Polyhydroxyalkanoates, a class of biodegradable polyester made by fermentation, are explored via extrusion with various additives for the goal of improving mechanical properties. Two types of PHA are used, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) with 6% hexanoate and 8% hexanoate, to understand how copolymer ratios affect properties. The two PHAs undergo blending and reactive extrusion with additives such as radical peroxide initiator, PLA, and other synthesized polyesters, and mechanical data is obtained through tensile testing.

Synthesis of complex solids is often a bottleneck of the materials by design concept. The limitations of conventional synthetic approaches resulted in inability to synthesize predicted materials in ternary and quaternary systems with drastically different reactivities of the constituent elements. Several strategies to advance synthesis and produce challenging phases will be discussed, such as averaging precursor reactivity by atomic mixing of refractory components; and prebuilding chemical bonds in the precursor.

Ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) has emerged as a powerful analytical technique in the biological -omics over the last two decades, due to advantages in speed and separation capabilities. Despite its now widespread utility, the resolving power of many commercial IM platforms (~40-60) is often insufficient for resolution of structurally similar compounds such as stereoisomers. This presents a critical need for us to develop higher resolution techniques to continue to push the boundaries of molecular discovery.

Recent innovations in speed, accuracy and sensitivity have established mass spectrometry (MS) based methods as a key technology for the analysis of complex mixtures. MS techniques are emerging as the analytical gold standard for the identification and characterization of molecular components with wide applications in forensic, environmental, and biomedical research.  My research group focuses on the development of emerging technologies for characterization and structural elucidation.

Over the past century, the rapidly rising rates of antibiotics resistance coupled with decreased new antibiotics on the markets has led to a global health crisis. In the United States alone, antibiotics resistant infections occur over 2.5 million times each year resulting in over 35,000 deaths.¹ One bacterium of interest is Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) which is a gram-positive bacterium and one of the global leaders in antibiotic resistant infections and death. While S.

Chemical Vapor Transport (CVT) is a useful synthetic method for low-dimensional nanomaterials. This seminar will discuss how we’ve used it to achieve high-quality 1-D and 2-D material synthesis at high yields and larger scales than previously reported for transition metal chalcogenides and transition metal chalcohalides, and how CVT has been used for the controlled growth of several uranium and thorium chalcogenides.

Creating and curating new data appends the way we approach materials science. In additive manufacturing (AM), the fabrication of parts and objects with high complexity and high performance is advantageous over other methods. Using nanocomposites enables highly improved properties even with “commodity polymers” that do not need to undergo high-temperature processes or extensive reformulation. With artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), optimizing the formulation and manufacturing methods is possible.