The Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program supports Professor Lisa Kelly of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) who will fabricate and study a new class of polymers that have utility as stimuli-responsive materials. Professor Kelly proposes to improve our understanding of how polymer structure controls mechanism and temperature dependent spectral changes by using acrylamide based copolymers, which can be varied in the hydrophilic-hydrophobic phase transition ratio. The project will provide a strong foundation to develop stimuli-responsive polymers, including nanometer sized particles for biosensing applications.
With the support of the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program, Professor Lisa Kelly of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County is developing a research program that could provide a strong foundation leading to the development of stimuli-responsive polymers, including nanometer sized particles for biosensing applications. Professor Kelly's work will provide interdisciplinary training in the fields of organic, physical, and polymer chemistry. Undergraduate and graduate research students will work as a team with the PI to develop styrene, acrylamide, and hydrogel polymers that have covalently attached molecules known to form an excited state complex. The research team will apply fundamental models in physical chemistry to understand how the response occurs. UMBC has a strong tradition of training outstanding underrepresented minorities (URM) at the undergraduate and graduate level. Over the past 7 years, the PI has regularly mentored URM students in her research lab. The PI is actively involved in the Women in Science and Engineering group at UMBC and has been a successful role model for students working in her lab. Her research students are involved in all aspects of research, including manuscript and proposal preparation, external reviewing, and research presentations at national meetings. By virtue of the interdisciplinary nature of the project, the training activities will prepare students working with the PI for a variety of research and educational careers, while providing ample opportunity to network with leaders in the chemistry community.
