Prof. Kelly Burke presents Yasmin Bambatti with first place award at 2024 Poster SessionProf. 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”.
Yasmin Bimbatti (center) is presented the Stephanie H. Shaw Scholarship Award from Drs. Jeffrey McCutcheon (l) and Kelly Burke (r).
The IMS Polymer Program recognized the accomplishments of two Ph.D. students, bestowing the Samuel J. Huang Student Research Award on Tianjian Wang, and the Stephanie H. Shaw Scholarship on Yasmin Bimbatti.
The Stephanie H. Shaw Scholarship was established 1990 to recognize a female student showing academic achievement as well as contributions outside of research. While pursuing her bachelor’s degree, Yasmin worked for 7 years as a researcher at ELANTAS, a German company member of the Altana Group, where she acquired extensive experience in the formulation, syntheses, and characterization of organic polymers. She placed first at the North American Membrane Society (NAMS) 2023 Student Poster Competition; her research presentation for the inaugural C2E2 Graduate Student Research Summit in Sustainability won third place in February 2024. She joined Dr. Jeffrey McCutcheon's research group, Connecticut Center for Applied Separation Technologies (CCAST), in 2023 and focuses her research on fabricating and characterizing printed ultrathin film composite ion exchange membranes using electrospray.
Tianjian Yang receives the Samuel J. Huang Graduate Student Research Award from Dr. Yao Lin (l) and Dr. Kelly Burke (r)
The Samuel J. Huang Student Research Award recognizes a graduate student for outstanding research in the field of polymer science and engineering. Tianjian Yang is a member of Dr. Yao Lin's research group. He was recently named a finalist for the Eastman Chemical Student Award in Applied Polymer Science, which recognizes graduate researchers who demonstrates research excellence in both research and technical presentations. Yang's research has been published in such journals as the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and MDPI.
After completing her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering here at UConn, Catherine joined the polymer Ph.D. program. Under the advisement of Prof. Mu-Ping Nieh, she completed her dissertation: “Small Angle Scattering Modeling for Analyzing Refined Internal Structures of Lipid Nanodiscs (Bicelles).”
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.
2023 Polymer Program Distinguished Alumni Dr. Jaime A. Gómez (center) with Polymer Program Director Dr. Kelly Burke (left) and Dr. Luyi Sun (right)
The polymer program honored Dr. Jaime A. Gómez as the 2023 Distinguished Alumni.
Dr. Gomez completed his Polymer Ph.D. at UConn in 1989 before beginning his career as a scientist and organizational leader. He has had a successful career including both research and leadership roles. On Friday, September 8, he opened the fall 2023 Polymer Seminar series with his talk titled, “Unexpected Challenges in the Life of a Polymer Scientist”. The talk included stories of research, product development, and exploring various real world challenges during his 30-year career as a polymer scientist. The theme of his presentation is that scientists build a foundation of knowledge and skills during their academic career, but face new and unexplored fields in the industrial setting.
Polymer Program Director Dr. Kelly Burke (l) presents the Distinguished Alumni Award to Dr. Jaime A. Gómez
Dr. Gómez received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Colombia, an MS in Organic Chemistry from Wichita State University, Kansas, and a Ph.D. in Polymer Science from the University of Connecticut. In addition to his scientific education, Dr. Gómez received an MBA from New York University (Stern School of Business) with concentration in International Business, Finance & Marketing. Dr. Gómez has 30-years of industry experience that includes plastics, specialty chemicals, and materials handling—industries where he has conducted basic and applied research, evaluation and acquisitions of technologies and companies, international business development, and corporate strategic planning. Gómez is currently President & CEO of Equitech, a company dedicated to the in-line measurement of chemical concentration, and color and film thickness for a myriad of industries.
