PIRE: POLYMER Education and Research Partnership between US and Korea

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT Proposal No.: 0730243 PI Name: RYU, Chang PI's Institution: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Proposal Title: PIRE: POLYMER Education and Research Partnership between US and Korea This Partnership for International Research and Education (PIRE) project is a collaborative effort between scientists and engineers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, University of Texas at Austin, North Carolina State University, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Sogang University, and Yonsei University. A specialist from the State University of New York at Albany oversees the Korean language and cultural training. This team is working together to develop a global research and education endeavor in polymer synthesis, characterization, and theory of heteropolymers with adjustable monomer sequences (HAMS). The project encompass two broad classes of research on HAMS: (i) the development of polymer synthesis chemistry and fractionation techniques to tailor monomer sequence distribution for the realization of functional HAMS containing hydrophilic and hydrophobic repeat units. These efforts are complemented by the development of theoretical models and computer simulations to probe the details of chemistry on different timescales; (ii) structural, chemical and physical characterization to understand the role of HAMS copolymer architecture in strengthening polymer-polymer interfaces, controlling surface adhesion and recognition, acting as compatibilizing agents in the fabrication of polymer nanocomposites and enhancing the functionality of pH-sensitive HAMS for controlled cargo release and hydrogel applications. Success of these scientific objectives will shed light on the fundamentals of architecturally complex molecules at interfaces and provide knowledge to design and control interfaces in the aforementioned applications. Korean institutions have been targeted as PIRE partners to provide U.S. students with timely global research opportunities; capitalizing upon Korea's scientific and industrial polymer research infrastructure. The research expertise of the U.S. and Korean collaborators is synergistically combined: (1) to offer an undergraduate summer cultural, research and education program (open to students across the U.S.) to participate in an integrated sequence of training in Korean language and culture, followed by a scientific research project in Korea; (2) to enhance graduate education by encouraging the participating undergraduates to apply and pursue graduate research within the broad and comprehensive spectrum of globally-engaging research projects at the U.S. PIRE universities; (3) to promote the U.S.-Korea cultural and research exchange by developing a graduate student exchange program involving visits and extended stays of the U.S./Korean graduate students for a year in the collaborating Korean/U.S. investigator's laboratory; (4) to increase the graduate and undergraduate research activities of female and underrepresented groups by promoting their participation in the exchange programs; (5) to reinforce the existing K-12 educational outreach activities of all the PIs via the integration of those activities into the Virtual Polymer Laboratory maintained at RPI, and (6) to spur new outreach activities building upon the partnerships established by the participating faculty. The project is funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) through the PIRE program and the Polymer Program of the Division of Materials Research (DMR) in the Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS).