This dissertation-enhancement award supports K.B. Wagener's graduate student Jason Smith to spend three months at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany working with the Institute Director, Gerhard Wegner, and with professor Guenter Lieser. The research will focus on branching in polyethylene using step polymerization procedures. Mr. Smith will gather X-ray and electron diffraction data on model polymers. His research will be guided by professors Wegner and Lieser, and he will produce the first data of its kind ever generated for precisely branched polyethylene.
