Polymer Chemistry

Michael Wells has served in various positions with in the polymer industry for 30 years. He has held positions with such organizations as Procter and Gamble, A. O. Smith, Witco, Arkema, and currently holds the position of Director of Research and Development for Reynolds Polymer Technology. He is a graduate of Arkansas State University with a Bachelor’s in Chemistry and Lehigh University with a M. Eng. In Polymer Science and Engineering. He was until recently, President of the Rocky Mountain section of the Society for Plastics Engineers, and previously served on the board of the Lehigh Valley section of SPE. His main areas of research are polymer initiation systems and polymer structure/property modification. More recently, he has been working with flame retarded acrylic materials and adhesives. He holds two US patents and 1 application in process. Michael currently resides in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Polymer Nanotechnology, Materials Chemistry

Dr. Adango Miadonye is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Chemistry in the School of Science & Technology, Cape Breton University, Canada. He obtained his PhD at Loughborough University, Leicestershire, U.K. He has received global recognition in the field of petroleum engineering and petroleum chemistry, and is a recipient of the President’s Award for Excellence in Research. His impressive publication record includes 100 peer-reviewed articles, numerous book chapters, and a number of presentations at important international conferences. An accomplished and respected student supervisor, Dr. Miadonye is extensively cited and has also formed the basis for a number of industrial collaborations. Well-respected by his colleagues nationally and internationally, Dr. Miadonye has been a leader and contributor to his professional academic community holding offices and serving on committees with numerous academic and professional societies

His research interests include upgrading and rheology of crude oil; green chemistry; petroleum and petroleum products characterization, polymeric materials morphology, characterization and processing.

Dr. Robert Luo obtained his BEng in 1981, MEng in 1984 at Central Southern University in China & PhD in 1994 at South Bank University in London and completed his post-doctoral research at Leicester University in UK. He is a Principal CAE Engineer at Trelleborg IAVS in UK. He is also teaching CAE course for post-graduate students in China. He has performed simulation works on several hundred rubber anti-vibration products in industry over 20 years. He is Charted Engineer, Industrial Adviser and Fellow of Institution of Mechanical Engineers in UK. He has published his own book “Numerical prediction & case validation for rubber anti-vibration system” in both English and Chinese. He, as the first author, has also published nearly 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

His research interests: stress, fatigue, dynamics, creep and relaxation, CFD with FSI evaluations on design and applications of rubber anti-vibration components

Dr. Jung Kwon (John) Oh is a Canada Research Chair Tier II in Nanobioscience and an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Concordia University in Canada. With his PhD degree from the University of Toronto in Canada, he completed his postdoctoral research at Carnegie Mellon University in USA. He had also R&D experience in industries, Korea Chemical Company and Dow Chemical Company over 10 years. He has authored >105 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters as well as holds 18 international patents. His research has been recognized with several prestigious awards, selectively including PCI Outstanding Paper Award in 2010, Canada Research Chair Award in 2011-2021, and Dean’s award to Excellence in Scholarship-Mid-Career in 2016.

His research interests involve the design and processing of macromolecular nanoscale materials for biomedical and industrial applications

Dr. Ullah received his PhD (with distinction) in Chemical Sciences and Technologies in 2010 at the University of Genova, Italy working together at Southern Methodist University, USA. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow, Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure at the University of Alberta. He teaches a graduate course which deals with fundamentals in bio-based materials development, characterization, and various industrial applications. Aman has published more than 42 papers in reputed journals and 4 patents/patent applications. He has participated and presented his work at more than 90 National and international scientific meetings and conferences, including several invited, keynote and plenary lectures at conferences and research centers in Asia, Europe, and America. In addition, he has received several awards including Canadian Rising Star award in Global Health by Grand Challenges Canada

Aman leads a research group on Lipid utilization - Polymers/Materials Chemistry and mandate of this group is to develop new monomers, biopolymers, biomaterials and bionanomaterials from lipids (plant oils) and other renewable resources for industrial applications. Therefore, his major research interests are on the synthesis of monomers, biopolymers, nano-engineered biopolymers, nano-biocomposites and bioconjugates from renewable resources for various applications.

