Rajeswari M. Kasi

Professor

Department of Chemistry

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Education

• Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Minnesota, 2004-2006
• Ph.D. University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• M.Sc. Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India

Research Focus

• Synthesize, characterize, and, thereby, achieve a fundamental understanding of new polymer-based organic and hybrid materials comprising tailored architecture and functionality.
• Development of new synthetic methodologies, modification of existing synthetic routes, multidisciplinary approach to structure-property evaluation, and advanced characterization tools are the overriding factors to rational material design.
• The general research focus areas will include steroid-based biocompatible polymers, responsive materials composed of ionic polymer organogels, and mono or bimetallic inorganic organic hybrid materials.
• Harnessing self-assembly and supramolecular chemistry that occur in the neat and solution states of these well-tailored functional materials, we seek to better understand and resolve some of the issues currently observed in targeted drug delivery vehicles, polyelectrolyte membranes, sensors, and responsive materials.

Awards

• MRS Boston 2010 Best Poster Award – Suk-kyun Ahn and Rajeswari M Kasi, 2010
• National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2008
• Graduate Admission Test for Engineers (GATE), All India Entrance Examination in Chemistry, Ranked 3 (declined fellowship), 1998
• Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)/University Grants Commission (UGC), Government of India Fellowship (declined fellowship), 1998
• Merit Scholarship, Department of Chemistry, IIT Madras, India, 8/1996-6/1998
• University Rank, University of Madras, India, 1996

Publications

F Masese, P Njenga, D Ndaya, RM Kasi.   Recent Advances and Opportunities for Cellulose Nanocrystal-Based Liquid Crystalline Polymer Hybrids and Composite Materials.  Macromoleules 2023

C Lee, D Ndaya, R Bosire, NK Kim, RM Kasi, CO Osuji.  Fast Photoswitchable Order–Disorder Transitions in Liquid-Crystalline Block Co-oligomers.   Journal of the American Chemical Society 144, 390–399   2022

D Kim, D Ndaya, R Bosire, FK Masese, W Li, SM Thompson, CR Kagan, CB Murray, RM Kasi, CO Osuji Dynamic magnetic field alignment and polarized emission of semiconductor nanoplatelets in a liquid crystal polymer.  Nature Communications 13, 2507   2022

Y Li, G Parlato, FK Masese, RM Kasi, T Zhang, X Wang.  Morphing of stiffness-heterogeneous liquid crystal elastomers via mechanical training and locally controlled photopolymerization.   Matter    2022

FK Masese, D Ndaya, C-H Liu, N Eddy, D Morales-Acosta, M-P Nieh, RM Kasi.  Self-Assembled Materials from Cellulose Nanocrystals Conjugated with a Thermotropic Liquid Crystalline Moiety.  Soft Matter 18, 8165-8174    2022

XL AOR Beringhs, D Ndaya, R Bosire, RM Kasi.   Imaging Tumor Heterogeneity and the Variations in Nanoparticle Accumulation Using Perfluorooctyl Bromide Nanocapsule X‐Ray Computed Tomography Contrast.   Advanced Therapeutics, 2200047    2022

JR Kim, S Woo, Y Son, JR Kim, RM Kasi, SC Kim.   Ultra-Tough and Super-Swelling PVA/Poly(AAm-co-AA Sodium Salts) Double Network Hydrogels.   Macromolecules 54, 2439-2448     2021

C Lee, D Ndaya, R Bosire, UR Gabinet, J Sun, P Gopalan, RM Kasi, CO Osuji.   Effects of Labile Mesogens on the Morphology of Liquid Crystalline Block Copolymers in Thin Films.   Macromolecules 54, 3223–3231     2021

R Bosire, D Ndaya, RM Kasi.   Recent Progress in Functional Materials from Lyotropic Chromonic Liquid Crystals.   Polymer International      2021

B Kangarlou, R Dahanayake, IJ Martin, D Ndaya, C-W Wu, RM Kasi, EE Dormidontova, M-P Nieh. Flower-like Micelles of Polyethylene Oxide End-Capped with Cholesterol. Macromolecules 54, 8960–8970       2021

S Vaidya, M Sharma, CB Bruckner, RM Kasi.  Rhodamine-Installed Polynorbornenes: Molecular Design Structure, and Stimuli-Responsive Properties.   ACS Omega 6, 15017–15028       2021

AOR Beringhs, D Ndaya, R Bosire, RM Kasi, X Lu.  Stabilization and X-ray Attenuation of PEGylated Cholesterol/Polycaprolactone-Based Perfluorooctyl Bromide Nanocapsules for CT Imaging. AAPS PharmSciTech 22, 1-3      2021

R Bosire, D Ndaya, RM Kasi. Cholesteric Mesophase based 1D Photonic Materials from Self-Assembly of Liquid Crystalline Block and Random Terpolymers containing Chromonic Molecules.  RSC Advances 11, 14615 – 14623      2021

X Lu, RI Kasi, T Thanh-Huyen, CT Nguyen, P Deshmukh. Self-assembled brush block copolymer-nanoparticles for drug delivery. US Patent 11,103,523        2021