August 2024
The two-slide summary highlight from Katherine’s work on “Tie Chains in Semicrystalline Polymers and Copolymers” was selected by the National Science Foundation’s Division of Materials Research for publication on its website:
Tie Chains in Semicrystalline Homopolymers and Copolymers (nsf.gov)
December 2023
Lauren was selected as the 2023 recipient of the Dale Grieb Safety Award. This award recognizes members of the School of Engineering and Applied Science community who have made a positive contribution to improving laboratory safety. Congratulations, Lauren!
July 2023
Lauren was featured in the Diversity in Action Vol 4, Summer 2023 Newsletter! She talks about how Princeton helped her realize her dream of starting the Women in CBE program, working for the cause of diversity, equality and inclusion! Check out her story here!
April 2022
The lab says farewell to Nick as he leaves for Korea, where he will begin his position at Samsung while prepping for his FPO in early May. Safe travels and good luck at Samsung, Nick!
Nick’s second paper, titled "Minimum Molecular Weight and Tie Molecule Content for Ductility in Polyethylenes of Varying Crystallinity," is published in Macromolecules. Congratulations, Nick!
March 2022
Lauren presents her research titled "Effect of Monomer Sequence on Polymer Solution Phase Behavior" at both the PCCM Poster Night and the Princeton Institute of Materials Symposium; the latter of which awarded her the best poster award. Congratulations, Lauren!
January 2022
Jared's paper, "Controlling thermochemical behavior of semicrystalline hydrogenated polynorbornene through the cis- to trans cyclopentylene ratio," is published in the Journal of Polymer Science. Congratulations, Jared!
Joseph Koleng, a first-year Ph.D. student hailing from UT Austin, joins the lab for research into chemically recyclable polyolefins. Welcome aboard, Joseph!
November 2021
Nick’s paper on “Regularity of Deuteration in Linear Polyethylene Prepared by Saturation of Polycyclopentene over Homogeneous Catalysts” is published in Macromolecules. Congratulations, Nick!
Lei departs for the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where he will take up a position as a research staff member. Best in your future endeavors, Lei!
Sravya successfully defends her thesis, entitled "Miscibility Enhancement in Polyisoprene/Polyolefin Block Copolymers and Polymer Blends," on November 22nd. Congrats, Sravya!
August 2021
Lauren Taylor joins the group (and the group of Rod Priestley) as a Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM) Postdoctoral Fellow, following the completion of her Ph.D. at Rice University. Welcome aboard, Lauren!
Jun completes his M.S.E. thesis, entitled “Kinetic Constants and Reactivity Ratios for Norbornene-Hexylnorbornene Statistical Copolymerization”. Best in your future endeavors, Jun!
May 2021
Hee Joo’s B.S.E. thesis on “Activity of Epoxide Chain Transfer Agents on the Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization of Cyclopentene” is selected as a recipient of the Michelle Goudie ’93 Senior Thesis Award. Congratulations, Hee Joo!
April 2021
Sravya’s paper on “Blends of Polyisoprene with Model Styrene-Olefin Copolymers: Mixing Energetics in Blends vs. Block Copolymers”, with ExxonMobil coauthors Thomas Sun and Adam Burns, is published in Macromolecules. Congratulations, Sravya!
Rick delivered an invited talk at the virtual American Chemical Society National Meeting, in a session in memory of Abhi Patil of ExxonMobil, held as part of a symposium on “Advances in Functionalized Polyolefin Synthesis”. The talk, entitled “Synthesis of End-Functional Polyethylene Precursors and Comb Copolymers by Cyclopentene ROMP with Regioselective Chain Transfer”, covered work done by Emily and Nick.
March 2021
Rick delivered an invited talk at the virtual American Physical Society national March Meeting, in a symposium honoring Bryan Boudouris as the recipient of the 2021 John H. Dillon Medal of the Division of Polymer Physics. The talk, entitled “Incorporation of Styrene into a Model Polyolefin for Enhanced Compatibility with Polyisoprene”, covered work done by Sravya.
