Macromolecules Innovation Institute

DEC
President Obama to Honor Nation’s Leading Scientists and Innovators

Today, the White House announced the latest recipients of the National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation—our Nation’s highest honors for achievement and leadership in advancing the fields of science and technology. The new awardees will receive their medals at a White House ceremony early next year.

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NOV
Scholar of the Week

The Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation recognizes Bahareh Behkam, an associate professor of mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering, for her innovative work on bacteria-based cancer therapy.
 

Behkam earned a 2015 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award to focus on investigating interactions between bacteria and tumor-associated cells in a 3-D tumor model and developing engineering methods to influence the interactions. The goal is to enhance the efficacy of bacteria-based cancer therapy.

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MII/Fralin Visiting Scholar Seminar Series

The Macromolecules and Interfaces Institute (MII) and the Fralin Life Science Institute at Virginia Tech are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. E.W. Bert Meijer, Distinguished University Professor in the Molecular Sciences, Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Eindhoven University of Technology and scientific director of the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems will be the Fralin-MII Visiting Scholar, November 16-20th, 2015. Bert Meijer is a member of many editorial advisory boards, including Advanced Materials, Angewandte Chemie, and the Journal of the American Chemical Society, while he is editor of the Journal of Polymer Science; Polymer Chemistry.Professor Meijer will be delivering three lectures (November 16-20, 2015) on supramolecular polymer and functional materials, use of chirality in self-assembled materials, and single-chain polymer folding for

enzyme mimics. These lectures are open to the

entire Virginia Tech community and also to

neighboring academic and industrial students

and scientists.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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OCT
Scientists develop new toolkit to examine molecular mechanisms of human disease (October 1, 2015)

A photograph may reveal how something looks, but direct observation can divulge how the objects behave. The difference can mean life or death, especially when it comes to fighting human disease. To help researchers examine exactly how human diseases work at the molecular level, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientist Deborah Kelly has developed a new set of tools to peer into the active world of cancer cells at unprecedented resolution.

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SEP

3-D Printing Method Can Regenerate Complex Peripheral Nerve Injuries  (September 24, 2015)

Blake Johnson of the Virginia Tech Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering is among a team of U.S. researchers to have successfully 3-D printed customized tissue scaffolds that help regenerate complex peripheral nerve injuries.

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The Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology at Virginia Tech has announced their major SEAD grant award recipients and teams for the coming year

 

• The Emotional Response and Impact of Visual Stimuli in Built and Virtual Environment – Denis Gracanin, Computer Science; Joe Wheeler,  Architecture + Design; John Richey, Psychology

• Additive Manufacturing and Automated Construction Technologies Group (AMACT) – Nathan King, School of Architecture + Design, Chris Williams, Mechanical Engineering; Cris Moen, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Matthew Eatherton, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Chip Clark, Architecture + Design; Robert Dunay, Architecture + Design; Brook Kennedy, Architecture + Design

 

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JUN

Xiangtao Meng, ACS CELL Graduate Student Award

This highly prestigious international award, is only awarded once per year.  It will be awarded during the spring American Chemical Society meeting in San Diego, CA.  Xiangtao will speak in highly attended awards session for the Cellulose and Renewable Materials Division.

 

Xiangtao is developing new polymers that can enhance the amount of a drug taken by mouth that actually gets into the bloodstream, where it can reach its site of action in the body and have its therapeutic effect. This work promises to permit reduced drug dose, which in turn reduces cost, side effects, and variability from patient to patient and from one time to another during the day; it can also eliminate restrictions on taking medication with food (or without), and can get drugs to market and to patients that would otherwise fail due to poor "bioavailability" (poor ability to dissolve and reach the bloodstream). Reduced doses of things like anti-HIV and anti-tuberculosis drugs can mean more patients can enter drug therapy (and be cured or have their lives extended greatly) per aid dollar.

