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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Faculty and students are invited to attend a special seminar Sept. 8, entitled "Multifunctional Polymer-Polymer Composites: From Smart Rubber to Mechanically Activated Shape Change" by Patrick T. Mather of Syracuse University.
Dr. Mather is Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Director of the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute at Syracuse. The lecture will be held from 10-11 a.m. in MoSE, Room 3201A.
Many crosslinked polymers exhibit a shape memory (SM) effect wherein a permanent shape can be prescribed during crosslinking and arbitrary temporary shapes may be set through network chain immobilization. Applications abound for such materials and a significant fraction of the studies in this area concern application-specific characterization. In this presentation, Mather will first discuss our electrospinning approach to make shape memory composites ranging from shape memory rubber, to electrically triggered SM. Next, he will introduce anisotropic rubber laminates featuring unique, mechanically-triggered shape change. Finally, he will introduce multi-jet electrospinning as a versatile processing platform to produce multifunctional polymeric composites. An emphasis will be placed on material design principles and structure-property relationships.
Mather earned B.S. (’89) and M.S. (‘90) degrees from Penn State in Engineering Science and Mechanics, following which he went on to receive his Ph.D. in Materials at U.C. Santa Barbara in 1994. He then worked for the Air Force Research Lab until 1999, focusing on polymeric nanocomposites. Mather’s academic career began at University of Connecticut, Chemical Engineering, in 1999. There, he focused on polymeric materials science, studying liquid crystalline polymers, hybrid inorganic-organic polymers, and fuel cell membranes. Having received tenure, Mather then moved to Case Western Reserve University where he established a research program on functional biomaterials.
In the Fall of 2007, Pat was recruited to Syracuse University, as the Milton and Ann Stevenson Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering. As director of the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute, he has built a sustainable, interdisciplinary effort with 20+ faculty spanning three institutions and seven departments, along with a brand-new central research facility in renovated space that combines the unique interdisciplinary demands of biomaterials research. Mather’s research interests center around smart materials, including shape memory polymers, self-healing materials, polymeric nanocomposites, and biodegradable polymers for medical devices. He is currently on a one year sabbatical for 2015 at the Army Research Lab’s Macromolecular Science and Technology Branch, conducting research on the design of polymeric materials for improved performance in extreme environments.
Mather is the author over 145 peer-reviewed papers, inventor on more than 35 patents, and Fellow of both SPE (Society of Plastics Engineering) and the AIMBE (American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering). He is the Editor-in-Chief for Polymer Reviews and former Associate Editor of Polymer Bulletin. He has won three student-nominated teaching awards and prides himself on innovative and engaging teaching methods. He enjoys traveling the world to give scientific lectures and has delivered over 180 invited lectures to date.
