of Materi-als Research. D r . W a n g e x p l a i n e d t h a t "Biomaterials that can replicate complex functions of natural tis-sues will not only provide a deeper insight into biological sys-tems, but also offer a variety of applications such as tissue repair or organ regeneration." A core challenge in tissue engi-neering and regenerative medi-
cine is the creation of novel ma-terials that are capable of mimick-ing the complex structures and functionality of human tissues. To do so, Dr. Wang intends to first investigate the ability of multi-functional hydrogels -- water-insoluble polymer chains -- to mimic the functionality of ex-tracellular matrices (ECMs), the defining feature of animal connec-tive tissue. According to Dr. Wang, natural ECMs provide cells with mechanical support and physical stimuli, emit soluble bio-chemical signals stimulating such factors as growth, and interact with cell receptors located sur-faces of surrounding cells. Dr. Wang, who received his Ph.D. from Duke University in 2004 and joined UConn in 2006, received funding from the State of Connecticut's Stem Cell Initia-tive last year to investigate gene
Yong Wang Receives NSF CAREER Award
Page 10
From the University of Connecticut School of Engineering, emaginations For the complete article see http://www.engr.uconn.edu/yongwangaward.php
Dr. Yong Wang, Assistant Professor of Chemical, Mate-rials & Biomolecular Engineering
Design of a Process for Microstructure Control in PZT Piezoceramics – A Proposal Student: Gerald Durst Sponsor: US Army Faculty Advisor: George Rossetti Rapid Screening Fatigue Testing of Laser Cut Samples Student Team: Michael Harris and Liz Trumbull Sponsor: Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology Industry Advisors: Paul Denney and Elizabeth Gounaris Faculty Advisor: Harris Marcus with Robin Bright, Grad Assistant Design and Test a Magnetic Shape Memory Actuator Student Team: Nicholas Carroll. Shawn Fonseca, and Michael Santone Sponsor: General Electric Industry Advisors: Thomas Papallo, Brent Kumfer, and Cecil Rivers Faculty Advisors: Pamir Alpay and Jiong Tang HIPing of A356-T6 Alloys with Iron-rich Particles Student: Christian Sartori Sponsor: Bodycote HIP, PLC Industry Advisors: Stephen Mashl and Virendra Warke Faculty Advisor: Harold Brody with Anthony Tenaglier, Grad Assistant High Throughput Microscopic Analysis of Cast and Heat Treated HY100 Student: Joseph Koplar Sponsor: General Dynamics Electric Boat Industry Advisors: Neil Fichtelberg, Phil Rogers, Robert Peirce, and Jeff Hall Faculty Advisor: Harold Brody
Page 11 IMS Associates Program Newsletter
On April 30, 2010 teams of UConn seniors majoring in Materials Science presented their senior or Capstone Projects. Project titles, team members, sponsors and advisors are listed below.
