IMS Polymer Program Poster Session

IMS Polymer Program Presents Awards for Outstanding Posters

Posted on July 1, 2024July 1, 2024 by Rhonda Ward

Prof. Kelly Burke presents Yasmin Bambatti with first place award at 2024 Poster Session

Prof. Kelly Burke presents Rumesha Pererage with third place prize at the 2024 poster session

The IMS Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP) 2024 Annual Meeting once again included a joint student poster session with IMS Polymer Program and Department of Materials Science and Engineering students sharing their research. 33 graduate students participated. The poster session provides an opportunity for students to interact with IAP members and industry partners, many of whom have hired our graduates in the past. The Program presented its annual Poster Awards at the 202 poster session.

Rumesha Pererage, from the Adamson Research Group, received third place prize for her poster, “Graphene polyamide membrane for in situ electrochemical CO2 reduction”.

Huijie Li, from the Zhang Research Group, received second place prize for their poster, “Microneedle-based potentiometric sensing system for continuous monitoring of nutrients in skin interstitial fluids”.

Yasmin Bimbatti, from the McCutcheon Research Group, received first place honors for her poster, “Thin Film Composite Ion Exchange Membranes by Electrospray”.

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Amy Pollock Receives Future Climate Venture Studio Fellowship

Posted on September 26, 2023September 26, 2023 by Rhonda Ward

Ph.D. Material Science student, Amy Pollock

UConn’s Future Climate Venture Studio has created a fellowship program designed to provide tangible experiences for students interested in learning in start-ups, marketing, commercialization, venture development, and research around climate change. Materials Science PhD. student, Amy Pollock, is one of three UConn graduate students to receive the fellowship. Fellows were selected for their excellent writing skills, science, technical, or business background, interest in the entrepreneurial process, interest in addressing climate change, and their ability to work independently and handle confidential material. The program partners each student with 2 start-up companies that need advice and/or assistance within a specific discipline. This enables the companies to have access to scientist working in their field while the students gain insight regarding the many challenges of creating and maintaining a startup company. The program is one more example of UConn’s support of entrepreneurship for both students as well as faculty.

Amy will be working with the following companies:

Peat (formally, “Afterlife”) – [eliminating food waste]: https://www.peatfarming.com/
Homeostasis – [Carbon removal & utilization]: https://www.homeostasis.earth/

Details regarding the Future Climate Venture Studio and the fellowship can be found at: https://www.futureclimateventurestudio.com/

2023 IMS/MSE Joint Poster Session

Posted on June 6, 2023June 6, 2023 by Rhonda Ward

The IMS Polymer Program, IMS Materials Science Program, and the Materials Science and Engineering Department held their first in-person poster session since 2019 in the brand new building, Science 1. The COVID pandemic put this traditional event on hold for 3 years. Forty two graduate students from twenty research labs presented posters. Students welcomed the opportunity to share their research and ideas with other students, faculty, and guests from industry. The session, coordinated alongside the IMS Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP) 2023 Annual Meeting, brought over 100 industry partners to meet the students and faculty participants. The new building with its open layout added energy to the event. IMS thanks participants for a truly successful day.

Xiangyi Xi Wins Stephanie H. Shaw Scholarship

Posted on June 6, 2023June 6, 2023 by Rhonda Ward

Polymer Ph.D. student, Xiangyi Xi was the 2023 recipient of the Stephanie H. Shaw Scholarship. She made some major contributions in developing biosensors for the Papadimitrakopoulos research lab. She helped implement a multi-potential step pulsing test technique which lead to increased sensitivity and reduced power consumption of implantable glucose sensors. This lead to a patent currently in application. More recently, she has helped develop of an enzymatic cascade sensor. In addition to her research, Xiangyi has continued to mentor the next wave of scientists, including 10 undergraduates over the past 5 years. Xiangyi is pictured with Polymer Director, Dr. Kelly Burke.

Hanyi Duan Wins Samuel J. Huang Award

Posted on June 6, 2023June 6, 2023 by Rhonda Ward

Polymer Program Ph.D. student, Hanyi Duan, was the 2023 recipient of the Samuel J. Huang Graduate Student Research Award. Hanyi was recognized for his success in research, journal articles, and strong collaborative nature in the research laboratory. As a researcher, Hanyi has taken a leading role in developing new synthetic methodology to asymmetric polymer grafted metal nanoparticles. This research was the foundation of 6 publications as lead author. Hanyi is pictured with Polymer Program Director, Dr. Kelly Burke, and his major advisor, Dr. Jie He.

2022 Polymer Poster Session

Posted on April 20, 2022April 20, 2022 by Rhonda Ward

2022 Polymer Program Poster Session — IMS Polymer Program students display posters during 2022 Poster Session.

After two years of restrictions due to the COVID virus, the Polymer Program held its first in-person poster session since 2019. The event kicked off a 2-day open house for graduate student recruitment and also broke the long streak of virtual events.

Poster boards were dusted off and set up in the new Gant Complex Atrium, now called the “Light Court”, with a new collection of posters. Faculty and students expressed much gratification for the escape from the cyber world and return to the tradition of in-person discussions. Despite the masks, the smiles could be seen and the joy of the event could be felt by all.

A few faculty and students passing through the area felt the magnetic pull of the science talk and enthusiastically joined the fun. The event included 15 posters from polymer research laboratories, more than two dozen students, five visiting prospective students, and faculty from four departments. While the times change and technology evolves, it will be difficult to replace the glory of a traditional poster session.