CAMP Professor Devon Shipp and his group (Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr. Hanying Zhao, graduate student Stacey Reeder and undergraduate student Brendan Farrell) are pursuing a number of novel approaches to the synthesis of polymer-layered silicate nanocomposites (PLSNs). About ten years ago interest increased in this area (PLSNs), with the discovery that only a small amount (often <5 wt.%) of silicate (clay) was required to obtain significant increases in a number of physical properties of the host polymer matrix, such as tensile and flexural properties, heat distortion temperature, thermal and flame stability, and gas barrier properties.

A wide variety of polymers have been combined with silicates to form nanocomposites, but rarely have these polymers had well-defined molecular weights and chemical functionality. With the significant degree of molecular control exhibited by living radical polymerizations (LRPs), such as atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and nitroxide-mediated polymerization (NMP), greater insight into structure-property relationships can be obtained, in addition to the development of fundamentally new materials. Therefore the goal of Professor Shipp's work is to show that LRPs (using suitably organically-modified clay particles) can be utilized to produce PLSNs in which the polymer has predictable molecular weights, low polydispersities and end group functionality. Furthermore block copolymer synthesis is also possible, thus realizing new materials that have the ability to self-organize and adjust surface wetting properties.

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Professor Sergey Minko

Dr. Sergey Minko Chosen as Egon Matijevic' Chair Professor of Chemistry

Dr. Sergey Minko, of the GW Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research in Dresden, Germany, has been awarded the position, Egon Matijevic' Chair Professor of Chemistry. He is an expert in colloid science and has done extensive work involving "Smart Responsive Functional Materials Based on Self Assembly in Polymer and Colloidal Systems." His CAMP-related research interests include smart/responsive polymer materials, smart colloids, nanostructured thin polymer films, nanotemplates & nano membranes, formation of nanowires & nanoparticles, adhesion, wetting,adsorption regulation, single molecule devices, and combinatorial methods in material science. Professor Minko received a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Lviv Polytechnic University in 1983 and a Doctorate of Science in Macromolecular Chemistry in 1993 from the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the National Academy of Sciences in the Ukraine. He is a member of the American Chemical Society and has 14 patents and 86 professional publications.

The endowed Egon Matijevic' Chair position is a gift from Charles and Lucia Shipley to honor Victor K. LaMer Professor of Chemistry Egon Matijevic', for a lifetime of professional achievement in the field of colloid chemistry. The Shipleys donated $2 million to Clarkson University for this endowed chair, which recognizes an outstanding and creative scientist as well as a brilliant teacher who has shaped many lives.