Design Rule for Consistent Filling of Investment Molds Student Team: Paul Shaw and Thomas Balzano Sponsor: Integra-Cast, Inc. Industry Advisors: James Bosse and David Arcesi Faculty Advisor: Harold Brody with Anthony Tenaglier, Grad Assistant Quantitative Design Rule in Monolithic Investment Castings of 356 Aluminums Student Team: Gregory Nelson and Nicholas Rivers Sponsor: Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology Industry Advisors: Anthony J. Dennis, Greg Hasko, Tom Meyer, and Tom Scotton Faculty Advisor: Harold Brody with Anthony Tenaglier, Grad Assistant Design of a Process for Rapid Prototyping of Ti-6Al-4V/Hydroxyapatite Orthopedic Implants Student Team: Pasquale Lavorato and Erica Marcinek Sponsor: National Science Foundation: REU Industry Advisor: Thomas Cameron, Ultimate NiTi Technologies, Inc. Faculty Advisor: Leon Shaw Optimization of the Thermal Treatment Process to Control the Austenite Reversion in Maraging 250 Steel Student: Jeffrey Riesterer Sponsor: Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Industry Advisor: Agnieszka Wusatowka-Sarnek Faculty Advisor: Mark Aindow
New Biomarker Technique Could Provide Early Detection for Cancer
Page 12 IMS Associates Program Newsletter
From UConn Today, by Christine Buckley. For the complete article see http://today.uconn.edu/?p=14542
Jim Rusling, Pro-fessor of Chemis-try. Photo by Jes-sica Tommaselli
Modern genetic testing can predict your risk of contracting particular diseases based on predispo-sitions discovered in your DNA. But what if similar biotechnology could tell you that you’ve got a dis-ease before you notice any symptoms? What if it could even tell you, before any signs of a tumor, that you have cancer? Jim Rusling, professor of chemistry at UConn and professor of cell biology at the UConn Health Center (IMS faculty, ed.), ponders these questions on a daily basis. Since 2006, he and colleagues at the University and the National Institute of Health (NIH) have been developing techniques to detect biomarker proteins – the physiological traits that indicate that a person has a specific disease – for prostate and oral cancer. Because these bio-markers are often present in the blood in a dis-ease’s early stages, they can be used for early de-tection and prevention. “DNA predicts which proteins can be made, but it can’t predict which proteins are actively ex-pressed,” Rusling says. “It only assesses the risk of a disease. There’s a big push now to measure pro-teins as biomarkers.” In a recent publication in the journal, Analytical Chemistry, Rusling and his colleagues describe a system they developed to detect with record sen-sitivity the bloodstream levels of a protein associ-ated with several types of oral cancer, including head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. The pro-ject was funded by a $1.5 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sci-ences at NIH. The protein, called interleukin-6 or IL-6, is nor-mally present in very low levels in the bloodstream – so low that previous biomarker sensors might not be able to detect it. This and other biomarkers are signaling molecules, which can instruct cells
that have become cancerous to grow faster. Their levels can increase even before tumors begin to form, enabling early detection that might head off the formation of cancerous growths. The researchers chose IL-6 specifically because of its unusually low normal levels; they wanted to be sure that their technique could accurately identify trace proteins. This gives the researchers a baseline with which to compare the elevated levels observed in people’s blood just before they develop cancer. The exciting thing about biomarker techniques such as this one, says Rusling, is that they can be applied to any cancer. Since many biomarkers are common to more than one cancer, he hopes that a panel of these types of assays could detect the markers of the world’s most common and worst cancers. “There’s not going to be one cure for cancer, be-cause cancer is thousands of diseases,” he says. “The best thing for patients is early detection. Biomarker proteins could become the standard of early detec-tion and treatment monitoring in the future.”
Fall seminar schedules have not been finalized at the time of this writing. Seminar schedules will be avail-able near the beginning of the semester and can be found on the department web sites (http://www.ims.uconn.edu/polymer/ and http://www.cmbe.engr.uconn.edu/events.html). This information will be updated as additional semi-nars are added. Abstracts of seminars are usually
available about a week in advance. We can also put you in touch with the faculty member spon-soring the seminar to learn more about the spe-cific seminar of interest. We suggest you call be-fore attending to be sure the seminar has not been canceled due to illness or weather. A preliminary listing of IMS Polymer Program Seminars follows:
Department Seminars
September 15 Dr. Yosi Bar-Cohen, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory , “Humanlike Robots: The realization of the science fiction of synthetic humans” (A joint seminar with Materials Engineering Program) Special time and location: IMS Room 159 at 10:30 am September 24 Dr. Eric Amis, UTRC, “Polymer Materials for Green Energy Systems: From Energy Generation and Storage, to CO2 Capture and Transportation” October 1 Dr. Jeffery Koberstein, Columbia University, “Modifying Surfaces Using ‘Click’ Chemistry and Light” October 8 Dr. Marc Hillmyer, University of Minnesota, “Block Polymers for the Environment” October 15 Dr. James Grote, Wright Patterson AFB, “Biotronics - Bio-Organic-Based Materials and Devices for Electronics and Photonics” October 29 Dr. Frederick Phelan, NIST Polymer Division, Separation of Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs) Using Field-Flow Fractionation Techniques November 12 Dr. Steve Granick, University of Illinois, Urbana, “Fun and Profit with Polymers, Phospholipids, and Colloids” December 3 Dr. Hannes Schniepp, College of William & Mary, “Graphene-Polymer Nanocomposites: Systematic Analysis and Design of Super-Strong Materials” December 10 Dr. Vassili Perebeinos, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, “Carbon-Based Electronics and Optoelectronics” Unless otherwise stated, all seminars are held on Fridays at 1:30 PM in IMS Room 20. Coffee will be served at 1:00 PM outside the seminar room. For more information, please contact YH Chudy at [email protected], (860) 486-3582 or visit www.ims.uconn.edu/polymer.