At the same meeting, Rick chaired a symposium honoring Rod Priestley as the recipient of the 2020 John H. Dillon Medal of the Division of Polymer Physics—a symposium postponed a year due to cancellation of the 2020 March Meeting. Belated congratulations to Rod!
January 2021
First-year Ph.D. student Katherine Gunter joins the group for her research on semicrystalline polymer structure-property relationships. Welcome aboard, Katherine!
October 2020
Sravya’s paper on “Incorporation of Styrene into a Model Polyolefin for Enhanced Compatibility with Polyisoprene” is published in Macromolecules. Congratulations, Sravya!
September 2020
Hee Joo Choi ’21 and Dominique WuDunn ’21 join the group for their senior theses, as members of the small group of Princeton undergraduates approved to be on campus this year. Welcome aboard, Hee Joo and Dominique!
August 2020
Rick delivered an invited talk at the American Chemical Society’s Virtual Fall 2020 National Meeting, on “Spatially-Resolved Measurements of the Local Glass Transition Temperature in Nanostructured Block Copolymers”, in a symposium honoring Rod Priestley as co-recipient of the ACS Macro Letters / Biomacromolecules / Macromolecules Young Investigator Award. The talk covered work done by Dane Christie *19, coadvised by Rick and Rod—congratulations, Rod!
June 2020
Our labs reopened on June 17, with new COVID safety and social distancing protocols, following a three-month shutdown of essentially all laboratories at Princeton. It’s good to be back!
May 2020
Phil, a recent "Visiting Student Research Collaborator" (VSRC) from Holger Frey's group at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, publishes his work on "Tapered Multiblock Star Copolymers: Synthesis, Selective Hydrogenation, and Properties" in Macromolecules. Congratulations, Phil!
March 2020
Rick publishes an editorial in Macromolecules on ionomer morphology titled "Morphology and Structure–Property Relationships in Random Ionomers: Two Foundational Articles from Macromolecules".
February 2020
Rick received a four-year grant from the National Science Foundation, through its Polymers Program (part of the Division of Materials Research) to study “Tie Chains in Semicrystalline Homopolymers and Copolymers”. This grant will support the PhD work underway by Nick and about to be launched by Jun, as well as a third PhD student once Nick finishes his work, and provide research experiences also for undergraduates and high school students.
January 2020
Rick delivers a keynote address at the 2020 Bowei Research Conference (Yilan, Taiwan). The conference’s theme was “Functional Polymers for Advanced Applications”, and Rick spoke on “Polynorbornene Pervaporation Membranes for Biobutanol Purification”.
First-year Ph.D. student Jun Og joins the group. Welcome to the group, Jun!
December 2019
Phil returns to JGU Mainz to complete his Ph.D. program, but not before drafting a manuscript on “Tapered Multiblock Star Polymers: Synthesis, Selective Hydrogenation, and Properties”—and contributing an ensemble of Bavarian food and drink to the lab. Good luck in all your future endeavors, Phil!
October 2019
Emily and Nick’s paper on “Single-End-Functionalized Polycyclopentene via Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization with Concurrent Chain Transfer” is published in Macromolecules, following very speedy and favorable reviews. Congratulations, Emily and Nick!
Jared receives the departmental Best First Paper Prize, sponsored by SABIC, for “Tuning the Phase Behavior of Semicrystalline Hydrogenated Polynorbornene via Epimerization”. Selection of the award recipient is made by SABIC researchers, and the announcement was made at the annual Graduate Student Symposium on October 11. Hearty congratulations, Jared!
September 2019
Bobby Evans '20 joins the group for his senior thesis, focusing on the factors which control the natural draw ratio of polypropylene. Welcome aboard, Bobby!