Dr. Jaime A. Gómez presents at the Polymer Program Distinguished Alumni Seminar
Dr. Gómez has been an active member and leader of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) for the past 35 years. He joined the Society ofPlastics Engineers in 1987 while pursuing his Polymer Ph.D. here at the UConn, serving as the SPE’s Student Chapter President for two terms. He also served as a member of SPE’s Extrusion Division Board of Directors for six years and helped establish the Next Generation Advisory Board (NGAB). Dr. Gómez has been a member of SPE’s Board of Directors since 2013 and has served as SPE’s Secretary, Treasurer, VP Marketing & Communications, VP Events, and President-Elect. He received SPE’s President’s Cup in 2014 and the Excellence in Mentoring Award in 2017. He also invented and directed The Plastics Race™, an event that promotes networking and knowledge exchange between SPE members. Gómez was named President of SPE for the 2020-2021 term.
Dr. Montgomery “Monty” Shaw addresses attendees at the Montgomery Shaw Symposium.
Polymer rheology expert, Montgomery (Monty) Shaw, was celebrated at the Society of Plastic Engineers (SPE) Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ANTEC) in Denver Colorado this past March. Over the past 30+ years, Dr. Shaw made vital contributions to polymer science and engineering that were shared in over 200 seminars and courses taught at the University of Connecticut. His books: Introduction to Polymer Rheology; Electrorheology; Water Treeing in Solid Dielectrics; and Introduction to Polymer Viscoelasticity have received citing by thousands of scientists and have been used in curriculums throughout the world. These books have been valued for both content and the method of communicating the ideas. His lifelong contributions to polymer science and engineering were celebrated at the daylong event. The symposium, organized by UConn’s Prof. Luyi Sun and Prof. Emertus Robert Weiss, included 13 speakers from both industry and academia.
Dr. Shaw’s began his career at Union Carbide Corp. before joining the University of Connecticut’s Polymer Program as a Professor of Chemical Engineering in 1978. He also gained experience with two year-long sabbaticals at DuPont and Sandia National Laboratories. Dr. Shaw states that, “if you change your environment, you learn new things”. This variety of experience helped him see various aspects of the field and recognize the importance of practical applications in academic research. His peers boast about the deep level of investigation Dr. Shaw made in all the details of rheology. This level of understanding sheds light on every step of the process, leaving nothing unseen.
Shaw Symposium presenters gathered for a photo with Dr. Shaw.
During his more than 30 years as a UConn faculty member, Dr. Shaw was the major advisor of 44 students, helping develop the next generation of polymer scientists. Although he retired in 2009, Dr. Shaw continues to train and assist the students and faculty of the UConn IMS Polymer Program. He also served in leadership roles for the Society of Rheology. His positive attitude and love for science has made Dr. Shaw an integral leader of the Polymer community at the University of Connecticut and throughout the world.
Details of the symposium can be found at this LINK.
Students and industry partners interact during 2023 Polymer Program/MSE Joint Poster Session
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 100industry 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.
IMS Polymer Program Director, Kelly Burke, presents the Stephanie H. Shaw Scholarship award to Xiangyi Xi.
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.
Polymer Program Director Kelly Burke and Dr. Jie He Present the Samuel Huang Research Award to Hanyi Duan.
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.
Anson Ma from Polymer Program at IMS, with joint appointment in the Department of Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering, has been named the United Technologies Corporation (UTC) Professor in Engineering Innovation, effective 23 August 2022. This professorship has been established to recognize the exceptional achievements of young faculty who exemplify excellence in the areas of research productivity and impact, teaching contributions, and service contributions and are at the very top of their area of research.
Ma’s research group focuses on rheology and 3D printing. He currently serves as the UConn Site Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) SHAP3D Center for Additive Manufacturing. He has received a number of awards, including Distinguished Young Rheologist Award from TA Instruments, NSF CAREER award, Arthur B. Metzner Early Career award from the Society of Rheology, 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, Early Career Award from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)-UConn Chapter, UConn Polymer Program Director’s Award for Faculty Excellence, and U.S. Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship.