The IMS Associates Program annual meeting was held on Thursday May 27th. Over 70 repre-sentatives of IMS and industry met to review the topic of the day; Materials Research in Energy. Several faculty members presented brief over-views of their research in this field. Presentation titles and authors were as follows: Richard Parnas, Professor, Chemical Engineer-ing, Biofuels Research at UCONN and the Materials Needed to Move Forward Greg Sotzing, Professor, Chemistry and Direc-tor, Polymer Program, Spectral Tuning of Organic Compounds for Light Harvesting Dyes Leon Shaw, Professor, Materials Science and En-gineering, The Pathways to On-Board Hy-
drogen Storage for Fuel Cell Vehicles Ramamurthy Ramprasad, Associate Profes-sor, Materials Science and Engineering, En-ergy Materials Design through Elec-tronic/atomic Level Computations Mark Aindow, Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, Microscopic and Spectro-scopic Studies of the Effects of Fuel-side Impurities on PEM Fuel Cells Prabhakar Singh, Director, Center for Clean Energy Engineering, UTC Chair Professor in Fuel Cell Science & Technology, Center for Clean Energy Engineering – Leading Sci-ence to Systems Transformation at UConn.
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Employment Web page
Mid-Length Projects (MLP) Program
Toxic and Bio-Contaminated Samples
The Institute of Materials Science has a web page to help match students with potential em-ployers. The IMS Employment Center can be accessed from the IMS home page http://www.ims.uconn.edu/ and clicking on Outreach. The initial job page has brief information con-cerning each position and a link for more de-
tails. Please forward any open position an-nouncements you wish to post to Shari Masinda ([email protected]). We have several positions on the website now, with your help we can build this database of in-formation, which will benefit both students and employers.
On a small number of occasions, member com-panies have sent us toxic samples for examina-tion. IMS is not set up to handle such materials. We operate in a very open environment with multiple users and shared laboratory facilities. We cannot accept toxic materials, materials that present biological hazards or similar materials
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such as drugs that require very specialized han-dling. If we do receive such a sample we must return them (and may need your assistance to do so as shipping these materials can be time consuming and expensive). We cannot dispose of these types of material at UConn when they are created by external sources.
tween these extremes, projects that may re-quire several months to a year of full time ef-fort . Through the Mid-Length Projects (MLP) Program IMS will assist industry in match-ing the available resources of IMS to those re-quired for the project of interest. For more information or to discuss specific pro-jects please contact Ed Kurz (860-486-4186, [email protected]) or Harris Marcus (860-486-4623, [email protected])
The Institute of Materials Science (IMS) an-nounces the continuation of a program that ad-dresses seed research/development projects of an intermediate length. This program is designed to encourage university/industry collaboration on projects that are too extensive for the exist-ing Associates Program yet smaller than typical university research projects. Typical student/post-doc supporting research projects at IMS (and most of UConn and other institutions) last for some number of years. Industry often has exploratory projects of intermediate length be-
University of Connecticut Institute of Materials Science
97 N. Eagleville Road • Unit 3136 Storrs, CT 06269-3136
We’re on the Web!
www.ims.uconn.edu/associate/associates
Thanks primarily to the efforts of Kim Post, June 22th saw the IMS picnic on the patio. Spirits were high and a good time was had by all. We close this issue of the newsletter with a few images from the event. Thanks to Deb Perko for the pictures.
