The Materials Research Laboratory (MRL) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, supports interactive and inter- disciplinary research related to polymer science and engineering. The research is organized into three primary thrust areas. Research on pattern formation in polymer systems involves investigators from chemistry, polymer science and engineering and chemical engineering and emphasizes the dynamics of pattern formation in polymers rather than the morphology itself. The thrust on ordered polymeric solids brings together faculty and students from chemistry and from polymer science and engineering to address questions of order in crystalline and liquid crystalline polymers, periodic morphologies in polymer blends and block copolymers, and synthesis of new polymers with precisely defined structures. Research on polymers in restricted geometries addresses polymers at surfaces, thin films, the dynamics and behavior of polymers in ordered and disordered systems, and transport phenomena, and involves investigators from physics, chemical engineering, and polymer science and engineering. The MRL also supports the development, operation and maintenance of major central materials research facilities on the Amherst campus, and provides seed funding for new faculty and high-risk research related to its overall program. The program presently involves 15 faculty members, 5 postdoctoral research associates, 2 other technical professionals, 16 graduate students and 6 undergraduates. The MRL at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is under the direction of Professor Shaw Ling Hsu.
