UMass Amherst

Samuel P. Gido

Associate Professor, Dept. of Polymer Science and Engineering
A216 Conte, University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003-9292
(413) 577-1216
spgido@mail.pse.umass.edu
http://www.pse.umass.edu/~sgido/

Polymer Morphology

My research is focused on understanding how controlled polymer molecular architecture can be used to guide the self assembly and processing behavior of materials in order to create novel and useful structures on a morphological length scale (nanometers to microns). A significant fraction of my research effort is focused on the study of proteins and synthetic polypeptides with highly repetitive amino acid sequences that form unusual crystalline and liquid crystalline structures. Other classes of materials with well defined molecular architecture that we are investigating are block and graft copolymers, synthetic polymer liquid crystals, and models for the polyolefin materials produced by new metallocene catalysts.

Research Interest Potential Application
Graft and Block Copolymer Molecular Architecture and Self Assembly Selectively permeable materials based on chemically modified block copolymers that allow permeation of water vapor but block chemical and biological warfare agents
Biopolymers Assembly of biomaterials

Honors and Awards

  • The OMNOVA Solutions Foundation Signature University Award for Outstanding Research, 2000
  • National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 1996
  • Army Young Investigator Award, 1995
  • Director of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory-University of Massachusetts Polymer Materials Center of Excellence

Publications

  1. "Core-Shell Cylinder Morphology in Poly(styrene-b-1,3-cyclohexadiene) Diblock Copolymers" (with J. L. David, K. Hong, J. Zhou, J. W. Mays, and N. Beck Tan), Macromolecules 32, 3216 (1999).
  2. "Silk I Structure in Bombyx mori Silk Foams" (with S.-J. He, and R. Valluzzi), International. J. Biol. Macromolecules 24, 187 (1999).
  3. “Asymmetry the Easy Way", Nature 398, 107 (1999).
  4. "A Twist Grain Boundary-like Twisted Smectic Phase in Monodisperse Poly(g-benzyl a,L-glutamate) Produced by Recombinant DNA Techniques" (with S.-J. He, C. Lee, S. M. Yu, and D. A. Tirrell), Macromolecules 31, 9387 (1998).