Dr. John Goodenough is a Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, and holds the Virginia H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering. Dr. Goodenough's research into the relationships between the chemistry, structure, and electronic/ionic properties of solids addresses fundamental solid state problems in order to design new materials that can enable an engineering function. For example, his work on ionic transport in solid electrolytes and on mixed electronic/ionic conductors has enabled realization of the rechargeable lithium-ion battery used in cellular telephones and laptop computers; it also continues to provide alternative materials for the realization of a medium-temperature solid oxide fuel cell and an oxygen-permeation membrane. His group grows single-crystal specimens as well as synthesizing new ceramic materials. Chemical and structural characterization of his materials accompanies an array of fundamental measurements in which high pressure as well as temperature and chemical composition are used as variables. Technical materials are also studied for engineering performance. In addition to developing new materials for energy conversion and storage, Goodenough has been uncovering the physical mechanisms responsible for unusual physical phenomena such as high temperature superconductivity and the colossal magnetoresistance that occur at the crossover from localized to itinerant electronic behavior. Dr. Goodenough is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the nation's highest honor for engineering professionals. He is a recipient of the 2009 Enrico Fermi Award, laureate of the 2001 Japan Prize, and a foreign member of the Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas, y Naturales of Spain and the Royal Society of England.

Electronic and Photonic Materials, Energy Materials, Transition-metal oxides; lithium ion batteries; fuel cells; oxygen-permeation membranes

Richard Spontak, Alumni Distinguished Professor at NC State, completed his BS from Penn State, his PhD from UC Berkeley, postdoctoral studies at Cambridge University and industrial research at P&G. He has received numerous (inter)national awards for his research, reported in over 230 papers published in peer-reviewed journals. He sits on the editorial advisory board of 21 journals and is an elected fellow of the APS, IOM3 and RSC, and a member of the NTVA.

Polymer Morphology and Phase Stability. Multifunctional and Nanostructured Polymers, Blends and Networks. Application of Microscopy Techniques to Polymer Science and Engineering.

Salah S Massoud received his PhD from Boston University and has Postdoctoral studies at Basel University (Switzerland), University of Alberta (Canada) and visiting Professor at Ohio and Houston Universities. He has published more than 140 papers in peer-reviewed journals and he has been serving in Editorial Board of Magnetochemistry Journal, Journals of Advances in Chemistry and Modern Chemistry and Applications (JMCA) and Dataset Papers in Materials Science. His research interest is focused on material sciences, bioinorganic and traditional coordination chemistry.

Coordination Chemistry Coordination Compounds,Coordination Complexes,Materials Chemistry,Transition Metal Complexes,Coordination Chemistry and Metal Complexes, Crystal Inorganic Chemistry,X-ray Crystallography

Jin Ho Lee, graduated Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Utah, U. S. A. with Ph. D. degree in 1988. Since 1993, he is a professor in the Department of Advanced Materials, Hannam University, South Korea. He was a President of Korean Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society (KTERMS) (2012) and served as Conference Chair in Asia-Pacific Meeting of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Societies (TERMIS-AP) (2014).

His research area includes biomaterials for tissue engineering and bioactive molecules delivery. He published more than 220 Scientific research papers, 35 Book chapters, and 55 patents.

Cornelia Gabriela Palivan was born in Brasov, Romania where she was educated until University level. She obtained both her BSc (1982) and MSc (1983) degrees at the University of Bucharest. After 7 years at the Institute of Chemical & Pharmaceutical Research, Bucharest, as project leader in various drug research oriented projects, Cornelia took up a position as Teaching Assistant at the University of Bucharest. Between 1992 - 1994, she made the experimental part of her PhD under the supervision of Professor Michel Geoffroy at the University of Geneva where her long held interest in Electron Paramagnetic Resonance of metal complexes began. In 1995, she gained her PhD degrees with Summa cum Laudae at the University of Bucharest, under the supervision of Professor Voicu Grecu. Two years later, Cornelia was appointed as a University Lecturer at Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest. In 1999, she moved to the Department of Chemistry at the University of Basel where she was involved in projects using Electron Paramagnetic Resonance to characterise paramagnetic centers in free radicals, metal complexes, and proteins. The introduction to pulse EPR methods was made during her research stage with Professor Arthur Schweiger at the ETH Zurich (2003-2004). She returned to Basel in 2004, as Senior Group Leader in the group of Prof. Wolfgang Meier, and started to develop new hybrid materials at the nanoscale by combining self-assembling copolymers with compounds possessing biological activity, such as enzymes and enzyme-mimics. Currently Cornelia is Professor in Physical Chemistry of the University of Basel, and the expertise of her group lies in particular in the design of bio-synthetic hybrid systems (nanoreactors, processors, electron-transfer nanodevices, and metal-exposed polymer membranes). Cornelia was awarded a number of fellowships during her career: Royal Society fellowship, EC-COST research fellowship, and TEMPUS mobility fellowship, supporting her collaboration with Dr. Bernard Goodman, at the Scottish Crop Research Institute, UK (1992, 1993, and 1998). In 1999 she was Academic guest at the Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Geneva. In addition to research which is run jointly with Professor Wolfgang Meier, Cornelia is scientific reviewer for Elsevier, Wiley, and ACS publications, and is involved in organising the Swiss Soft Days workshops (since 2010).

