Materials for Sustainable Resources & Energy : Polymer Science and Engineering : UMass Amherst

Kenneth Carter

Professor

Our group is interested in the design and fabrication of advanced materials with highly tailored properties. We possess expertise in synthetic polymer chemistry, surface modification, advanced manufacturing techniques, high resolution roll-to-roll patterning and device fabrication & characterization and work to solve problems impacting a number of technology areas including electronics, optics, sensors, clean air & water, and chemical safety. We also seek to exploit renewable resources, such as nanocellulose, in these advanced materials applications.

E. Bryan Coughlin

Professor

We strive, through development of novel, and adaptation of known synthetic methods, to create new polymeric materials with properties suitable for a range of demanding applications. Our projects begin with synthesis and sustainability as a major motivators, however characterization studies to test our hypotheses and to inform the next round of synthetic efforts is also given significant emphasis.

Alfred J Crosby

Professor & Department Head

Guided by fundamental science, Professor Crosby and his research group takes inspiration from examples in nature, as well as ubiquitous yet complex materials such as fabric, to develop and exploit simple, creative, and novel design paradigms that will change the way scientists, engineers, and the general public use and understand materials.

Todd Emrick

Professor

Researching synthetic organic/polymer chemistry, functionalization of nanoscale and 2-D materials, aqueous polymer assembly and the preparation of polymer-based therapeutics.

Steve Granick

Robert K. Barrett Professor

Current research projects include active polymers, molecules in extreme environments, biological intelligence and memory of non-neural cells.

Greg Grason

Professor

Our research explores the role of geometric frustration in soft matter and polymeric assemblies through the combined lens of condensed matter theory, statistical physics and differential geometry. In assemblies, frustration arises from interactions between molecular or particulate “building blocks” that favor geometrically incompatible patterns of order. Counterintuitively, frustration often leads to self-organized states that are more exquisitely structured, and more robustly controlled, than their canonical, unfrustrated counterparts.

Reika Katsumata

Assistant Professor/ Grad Program Director

At the intersection of chemical engineering and materials science, Katsumata Research Group procures material performance otherwise impossible by “vaporization” of fundamental science and “condensation” of real-world problems, nurtured by education and mentoring.

Alan Lesser

Professor

The goal of our research group is to develop a new set of theoretical and experimental tools that enable the streamlined design, optimization, selection, and evaluation of polymeric materials for such applications. The research initiatives in our group focus on determining what basic molecular, morphological, and physical characteristics govern the engineering performance of polymers and polymer-based composites.

Melody Morris

Assistant Professor

The Morris group will engineer sustainable macromolecular materials to enable next-generation biomaterials, nanoreactors, and membranes, via automated and high-throughput tool development combined with multiscale physical characterization. The longevity and stability of most synthetic polymers has proven to be a major bottleneck in creating a sustainable materials world.

Murugappan Muthukumar

Wilmer D. Barrett Professor

My research group is engaged in understanding how macromolecules, both biological and synthetic, assume their sizes and shapes, organize into assemblies, and move around in crowded environments. We employ a combination of theoretical, computational, and experimental techniques to uncover the underlying mechanisms of macromolecular phenomena in Physical Biology and Polymer Physics.

Thomas Russell

Silvio O. Conte Distinguished Professor

We have been recently focusing on the role of chain architecture on the lateral ordering and minimizing the size scale of the microdomains to the single nanometer level. Our efforts on the interfacial activity of nanoparticles aim to achieve multi-length scale assemblies of nanoparticles are pioneering a platform for encapsulation and diffusion barriers.

Maria Santore

Professor

Discovering mechanisms for adhesion, lubrication, assembly, response, and reconfiguration in soft material systems, focusing on the dynamic interactions of polymers, biomolecules, nanoparticles, colloids, and cells. Coupling material interactions with flow and deformation to control structures and dynamics. Translating new interfacial mechanisms to the application-specific design of responsive / active interfacial materials

James Watkins

Professor

We develop, characterize and utilize nanoscale and hybrid materials for the fabrication of devices that exploit the unique properties of the materials that we create. Our approaches include direct imprint patterning of device structures using nanoparticle-based inks, additive driven self-assembly with brush block copolymers and other templates in which interactions among each of the components are designed to overcome barriers to creating well-ordered systems, materials chemistry through photothermal processing and the creation of large area nanostructured materials and devices through scalable manufacturing approaches, including roll-to-roll process platforms.