This three-year award for U.S.-France cooperative research in materials research involves Matthew Tirrell of the University of Minnesota and Catherine Amiel-Guenoun of the Laboratory for the Chemical Physics of Biopolymers at the French National Center for Scientific Research in Thiais, France. The award provides travel support and living expenses to Dr. Tirrell and a graduate student. The objective of the research is to study the interfacial structures generated by adsorption of hydrophilic-hydrophobic block copolymers on solid surfaces. A particular novel system, known as polyoxazoline- polyisobutylvinlether, is the basis of the research program. The collaboration takes advantage of the simultaneous application of two experimental methods: small angle neutron scattering performed by the French investigators and surface force measurement conducted by the American team.
