Research Areas
The Center represents faculty with varied interests and
specialties. Each member below discusses their research
interests.
 CERAMICS/POLYMERS
"Organometallic and metal-organic routes to
ceramics and inorganic/organic hybrid materials, chemistry of
silsesquioxanes and other silicone materials, fibers and
composites."
Ron Baney -
http://baney.mse.ufl.edu POLYMERIC BIOMATERIALS, DRUG
DELIVERY
"Biomaterials, surface properties of polymers, microsphere
synthesis, diagnostic devices, scaffods for regenerative medicine."
Chris Batich -
http://batich.mse.ufl.edu
POLYMERIC NANO-COMPOSITES
"Preparation and properties of polymeric nano-composites via
reactive extrusion and super-critical carbon dioxide processing.
Also preparation of high impact polymers and polymer alloys along
with characterization. Electrospinning of polymeric and inorganic
nano-fibers and their property measurement."
Charles Beatty -
http://beatty.mse.ufl.edu
 POLYMERIC
INTERFACES
"Polymer/Biomaterials Science & Engineering, Designed Interfaces -
Adhesion/Bioadhesion; Tissue Engineering; Networks/Gels;
Composites."
Tony Brennan -
http://brennan.mse.ufl.edu
ORGANIC AND SUPRAMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY
"Molecular recognition, self-assembly, organic synthesis, reversible
and bio-inspired materials, non-covalent interactions."
Ron Castellano -
http://chem.ufl.edu/~castellano
MORPHOLOGY, RHEOLOGY, STRUCTURE-PROPERTY RELATIONSHIPS
"Properties of epoxies for fiber-reinforced composites,
structure-property relationships of liquid crystalline epoxies, supramolecular structure of proteins, active learning techniques,
critical thinking in engineering."
Elliot Douglas -
http://douglas.mse.ufl.edu/
POLYMERS AT SURFACES AND INTERFACES
"Research in our group has focused on the assembly
and chemical reaction of 'nontraditional' amphiphilic materials
at surfaces and interfaces. We have investigated compounds
such as liquid crystals, conducting polymers, fullerene-containing
polymers, star copolymers, and nanoparticles. We have been
able to make sophisticated measurements of the time dependence
of surface properties to address questions such as chemical
kinetics and reactivity, viscoelasticity and flow, optical
properties, morphology via AFM, and more recently crystal
structure via grazing incidence synchrotron diffraction.
Recent activities are in the area of nanoparticles for drug
detoxification applications, and systems consisting of immobilized
ion channels over semiconductor devices."
Randy Duran -
http://www.chem.ufl.edu/~polymer/durangp/
ORGANIC AND SYNTHESIS
"Our chemistry focuses on combinatorial library design
emanating from relatively few precursors that can reorganize
under thermodynamic control. These libraries are prepared
by cross-metathesis using Grubbs' catalysts using diverse
precursors that are biologically important such as carbohydrates,
amino acids, pharmaceuticals and metal complexes. Many are
chiral and can hydrogen-bond. Because cross-metathesis is
reversible, these libraries can self-organize and respond
to equilibrium
shifts induced by molecular recognition events."
Eric Enholm -
http://www.chem.ufl.edu/~enholm/ 
BIOMEDICAL POLYMERS
"Polymer/Biomedical Polymer Science & Engineering,
Polymer Surface Modification, Medical Implants & Devices,
Evaluation of Implant Biocompatibility; specific areas of
application include Ophthalmic Biomaterials & Devices,
Vascular Stents, Regenerative Medicine for Repair of the
Central Nervous System (Spinal Cord & Retinal Repair),
and Localized Cancer Chemotherapy using Nano-Meso-Microspheres."
Gene Goldberg -
http://www.mse.ufl.edu/other/faculty/dir_details.php?id=20
BIOMIMETIC INORGANIC-ORGANIC COMPOSITES
"Polymeric crystal growth modifiers, Biomimetic organic-inorganic
composites, Hard tissue engineering, Role of biomacromolecules
in biomineralization, Engineered particulates."
Laurie Gower -
http://gower.mse.ufl.edu
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE & DYNAMICS OF CRYSTALLINE
POLYMERS
"First-principles electronic and vibrational structure
calculations of crystalline polymers, theoretical simulations
of UV/visible absorption, photoelectron, IR/Raman, and inelastic
neutron scattering spectra of polymers"
So Hirata - http://www.qtp.ufl.edu/~hirata
BIOMOLECULAR MOTORS
"The research of the Hess group focuses on the applications of molecular
motors. Biomolecular motors, such as the motor protein kinesin, convert
chemical energy derived from the hydrolysis of individual ATP molecules into
directed, stepwise motion. This enables them to act as fuel-efficient
"tractor trailers" within cells, and to actively transport designated cargo,
for example vesicles, RNA or viruses, to predetermined locations within
cells. In biological systems, motor-driven active transport complements
diffusion and pressure-driven fluid flow, providing close control over cargo
movements within extremely restricted spaces. For us as engineers, observing
active transport in biology inspires visions of nanofluidic systems for
biosensing, of active materials capable of rearranging their components, and
even of molecular conveyor belts and forklifts for manufacturing at the
nanoscale."