 

He has developed chemistry that has never before been applied to renewable, carbohydrate-based polymers from nature ("polysaccharides"). This new chemistry is very efficient, fast, flexible, and has the ability to produce materials that are useful to many more beneficial applications besides the drug delivery application described above.

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JUN

Students visit 3 countries to gain global perspectives on nanoscience

Virginia Tech’s new bachelor's degree in nanoscience, approved in 2014, comes with an opportunity to take those studies global through a study abroad program.  read more ...

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JUN

Students carry out 3-D printing with metals and sand, creating complex systems such

as 'ant vehicle'

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., June 8, 2015 – What engineering student worth his or her salt

wouldn't want to print things out? Salt may be a stretch, but foundry sand is one of the

materials employed in 3-D printing at Virginia Tech. So are metals, ceramics, polymers and

more, Christopher Williams of the College of Engineering says.

 

"What really sets Virginia Tech apart in the area of additive manufacturing, more commonly

referred to as 3-D printing, is that we have a wide array of technologies that really allows us

to print any type of material," he says. This has generated some unique requests from

industry, he says.

 

Williams is director of the Design, Research, and Education for Additive Manufacturing

Systems (DREAMS) Laboratory and the co-director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Innovation-based Manufacturing.

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MAY

Timothy Long shows how materials research can revolutionize the future. 

 

Published on May 14, 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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MAY
Prof. Lou Madsen's publication earns “Editor’s Choice” status

Prof. Lou Madsen’s article, co-authored with PhD student Zhiyang Zhang, and entitled “Observation of separate cation
and anion electrophoretic mobilities in pure ionic liquids,” was named an Editor’s Choice publication for 2014 by the
Journal of Chemical Physics. This distinction honors “significant and definitive research in experimental and theoretical
areas in the field of chemical physics.” This work is leading to a deeper understanding of ion conduction in advanced
battery materials.

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APR

Prof. John Matson Receives NSF CAREER Award

Prof. John B. Matson has been awarded a five-year NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award through

the Biomaterials Program.  Matson’s work with hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) as a vital biological signaling molecule will

provide a basis for examining H2S-releasing materials as stimulators of angiogenesis, the process through which the

body makes new blood vessels. This $530K CAREER award will facilitate the synthesis, assembly, and biological

characterization of the first-ever H2S-releasing gels and enable researchers to better understand the effects of H2S

signaling on angiogenesis.

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APR

3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award for Prof. John Matson

Prof. John B. Matson has received a three-year renewable “3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award,” designed to “help

promising faculty receive tenure and contribute to their academic field.”  Prof. Matson was recognized for his work on

H2S-releasing polymers.  As a biological signaling gas, H2S plays a vital role in a number of physiological processes.

The research that prompted this honor extends the Matson lab efforts on H2S-releasing polymers (published last

summer in Macromolecules) toward materials to be used in wound-healing.

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APR 1

Donald G. Baird reappointed Alexander F. Giacco Professor of Chemical Engineering

Donald G. Baird, professor of chemical engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been named
the Alexander F. Giacco Professor of Chemical Engineering by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.  read more...

 

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MAR 26

Timothy Long named a Virginia Outstanding Scientist for 2015

The director of the Virginia Tech Macromolecules Interfaces Institute will be honored by Gov.
Terry McAuliffe and the Science Museum of Virginia next week.   read more....

 

 

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FEB 26

ESM doctoral student, Bikramjit Mukerjee received runner-up for the 2015 Alan Gent

Distinguished Student Paper Award, sponsored by Henkel

The competition was held at the Adhesion  Society Meeting, Savannah, GA, Feb 22-25, 2015.    

The award is based on written and oral presentation of the work. This is a very prestigious

award in recognition of Alan Gent’s outstanding contributions to mechanics, rubber technology,

and adhesion.

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FEB 24

Bikramjit Mukherjee (Virginia Tech), was given the “Peebles Award” by the Adhesion

Society. 

