***CANCELLED: STEM Speaker Series: Photoregulation of Polymerization Processes

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Clara Tran

Date: 03/24/2020

Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Location
Special Collections Seminar Room

Description

**Please note: In response to concerns over the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), this event will not take place as planned. Stony Brook University continues to closely monitor the guidance provided by the CDC and New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH).**

Please join us on March 24th for the latest talk in our STEM Speaker Series, Photoregulation of Polymerization Processes by Dr. Melanie Chiu.

Dr. Chiu is a native of San Diego, California, and graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 2004 with an A.B. in Chemistry. She earned her Ph.D. in 2009 as a National Science Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. She was a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zürich (2009–2011, ETH Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship) and Stanford University (2012–2014) before joining the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University in 2014. Melanie especially values the privilege of pursuing some of science’s biggest mysteries as a member of the Stony Brook community because of its tremendous diversity, collaborative environment, and commitment to education as an engine of social mobility. When she’s not in the chemistry lab, Melanie enjoys training for triathlons, climbing, and playing violin.

This seminar will explore fundamental developments in polymer synthesis, including methods for controlling polymer dispersity and copolymer sequence. Growing evidence indicates that these parameters, dispersity and sequence, profoundly impact polymer material properties, such thermal stability and degradation profiles. Yet, methods for high-resolution control over these parameters are rare, preventing systematic correlation of polymer structure with material functions. We have developed new classes of photoswitchable initiators and catalyst systems that enable dynamic manipulation of dispersity and copolymer sequence, respectively. This work is the first demonstration of using light to deterministically control the dispersity of poly(vinyl ethers) and the sequence of poly(lactides). These results serve as a foundation for further exploring external control of polymer structure, and for accessing new polymer structures with tunable properties.