August 2019
Zach finishes his REU project on “Controlling Epimerization of Hydrogenated Polynorbornenes” and prepares for his senior year at the University of Michigan; Patrick finishes his LLP summer project on “The Natural Draw Ratio of Isotactic Polypropylene” and prepares for his senior year at Lenape High School; and Caroline finishes her LLP summer project on “Crystallinity of High Density Polyethylene upon Deformation” and prepares for her senior year at Princeton High School. Thanks to all three of you for your contributions—we’ll miss each of you!
July 2019
Philipp von Tiedemann joins the lab as a "Visiting Student Research Collaborator" (VSRC) from Holger Frey's group at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. Phil will be expanding on his research in multiblock star polymers while here in Princeton for the next six months. Welcome aboard, Phil!
June 2019
Patrick Jacobs (Lenape High School '20) and Caroline Birkel (Princeton High School '20) joins the group for the summer through the Laboratory Learning Program (LLP). Welcome aboard, Patrick and Caroline!
Zachary Gdowski (University of Michigan, BS ChE '20) joins the group as a PCCM Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) participant for the summer. Welcome aboard, Zach!
Emily Abdo '19 was awarded both the Air Products Outstanding Senior Thesis Award from the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department and the PRISM Outstanding Materials Student Award from the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) during the 2019 Class Day ceremonies. Congratulations Emily!
The group welcomes Lei Wu as our new post-doctoral researcher! Lei comes to the Register group from Thomas Meyer's group at UNC - Chapel Hill, where he worked on stabilizing dye-sensitive photoelectrosynthesis cells.
May 2019
Emily is prominently featured in a story and video on the Princeton University homepage describing the senior thesis experience in Engineering. Her most notable quote: “It’s been a challenge, but it also has been a really good lesson in how to start a huge project and take it all the way to completion.” Congrats, Emily!
April 2019
Rick, Nick, Sravya, Emily, and Jared all volunteered to run demonstrations for the general public at the Carl A. Fields Center on April 13th as part of "Science Day / Día de la Ciencia", where hundreds of children of all ages and adults were able to experience hands-on demonstrations related to material science. The activities hosted by our group included the making of instant snow (gelation), skewering inflated balloons (polymer chain dynamics), and shattering raquetballs cooled in liquid nitrogen (glass transition).
March 2019
Rick, Sravya, Jared, and Nick all traveled to the 2019 American Physical Society Meeting in Boston, MA. Sravya gave a talk on the "Miscibility Enhancement in Polyisoprene-Polyolefin Block Copolymers". Jared presented on "Tuning the Phase Behavior of Hydrogenated Polynorbornene via Epimerization" and Nick presented on "Tie Molecule Formation in High Density Polyethylene". Additionally, the current group members were joined with group alumni/affiliates Adam Burns, Helen Yao, Andrew Stella, Ha-Kyung Kwon, and Arash Nikoubashman for a group dinner. It was great seeing all of you again!
January 2019
Rick is appointed to the editorial boards of both Macromolecules (2019-2021) and ACS Macro Letters (2019-2022). Both journals are published by the American Chemical Society, but with separate editorial boards.
December 2018
Dane successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis, “The Spatial Distribution of Local Glass Transition Temperatures in Nanostructured Block Copolymers”, at his Final Public Oral Examination on December 6. Dane will begin a position as a materials scientist in the research laboratories of Corning, Inc. (Corning, NY) in January. Congratulations, Dane!
Jared’s first paper, on “Tuning the Phase Behavior of Semicrystalline Hydrogenated Polynorbornene via Epimerization”, is published on-line in the Journal of Polymer Science, Part B: Polymer Physics. For those with personal or library subscription access, the article can be viewed here. Congrats, Jared!
Dane’s paper on “Role of Chain Connectivity Across an Interface on the Dynamics of a Nanostructured Block Copolymer” is published in Physical Review Letters. For those with personal or library subscription access, the article can be viewed here. Congrats, Dane!
Former postdoctoral associate Daniel Vega (1999-2001) was elected Rector of his university, the Universidad Nacional Del Sur (Bahia Blanca, Argentina). The position of Rector is the top office at an Argentinian university, equivalent to President of a university in the United States. For those fluent in Spanish, one of several news items can be viewed here, and an interview with Rector Vega can be heard here. Hearty congratulations, Daniel, and best for continued success in your new role!
