9403119 Sheares Dr. Valerie V. Sheares has been awardea an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Chemistry. Dr. Sheares received her doctoral degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under the supervision of Professor Joseph DeSimone. Dr. Sheares will continue research at the University of Mainz under the sponsorship of Professor Reimund Stadler. Her postdoctoral training will introduce her to the optimization and large-scale synthesis of polymer-grade aminoisoprene monomers and their subsequent living polymerization with the objective of controlling the molecular weight, molecular weight distribution and homopolymer microstructure. Longer term, she plans to study structure/property relationships in a new family of ionomers with ionic groups spaced at regular intervals along the chains. Homo-, block and star block ionomers will be synthesized and characterized. The Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Chemistry Program is viewed as an important infrastructural program designed to broaden the knowledge and experience of new Ph.D.s and attract them into meaningful careers in contemporary chemical research and teaching.
