(3ad) Engineering Polymeric Materials for Soft Electronics, Robotics, and Biomedical Devices

My research interests are broadly centered around the material science and engineering of polymeric materials. Fundamentally, I am interested in understanding the behavior of complex soft materials at interfaces. My research group will develop novel molecular simulation methods in tandem with experimental characterization techniques to study molecular mechanisms and interfacial phenomena in polymeric materials. A specific focus will be placed on understanding relations between electronic, optical and mechanical properties in thin films and composites of organic electronic polymers. Knowledge gained from such studies will be leveraged to design new materials, processing techniques, and integrated devices for applications in soft electronics, robotics, and biomedical devices. Processing techniques including ink jet printing, 3D printing, and various coating processes will be employed to integrate functional soft devices with electronic circuitry consisting of highly deformable conducting and semiconducting polymers. Such processing capabilities will enable the development of soft robotic systems that are easily integrated with digital electronics, traditional hard robotic systems, and human users to provide new and useful functionality in sensing, automation, and healthcare.

Teaching Interests

My teaching interests encompass the entirety of the chemical engineering curriculum. I have had specific experience assisting in teaching graduate courses on partial differential equations and intermolecular & surface forces, in addition to undergraduate classes on polymeric materials and statistical thermodynamics. I am also an expert computer programmer and have had a lot of experience teaching groups of colleagues and mentees how to use Python and supercomputing infrastructure for a variety of tasks related to simulation and data analysis in chemical engineering research. My goal is to eventually teach a graduate-level course on statistical mechanics and molecular simulation methods. I am a proponent of mixing theoretical and experiential-based learning, and my courses would be equally weighted by projects and exams.