UD engineering graduate students invited to participate in polymer research symposium
Kelly Schultz, left, and Ohm Krishna have been selected to participate in the American Chemical Society’s Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Symposium.

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10:05 a.m., April 2, 2010----Two University of Delaware engineering students -- Ohm Krishna and Kelly Schultz -- were selected to participate in the American Chemical Society's Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Symposium. Both are doctoral candidates affiliated with UD's Center for Molecular and Engineering Thermodynamics.

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Sponsored by the Division of Polymer Chemistry, the symposium invites participants based on a competitive submission process. The students presented their papers at the 2010 Spring National ACS Meeting, held in San Francisco from March 21-25.

Krishna, who is advised by Kristi Kiick, associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, is conducting research focused on developing new bio-materials for biological applications such as wound healing.

He is currently developing collagen-containing, thermo-responsive block copolymer systems, modeled after the tough, elastomeric mussel byssus protein.

“The mussel adhesive protein has exceptional mechanical properties, including high toughness, high elasticity, and excellent adhesion under aqueous conditions,” Kiick says. “Ohm's research aims to harness these properties in a peptide-polymer synthetic conjugate with both biological and assembly properties that can be manipulated.”

Krishna plans a career in either academia or industry where his goals are to diversify and use his expertise in designing natural/synthetic polymeric materials with biological applications.

Advised by Eric Furst, associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Schultz is focusing her work on the development of high-throughput microrheology to screen biomaterial hydrogels over a large composition space.

“The techniques she has developed enable her to rapidly identify hydrogelation conditions while conserving these scarce materials, which have therapeutic applications in areas such as wound healing and tissue regeneration,” Furst says.

Schultz plans to work as a postdoctoral researcher after she finishes her doctorate and then seek a faculty position.

Article by Diane Kukich
Photo by Evan Krape

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