Dane’s work on mapping the local glass transition temperature was profiled in an article in Discovery, the annual report on research highlights at Princeton, produced by the Office of the Dean for Research. For a more technical description of the work, see the April 2018 news item and its link to a paper in ACS Central Science.
October 2018
Sravya, Jared, and Nick presented at the 2018 Princeton Chemical and Biological Engineering Graduate Student Symposium. Sravya gave a talk on "Melt Miscibility in Polyisoprene – Polyolefin Block Copolymers" and Jared gave a talk on "The Effects of Stereoinversion on Structure and Phase Transitions of Hydrogenated ROMP Polynorbornenes." Nick presented a poster on "Critical Molecular Weight of Tie Molecule Formation in Linear Polyethylene."
September 2018
Alex Lundgren '19 joins the group for his senior thesis, on the factors which control the natural draw ratio of linear polyethylene, following up on the tantalizing results obtained by Eden Fesseha in summer 2018. Welcome aboard, Alex!
August 2018
Alex finishes her REU project on crystallization kinetics of hydrogenated polynorbornene by hot-stage polarizing microscopy, and returns to Rutgers for her senior year. Good luck, Alex!
Eden finishes her LLP project on the natural draw ratio of polyethylene, and prepares for her senior year at the Lawrenceville School. Good luck, Eden!
July 2018
Eden Fesseha (Lawrenceville School ’19) joins the group for the summer through the Laboratory Learning Program (LLP). Welcome aboard, Eden!
June 2018
Alexandra Spitzer (Rutgers University, BSMatSciEng '19) joins the group as a PCCM Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) participant for the summer. Welcome aboard, Alex!
Rick received the 2018 School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) Distinguished Teacher Award at the SEAS Class Day ceremony on June 4. Quoting from the program description, this award “is given in recognition of a sustained record of excellence in teaching our undergraduate and graduate students, and for contributions to our educational mission. This award, conferred to one faculty member annually (selected from over 150 eligible), is the highest faculty honor conferred by Princeton’s SEAS. For more information, see the story on the SEAS homepage.
May 2018
Rick, Dane, Sravya, Jared, Nick, and Emily ran a set of hands-on table demonstrations for the general public at the Princeton Public Library on May 12, as part of “Science Day / Diá de la Ciencia”, where hundreds of children and parents experienced a broad range of materials-science-themed activities. The activities included “making slime” (an example of gelation, with take-away samples for each attendee), rubbers and superabsorbent gels (stretching and swelling), and the shattering of racquetballs cooled in liquid nitrogen (embrittlement below the glass transition). Emily’s triple fluency (in English, Spanish, and polymers) was a big asset! For more info and some photos, see the Outreach page.
A description of our “second generation” butanol pervaporation membranes by Beomgoo Kang and Dong-Gyun Kim is published in Macromolecules: “Vinyl Addition Copolymers of Norbornylnorbornene and Hydroxyhexafluoroisopropylnorbornene for Efficient Recovery of n-Butanol from Dilute Aqueous Solution via Pervaporation”. For those with personal or library subscription access, the article can be viewed here. For information on our “first generation” of membranes, see the previous news item from October 2015!
April 2018
Steven Tsai '17's paper, on "Endo/exo Reactivity Ratios in Living Vinyl Addition Polymerization of Substituted Norbornenes", is published on-line in Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics. For those with personal or library subscription access, the article can be viewed here. Congratulations to Steven, both on this paper and for his acceptance to Penn's M.D. program for Fall 2018!
Dane's paper on "Direct Measurement of the Local Glass Transition in Self-Assembled Copolymers with Nanometer Resolution" appears in ACS Central Science. The paper was highlighted for a commentary, written by Professor Tim Lodge of the University of Minnesota. For those with personal or library subscription access, Dane's paper can be accessed here and Tim Lodge's commentary on the work can be found here. Congratulations, Dane!