Cornelia G.Palivan research interests include to develop new hybrid materials at the nanoscale by combining self-assembling copolymers with compounds possessing biological activity, such as enzymes and enzyme-mimics. Currently Cornelia is Professor in Physical Chemistry of the University of Basel, and the expertise of her group lies in particular in the design of bio-synthetic hybrid systems (nanoreactors, processors, electron-transfer nanodevices, and metal-exposed polymer membranes).

Hee-Woo Rhee obtained his PhD at the age of 32 years from University of Connecticut, USA in 1987 and then joined KIST, Korea. He moved to Sogang University in 1993 and has served as a professor. He is a full professor now and also has been serving as a director of Sogang-Samsung Display Research Center supported by Samsung Display Company, Korea. He has published more than 202 papers in reputed journals, 3 books and 77 registered/filed patents. He is now serving as a lead guest editor for special issue of International Journal of Polymer Science.

Polymer Electrolytes,Electrolytes,Dye-sensitized Solar Cells,Polymerization,Fuel Cells,Battery,Materials

Jorge Morgado has completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico and postdoctoral studies from the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge UK. He is Associate Professor at IST and vice-president of IST for academic affairs. He has published more than 125 papers in reputed journals.

Current research interests range from conjugated polymers and low molecular weight systems synthesis and their applications in various devices (light-emitting diodes, photovoltaic cells, thin-film transistors, memories and electrochromic displays). In addition, there is also a research line devoted to the “unimolecular” electronics, encompassing the self-organization of molecular systems on conducting substrates and their electrical characterization.

Aleš Ručigaj has completed his PhD at the age of 27 years from Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia and continues his work as a Professor and researcher.

His current work is oriented around the field of benzoxazines and their appliance in self-healing processes.

Marc Devocelle has completed his PhD at the University of Lille (France) under contract with a pharmaceutical company. He subsequently joined RCSI in 1999 as a postdoctoral researcher and became manager of the Peptide Synthesis Laboratory in 2000. He has since been appointed as a Lecturer in 2004, a Senior Lecturer in 2008 and an Associate Professor of Chemistry in 2014. His laboratory is involved in over 25 collaborations with 14 academic groups across 8 HEIs in Ireland, 2 SMEs and 1 MNC.

Research interests include the synthesis, modification and labelling of peptides and peptidomimetics, used as chemical tools for the investigation of cell signalling pathways and lead discovery; the synthesis of biomolecule-peptide and polymer-peptide conjugates, for the generation of delivery systems and/or of prodrugs; the synthesis of chemical libraries for lead optimisation.

Dr. Mohamed Mahmoud Nasef is a Professor at Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, University Technologi Malaysia (UTM), Malaysia. He is also a Deputy Director the Centre for Hydrogen Energy at the same university. Dr. Nasef holds a PhD in Chem. Eng. from UTM. He is one the panel of experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the field of radiation modification of polymers. Dr. Nasef authored numerous articles in renowned journals, book chapters and review articles (H-index 27). His research interests include ionic and functional polymeric materials such as new adsorbents/membranes for separation/purification technologies and electrochemical devices.

Ion Exchange,Ion Exchange Resins,Environmental Chemistry,Chemical Engineering Education Research,Grafting,Membranes,Electrochemistry,DSC,Films