2015 Polymer Day in Review

MIT’s fifth annual Polymer Day, held March 11, 2015, was undoubtedly our best yet! The day featured a contest with over forty posters–including for the first time, contestants from U. Mass. Amherst, Tufts and other universities, a symposium, corporate participants with product demonstrations, a lively flow of visitors throughout the afternoon, and of course great free food. Hearty thanks to all of this year’s poster presenters!

Special thanks to our sponsors, Cabot Corporation, Cambridge Polymer Group, Arkema, and new this year SABIC Innovative Plastics, Sigma Aldrich, and Neograft Technologies, Inc., as well as to all of our judges, Dr. Anuj Bellare (Brigham and Women’s Hospital), Dr. Elizabeth Burns (Cabot Corporation), Anna L. Johnson (Arkema), Dr. Adam Kozak (Cambridge Polymer Group), Dr. David Liu (Arkema), Dr. Matthew Mannarino (Neograft Technologies, Inc.), Dr. Geoffrey Moeser (Cabot Corp.), Dr. Yuri Svirkin (Cambridge Polymer Group), and Dr. S. Sherry Zhu (Schlumberber-Doll Research). Special thanks as well to Dr. Federico Villalpando, and John Jaddou our contacts at Cabot who were helpful both with judges and arranging sponsorship.

Congratulations to this year’s poster contest winners! [BELOW]

Prof. Darrell J. Irvine [Director, MIT Program in Polymers and Soft Matter] (far L) with the winners of the 2015 MIT Polymer Day Poster Contest (L to R) Runners Up: Dr. Hossein Sojoudi and Graduate Student Yiran Zheng, Honorable Mention: Graduate Students Jouha Min, Jonathan G. Weis [MIT], and Nakul Bende [U. Mass/Amherst], and Scott Grindy [MIT] [SEE BELOW FOR PRIZE WINNER DETAILS]

NOT SHOWN: Graduate Student Wenda Tian (Grand Prize)

[PHOTO CREDIT: Seth Cazzell]

This year’s entries provided some interesting challenges for our judges, nevertheless, the following entries were selected for our winner’s circle:

Grand Prize

Wenda Tian (Graduate Student, MIT ChemE Hatton and Rutledge Groups)
“Electrochemically Nanostructured Polyvinylferrocene / Polypyrrole Hybrids with a Remarkable Synergy for Energy Storage”

Runner Ups

Hossein Sojoudi (Post-doc, MIT ChemE Gleason and MIT MechE McKinley Groups)
“Surface Modification for Reducing Ice Adhesion Using CVD Polymers”

Yiran Zheng (Graduate Student, MIT BioEng Irvine Lab)
“In vivo Arming of Adoptively Transferred T-cells with Drug-Loaded Antibody- and Cytokine-Conjugated Lipid Nanoparticles”

Honorable Mentions

Nakul Bende (Graduate Student, U. Mass/Amherst, Dept. of Polymer Science and Engineering, Hayward Group)
“Snap-through folding of non-Euclidean polymer shells”

Scott C. Grindy (Graduate Student, MIT DMSE, Holten-Andersen Lab)
“Mechanical Properties of Histidine-divalent Metal Transient Network Hydrogels”

Jouha Min (Graduate Student, MIT ChemE, Hammond Lab)
“Tunable nanolayered coatings for effective treatment of implant-related bacterial infection in bone”

Jonathan G. Weis (Graduate Student, MIT Chemistry, Swager Group)
“Pore Blocking by Polymer Conformation Change upon Exposure to Chemical Warfare Agent Mimics”

SYMPOSIUM

This year’s symposium featured presentations by an outstanding line-up of MIT polymer researchers:

Dr. Julia A. Kalow (MIT Chemistry, Swager Group)
“ROMPing In and Out: Synthesis and Self-Assembly of Conjugated H-Shaped Polymers“

Michelle K. Sing (MIT DMSE/PPSM Graduate Student, Prof. Bradley D. Olsen and Prof. Gareth H. McKinley)
“Importance of chain tumbling and finite extension on the startup and relaxation behavior of transient networks“

Justin Kleingartner (MIT ChemE Graduate Student, Prof. Robert E. Cohen and Prof. Gareth H. McKinley)
“Designing robust hierarchically-textured superoleophobic fabrics“

Shengchang Tang (MIT ChemE Graduate Student, Prof. Bradley D. Olsen)
“Anomalous diffusion and sticky Rouse dynamics in associating networks“

Warm thanks to our four presenters for sharing their research!

Accessibility

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 02139-4307

2015 Polymer Day in Review

Grand Prize

Wenda Tian (Graduate Student, MIT ChemE Hatton and Rutledge Groups) “Electrochemically Nanostructured Polyvinylferrocene / Polypyrrole Hybrids with a Remarkable Synergy for Energy Storage”

Runner Ups

Hossein Sojoudi (Post-doc, MIT ChemE Gleason and MIT MechE McKinley Groups) “Surface Modification for Reducing Ice Adhesion Using CVD Polymers”

Yiran Zheng (Graduate Student, MIT BioEng Irvine Lab) “In vivo Arming of Adoptively Transferred T-cells with Drug-Loaded Antibody- and Cytokine-Conjugated Lipid Nanoparticles”

Honorable Mentions

Nakul Bende (Graduate Student, U. Mass/Amherst, Dept. of Polymer Science and Engineering, Hayward Group) “Snap-through folding of non-Euclidean polymer shells”

Scott C. Grindy (Graduate Student, MIT DMSE, Holten-Andersen Lab) “Mechanical Properties of Histidine-divalent Metal Transient Network Hydrogels”

Jouha Min (Graduate Student, MIT ChemE, Hammond Lab) “Tunable nanolayered coatings for effective treatment of implant-related bacterial infection in bone”

Jonathan G. Weis (Graduate Student, MIT Chemistry, Swager Group) “Pore Blocking by Polymer Conformation Change upon Exposure to Chemical Warfare Agent Mimics”