March 2018
Michael Torre III ’17’s paper, coauthored with Will Mulhearn *18, on “Ring-Opening Metathesis Copolymerization of Cyclopentene Above and Below Its Equilibrium Monomer Concentration Lower Critical Ordering Transition of an All-Hydrocarbon Polynorbornene Diblock Copolymer”, is published on-line in Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics. For those with personal or library subscription access, the article can be viewed here. Congratulations, Michael and Will!
Rick, Will, and Dane all traveled to the 2018 American Physical Society Meeting in Los Angeles, CA. Dane's talk was titled "Influence of Segregation Strength on the Local Glass Transition of Lamellar Diblock Copolymers". Will gave a talk on "Yield Stress Enhancement in Polyethylene-Glassy Block Copolymers" and Rick presented Will's work on "Disorder-to-Order Transition upon Heating in an All-Hydrocarbon Polynorbornene Diblock Copolymer".
February 2018
Rick receives an E-Council Teaching Award for CBE 544 (Spring 2017)! These awards, selected entirely by the students, “are the only student-motivated, student-run, student-selected teaching awards at Princeton University”. During the lunchtime ceremony on February 22, the award was presented to Rick by Kaichen Gu G3, Ph.D. student in group of Lynn Loo *01.
Emily Abdo '19 joins the group for junior independent work on ROMP of monocyclic olefins (larger than cyclopentene). Welcome aboard, Emily!
January 2018
Nick successfully defends his First Proposition, “Tie Molecules and the Deformation Mechanisms of Polyethylene”, and advances to post-Generals candidacy. Congratulations, Nick!
Will successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis, “Thermodynamics and Mechanical Properties of Diblock Copolymers Containing Polyethylene and Polynorbornene Derivatives”, at his Final Public Oral Examination on January 24. Will will begin an appointment a National Research Council Associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Gaithersburg, MD). Congratulations, Will!
Rick delivers an invited talk at the inaugural Bowei Research Conference (Beipu, Hsinchu, Taiwan). Other invited speakers included group alumnae Lynn Loo *01 and Sheng Li *13. See the conference program and photos here.
December 2017
Will’s paper on “Yield Stress Enhancement in Polyethylene-Glassy Diblock Copolymers” appears in Macromolecules. For those with personal or library subscription access, the manuscript can be viewed here. Congratulations, Will!
October 2017
Adam’s paper on "Large, Reversible, and Coherent Domain Spacing Dilation Driven by Crystallization under Soft Lamellar Confinement" appears in Macromolecules. For those with personal or library subscription access, the manuscript can be viewed here. Congratulations, Adam!
September 2017
Max Difazio finishes his LLP project comparing the "narrow-distribution" and "broad-distribution" methods for determining the molecular weight dependence of the intrinsic viscosity and radius of gyration of polystyrene, using multidetector gel permeation chromatography. Good luck in your senior year at PDS, Max!
Rick presents a talk on Will’s work, "Melt Miscibility of Polyethylene with Hydrogenated ROMP Poly(x-norbornene)s", at the biennial "Advances in Polyolefins XI" workshop (Santa Rosa, CA) of the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry.
August 2017
Michelle Quien finishes her REU project on locating the order-disorder transition temperature in block copolymers by hot-stage polarizing microscopy (see photo below), and returns to Cornell for her sophomore year. Good luck, Michelle!
Will’s paper on "Lower Critical Ordering Transition of an All-Hydrocarbon Polynorbornene Diblock Copolymer" appears in ACS Macro Letters. For those with personal or library subscription access, the manuscript can be viewed here. Congratulations, Will!
Vishesh Shah finishes his LLP project on on-line measurements of the molecular weight dependence of the intrinsic viscosity and radius of gyration of polyisobutylene and ethylene-propylene copolymers, using broad-distribution polymers and multidetector gel permeation chromatography. Good luck in your senior year at South, Vishesh!
