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Hayden Fowler, a graduate student in Gallogly Professor Timothy White’s Responsive and Programmable Materials Group, is the first author on a research paper published in Advanced Materials concerning the temperature-independent electrical actuation of liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), which are soft, stimuli-responsive materials with potential applications in soft robotics, artificial muscles and more.

Professor Christine Hrenya was selected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) this year “for key advancements in the fundamental understanding of granular matter and multiphase systems via a combination of theory, experiments and simulations,” according to the official citation. Fellow selections are an exclusive honor, limited to no more than one half of one percent of APS membership.

Nicole Day, a third-year graduate student in the Shields Lab, is the 2021-2022 recipient of the Teets Family Endowed Doctoral Fellowship. The fellowship provides $15,000 a year for two years to support deserving students working in the nanotechnology field.

The recipient of the 2021 Founders Award is Kristi S. Anseth, Distinguished Professor and Tisone Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder). Dr. Anseth is being lauded for her “seminal contributions to the application of foundational aspects of chemical engineering to the design of advanced biomaterials, hybrid medical devices, and bionanoscale-based processes.”

Jiajie Huo, Postdoctoral Associate – Medlin Lab Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021 2:45 p.m., JSCBB A108 "Catalyst Development for Aqueous-phase Biomass Conversion and Gas-phase Methane Activation" Seminar Abstract Catalysis plays a crucial role in the

The conversion of intermittent solar radiation into storable and transportable chemical fuels can enable access to sustainable feedstocks and dispatchable sources of power, regardless of geographic location. Of particular interest is technologies that facilitate the endothermic dissociation of water and carbon dioxide while utilizing heat that is obtained via concentrating optics and/or renewable sources of electricity.

Liquid crystalline materials (LCMs) showcase extensive potential for application in a range of industries including soft robotics, optics, and, more recently, biomaterials. By patterning the mesogen alignment within these materials, a directed response can be achieved resulting in muscle-like contraction or 3-D deformation. Employing alignment techniques such as surface enforced alignment, photopatterning, and 3-D printing, we seek to further develop these methods to target biologically relevant LCM applications. Here, I will discuss two LCM systems that highlight recent progress in liquid crystalline biomaterials as enzymatic biosensors and substrates for tissue engineering. In the development of the biosensors, we explore the implications of harnessing an enzyme (jack bean urease) within a heavily crosslinked liquid crystalline network (LCN). The network leverages a hydrogen-bonded liquid crystalline mesogen as a chemoresponsive unit, sensitizing the material to ammonia. As the urease enzyme catalyzes the transformation of urea into ammonia, the pre-programmed alignment of the network mesogens is disrupted, resulting in a bulk shape change. In a separate study, surface aligned liquid crystalline elastomers are synthesized to target aligned cell culture for anisotropic tissues such as muscle. Results show a preference for cell growth along the nematic director of LCEs.

Geometric frustration, the incompatibility of local ordering with global geometric constraints, is known to cause anomalous structures, crystal defects, and self-limitation.

Filipe Henrique is this year’s recipient of the Dwight E. and Jessie D. Ryland Endowed Graduate Fellowship from the College of Engineering and Applied Science. This fellowship provides $10,000 over two years to a deserving first-year PhD student working in alternative energy or improved energy utilization and efficiency.

The proliferation of plastic products has created an environmental challenge: what should be done with unusable, discarded plastic waste that can harm the environment? Faculty from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering are working on a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project, Hydrogenolysis for Upcycling of Polyesters and Mixed Plastics, to address this serious environmental issue.