Henry Hess - http://hess.mse.ufl.edu/
POLYMERIZATION CHEMISTRY
"Our research group has several projects focused on polymerization chemistry, including: single-site catalyst design for the preparation of syndiotactic polypropylene and related copolymers; elastomeric polypropylene based on the isotactic-hemiisotactic, syndiotactic-hemiisotactic, or enantiomorphic site control microstructures; oxygen rich polymers from biorenewable feedstocks such as polylactic acid and polyoxymethylene; theoretical models of polymer tacticity; and the application of DFT calculations to polymerization chemistry."
Stephen Miller - http://web.chem.ufl.edu/groups/miller/
 POLYMERS
WITH STRONGLY INTERACTIVE GROUPS
"Long Range Correlations in Polymer Melt, Anti-Casimir effect in
polymer melts, Extracting Structural information from
Force-Extension Curves."
Sergei Obukhov -
http://www.phys.ufl.edu/~sergei/
POLYMER RHEOLOGY AND
PROCESSING
"Multicomponent flows of polymeric materials are encountered
frequently in various industrial applications. Due to the complexity
of polymer rheology, numerous issues involving such flows remain to
be understood. Our efforts in this area focus on investigating
various multicomponent flows of polymeric fluids through an
interplay between process modeling and experiment. Modeling work is
aimed at establishing theoretical bases of various fluid mechanical
behaviors observed experimentally."
Chang-Won Park -
http://www.che.ufl.edu/faculty/Park/index.html
 ELECTROACTIVE
POLYMERS
"Conjugated Polymers for Electrochromic, Light Emitting, and
Photovoltaic Devices. Our group has a coordinated synthesis,
properties control, and device platform effort directed to
developing variable band gap pi conjugated polymers which may find
utility in a variety of optoelectronic devices. Using electron rich
and electron rich heterocycles polymerized via various transition
metal mediated coupling and electrochemical methods, polymers are
designed with controlled HOMO and LUMO energy levels and electronic
band gaps. This provides electronic absorption and emission
properties controllable from the UV, through the visible, the
near-infrared and even longer wavelengths. We seek to optimize the
properties of polymers as they may be applied to color changing electrochromics, visible and near-infrared light emission, and
flexible organic polymer based solar cells."
John Reynolds -
http://chem.ufl.edu/~reynolds/
ORGANIC, INORGANIC, POLYMER AND MATERIALS
"Research in our lab is focused on the interaction of light with
organic and organometallic materials. We have an interest in a
number of optical applications such as light emitting devices (LEDs),
fluorescent sensors, solar energy conversion and non-linear optical
phenomena. In one specific project we are involved in the chemical
synthesis and fundamental study of water soluble conjugated polymers
(conjugated polyelectrolytes). These materials find application in a
number of areas, including fabrication of fluorescent bio-sensors
and nano-structured films for use in organic photovoltaic cells. In
another line of investigation, we are studying the optical
properties of novel conjugated organometallic oligomers and
polymers. Finally, we have a long standing interest in the
development of thin film based luminescent oxygen sensor materials
which are used by aerodynamic engineers to measure air pressure
distributions on wind-tunnel models."
Kirk Schanze -
http://www.chem.ufl.edu/~kschanze/index.htm
 INFRARED
AND OPTICAL MEASUREMENTS
"My group studies materials by optical reflectance or transmittance
at wavelengths from the far infrared through the near ultraviolet.
Among the topics studied are high-temperature superconductors,
electroactive (conducting) polymers, low-dimensional organic
crystals, fullerenes, and a number of other systems. We have also
contributed to transport and other studies, and have worked on
techniques and applications. I am also a member of U12IR at the NSLS,
where we use synchrotron
radiation to carry out pump-probe measurements in the far infrared,
in collaboration with Larry Carr, Dave Reitze, and Chris Stanton."
David Tanner - http://www.phys.ufl.edu/faculty/tanner.shtml
 POLYMER
SYNTHESIS
"Acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET) polymerization, monomer
structure/reactivity relationships, catalyst structure/property
relationships, synthesis of new biopolymers, copolymers, and
elastomeric thermosets, determining structure/behavior relationships
in polyolefins. The common theme that defines our research relates
to synthetic polymer chemistry and how it might be used in creating
well defined polymer structures. A large part of our work is devoted
metathesis reactions, where
the research has been mechanistic in nature. We immerse ourselves in
the chemistry associated with creating new polymers, and we also
find ourselves interested in modeling well known materials, like
polyethylene, to better understand their behavior."
Ken Wagener -
http://www.chem.ufl.edu/~wagener/
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