Will’s paper on "Melt Miscibility in Diblock Copolymers Containing Polyethylene and Substituted Hydrogenated Polynorbornenes" appears in Macromolecules. For those with personal or library subscription access, the manuscript can be viewed here. Congratulations, Will!
June 2017
Rick again serves as a Marshal at the University’s Commencement ceremony, this year receiving a temporary promotion to the position of Associate Chief Marshal (ACM). The ACM helps host the recipients of Honorary Degrees—see picture below of Rick with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar!
Michelle Quien (Cornell University, BSChemBioE ’20) joins the group as a PCCM Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) participant for the summer. Welcome aboard, Michelle!
Maxwell Difazio (Princeton Day School ’18) and Vishesh Shah (West Windsor-Plainsboro HS ’18) join the group for the summer through the Laboratory Learning Program (LLP). Welcome aboard, Max and Vishesh!
May 2017
Michael Torre ’17 completes his B.S.E. degree, including his thesis on "Ring-Opening Metathesis Copolymerization of Bicyclic and Monocyclic Olefins", and will soon take up a position as an Engineer at Electroninks, Inc. (Austin, TX). Congratulations and best wishes, Mike!
Steven Tsai ’17 also completes his B.S.E. degree, with a thesis on "Endo/exo Reactivity Ratios in Living Vinyl Addition Polymerization of Substituted Norbornenes", for which he shared the Air Products Outstanding Thesis Award from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Steven will soon take up a position as an R&D Associate at Reckitt Benckiser (Montvale, NJ)—congratulations and best wishes!
April 2017
Rick, Will, Sravya, Jared, and Nick host two tables at the PCCM Dia de la Sciencia at the Princeton Public Library on April 8, where hundreds of young students and their families came to enjoy and experience a broad range of materials-science-themed activities. This year’s special feature was outreach to the area’s Spanish-speaking community, with a bilingual translator standing by the tables to assist. For more info and some photos, see the Outreach page!
March 2017
Adam, Will, and Rick travel to New Orleans, LA for the 2017 March Meeting of the American Physical Society. Adam delivered a talk on "Crystal Thickening in Strongly Segregated Crystalline-Amorphous Diblock Copolymers", while Will spoke on "Melt Miscibility in Block Copolymers Containing Polyethylene and Substituted Polynorbornenes". Rick gave an invited talk, "Orientation and Order in Shear-Aligned Thin Films of Cylinder-Forming Block Copolymer", in a session honoring the late Ed Kramer; filled in for Dane, who was snowed in back in NJ by Winter Storm Penelope, with a talk on "Location-Specific Measurements of The Glass Transition Temperature in Fluorescently Labeled Diblock Copolymers"; and hosted a table at "Lunch with the Experts" for graduate students attending the meeting.
February 2017
Adam successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis, "Structure and Property Control in Semicrystalline Polymers Through Block Copolymerization, Macromolecular Architecture, and Tacticity", at his Final Public Oral Examination on February 9. Starting April 1, Adam will embark on an appointment as a National Research Council Research Associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Gaithersburg, MD), in the Functional Polymers Group. Congratulations, Adam—and good luck!
January 2017
First-year Ph.D. student SeongHyuk (Nick) Cho joins the group. Welcome aboard, Nick!
Will’s paper on "Synthesis of Narrow-Distribution, High-Molecular-Weight ROMP Polycyclopentene via Suppression of Acyclic Metathesis Side Reactions" appears in ACS Macro Letters. For those with personal or library subscription access, the manuscript can be viewed here. Congratulations, Will!
December 2016
Adam’s paper on "Mechanical Properties of Star Block Polymer Thermoplastic Elastomers with Glassy and Crystalline End Blocks" appears in Macromolecules. For those with personal or library subscription access, the manuscript can be viewed here. Congratulations, Adam!
November 2016
Will and Rick attend the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA. Will presented a talk on "Enhanced Yield Strength in Polyethylene-Glassy Block Copolymers" in the "Nanoscale Structure in Polymers Session".
October 2016
Postdoctoral associate Beomgoo Kang departs for a permanent research position at LG Chemical in Daejeon, ROK. Good luck, Beomgoo!
September 2016
The Register group welcomes two new senior thesis students this month to the lab: Michael Torre III and Steven Tsai! We look forward to working with you!
August 2016
Rick, Adam, Will, Dane, and Beomgoo attended the American Chemical Society 2016 Fall Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. Adam presented on both "Controlling the phase behavior and mechanical properties of thermoplastic elastomers via combined crystallization and vitrification" and "Maximizing the chlorosilane coupling efficiency of living anionic polymers and limiting degradation during subsequent hydrogenation." Will presented on the "Melt-miscibility in polyethylene-hydrogenated polynorbornene block copolymers," Dane talked on the "Local measurements of the glass transition temperature in fluorescently labeled n-alkyl methacrylate diblock copolymers," and Beomgoo talked on the "Synthesis of well-defined functional copolymers via living vinyl addition polymerization for biobutanol pervaporation membranes."
Rick delivers a plenary lecture on "Polymer Structure and Properties" at the decadal NSF Workshop on Frontiers in Polymer Science and Engineering (August 17-19, Arlington, VA). For the workshop's final report, outlining the current state of the field and the leading challenges and opportunities going forward, click here.
July 2016
Rick, Adam, Will, and Dane traveled to Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA for the 2016 Polymer Physics Gordon Research Conference (GRC). Rick chaired the GRC and Adam chaired the Gordon Research Seminar that took place immediately prior to the GRC. Adam, Will, and Dane presented posters during the meeting. The current group members were joined by group alumni/affiliates Bryan Beckingham, Sheng Li, and Ha-Kyung Kwon.
June 2016
The Register group hosted the 23rd and final "Microsymposium" with Dr. Bob Cohen's group from MIT. It was a great experience, and members of both groups were glad that we could continue this longstanding annual tradition of sharing research presentations in a small, comfortable setting for one more year. We all wish Dr. Cohen well in his retirement!
April 2016
Rick, Beomgoo, Adam, Will, Dane, Sravya, and Jared participated in the PCCM Materials Science NanoDays at the Princeton Public Library. The day was a big success, and hundreds of young students and their families came to participate in all kinds of nanoscience-themed activities!
March 2016
Rick, Adam, Will, and Dane traveled to Baltimore, MD for the 2016 March Meeting of the American Physical Society. Rick was an invited speaker in the Dillon Medal symposium to honor Prof. Thomas Epps, where he presented a talk titled "High-Tg Polynorbornene-Based Block and Random Copolymers for Butanol Pervaporation Membranes." Adam presented on "Structure and Properties of Tactic Hydrogenated Polynorbornenes," Will gave a talk titled "Yield Stress Enhancement in Glassy-Polyethylene Block Copolymers," and Dane spoke about "Synthesis and Characterization of Fluorescently Labeled Diblock Copolymers for Location-Specific Measurements of The Glass Transition Temperature." In addition, Will presented a poster titled "Controlling Miscibility in Polyethylene-Polynorbornene Block Copolymers via Side-Group Chemistry," which was awarded first place for an outstanding poster in the Division of Polymer Physics!
January 2016
The group welcomes two new first-year graduate students, Sravya Jangareddy and Jared Klein! We wish them well as they begin their research projects.
November 2015
Dane placed 3rd in the Fall 2015 PCCM poster night, for his work titled "Synthesis and Characterization of Fluorescently Labeled n-Alkyl Methacrylate Diblock Copolymers". Great job, Dane!
Adam was selected to present in the "Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research" symposium at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City. Quoting from the symposium description: "This is an honorary session consisting of talks by graduate students who have demonstrated excellence in chemical engineering research in any field regarding the area of polymer science and engineering." Adam delivered his talk, "Thermoplastic Elastomers Via Crystallization from Homogeneous Melts" on Tuesday, November 10, to a full room and receptive audience. Congratulations, Adam!
October 2015
Congratulations to Raleigh, for successfully defending his Ph.D thesis "The Orientation of Microdomains and the Progression of Shear Alignment in Block Copolymer Films: The Roles of Key Material, Film, and Process Parameters".
The group welcomes Beomgoo Kang as our new post-doctoral researcher! Beomgoo comes to the Register lab from Jimmy Mays' group at the University of Tennessee, where he worked on a wide range of copolymer chemistries and archirectures via anionic polymerization.
In work described as a "major breakthrough" by the peer-reviewers, Dong-Gyun Kim's article "Hydroxyhexafluoroisopropylnorbornene Block and Random Copolymers via Vinyl Addition Polymerization and Their Application as Biobutanol Pervaporation Membranes", was published in the October 13 issue of Chemistry of Materials. The result of a collaboration with researchers from Promerus LLC, this paper describes synthesis and performance characterization of new block and random copolymers, which are exceptionally well-suited to the recovery of n-butanol from dilute aqueous solutions, such as fermentation broth. This article was selected for the ACS Editors' Choice program, meaning that it will be open access (freely available to the general public) in perpetuity, so the link above will provide access to the article with or without a Chemistry of Materials subscription. Only one article per day, across all ACS journals, is selected as Editors' Choice, making this distinction more selective than being chosen for the journal cover. Congratulations, Dong-Gyun!
July 2015
Raleigh made the trek down to Alpharetta, GA to begin his new career with Solvay Advanced Polymers LLC. Raleigh will return to Princeton in the autumn to defend his thesis, but until then the group wishes him a great start as he begins the next chapter of his professional life!
May 2015
The group bids farewell to Helen, after she completed her senior thesis. Congratulations Helen, and best of luck as you start your graduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Fall!
April 2015
The Register lab participated in the 2015 PCCM Materials Science NanoDay. Rick gave his famous polymer basics demo, while the rest of the group set up a collection of activity stations covering "Shrinky Dink" art, smashing rubber balls frozen with liquid nitrogen, making "slime," and skewering balloons without popping.
March 2015
Rick, Raleigh, Adam, Will, and Dane all traveled to the 2015 American Physical Society March Meeting in San Antonio, TX. Raleigh presented in this year's Padden Award Symposium, a competitive session which recognizes one graduate student each year for "Excellence in Polymer Physics Research." Raleigh's talk was titled "Get in Line: Orienting Cylinders in Block Copolymer Thin Films via Shear." Raleigh also presented a poster on "Coatings with Thermally Switchable Surface Energy Produced from Block Copolymer Films." Adam gave a talk titled "Tailoring Phase Behavior and Mechanical Properties in Thermoplastic Elastomers through Block Sequence and Macromolecular Architecture." Will, attending his first APS conference, gave a presentation on "Melt-Miscibility in Block Copolymers Containing Polyethylene and Substituted Polynorbornene Blocks." Fellow APS rookie Dane also attended and presented a poster on "Liquid Substrate Effects on the Glass Transition Temperature of Nanoscopically Confined Polystyrene Spheres." There was time for some fun in the great state of Texas as well. The current group members were joined with group alumni/affiliates So Youn Kim, Ha-Kyung Kwon, Bryan Beckingham, Matt Trawick, and Kouji Asakawa for a group dinner. It was great seeing everyone and congrats to everyone who presented at this year's APS meeting!
February 2015
Rick traveled to Orlando, FL to present at the 2015 Smart Coatings meeting. There he gave an invited talk on "Block Copolymers: Thin Films and Thermoswitchable Surfaces".
Senior thesis student Helen Yao '15 was recently profiled in the Student Spotlight for the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials monthly newsletter. Nice work Helen!
January 2015
Congratulations to Dane (jointly advised by Professor Rod Priestley) for successfully defending his First Prop! Dane's PhD will focus on studying the distribution of glass transition temperatures in amorphous block copolymers.
For news items prior to January 2015, see the Archive - Polymer Research Laboratory