He received his award at the 38th Annual Meeting in Savannah, GA, in February 2015.

The Peebles Award is given to graduate students who excel in research in adhesion science and

is based on an abstract submitted to the annual meeting.  Bikramjit is being co-advised by Professors David Dillard and Romesh Batra.

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FEB 24

Bahareh Behkam wins National Science Foundation Award to Develop New Methods to Combat Cancer
Innovative work on bacteria-based cancer therapy has earned Bahareh Behkam, assistant professor of mechanical
engineering at Virginia Tech, a 2015 National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development
(CAREER) award of $505,000.  read more...
 

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FEB 24

Erdogan Kiran Recognized at the Virginia Tech Authors Day

Professor Erdogan Kiran was recognized at the Virginia Tech Authors Day on February 24, 2015 for books he has been

editing as the Series Editor of the Elsevier Book Series on Supercritical Fluid Science and Technology. These are

advanced monographs that provide pedagogical treatments of significant application areas of supercritical fluid science

and technology in which Professor Kiran is a world recognized leader.The following volumes were published in 2014:

Volume 5: Hydrothermal and Supercritical Water Processes (G. Brunner)Volume 6: Particle Formation with Supercritical

Fluids. Challenges and Limitations (M. Türk)

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JAN 22

SBIO/MACR Students Win Awards at Eastman Symposium

On November 6, 2014, Eastman Chemical Company sponsored the 6th annual Eastman Graduate

Symposium at Virginia Tech, showcasing the work of VT graduate students working in fields

related to polysaccharide chemistry. Nine Ph.D. students from SBIO as well as from the

Macromolecular Science and Engineering (MACR) interdisciplinary program enjoyed the experience

of making oral presentations about their work, with many VT faculty members in attendance,

as well as Drs. Larry Brammer and Devin Barrett from Eastman's technical group. The entire

group enjoyed an Eastman-sponsored lunch and then an afternoon session, followed by the

awards presentation. Ruoran Zhang of Prof. Edgar's group won first prize for her oral presentation,

with Xing Yang of Dr. Frazier's group taking second place. Cigdem Arca and Xiangtao Meng of

Dr. Edgar's group were tied for the third place presentation, and all students received from Eastman

commemorative certificates as well as Eastman water bottles and other useful items. We greatly

ppreciate Eastman's continuing support of our students.

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JAN 20

Four Japanese researchers from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology visited Virginia Tech.

Four Japanese researchers from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology visited Virginia

Tech, and Professor Barry Goodell’s lab to discuss research and give a presentation entitled:

“Eco-Materials Research in Japan - Applications for Nanocellulose, New Fungal Enzymes, and

Physiological Control.”  Their seminar was sponsored by the Department of Sustainable

Biomaterials and also by the Macromolecules and Interfaces Institute (MII) on campus. Dr. Kose

discussed his latest research on nanocellulose while Dr. Nakaba reviewed his research on tree

physiology and heartwood formation.  Dr. Yoshida and his graduate student, Ms. Yuka Kojima,

reviewed their research on fungal biotechnology with Professor Goodell, and they advanced

discussion on a new concept for the biorefinery industry to deconstruct lignocellulose.  Professors

Goodell and Yoshida are both part of a new $1.1 million research project lead by Dr. Gry Alfredsen

in Norway (formerly a visiting foreign scholar on sabbatical with Goodell), and funded by the

Norwegian Forskningsrådet, to examine interactions between enzymes and the chelator-mediated

Fenton system for development of advanced lignocellulose bioprocessing technologies.

 

 

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JAN 27

Doctoral student Jacob Grohs wins leadership award

Josh Grohs, who is known to friends and colleagues by his nickname, Jake, is an instructor in the Department of

Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics and is currently a doctoral candidate in educational psychology. He earned a

Master of Arts degree in educational psychology in 2012 and a Master of Science degree in engineering mechanics in

2009, both from Virginia Tech. Jacob is one of 10 students who received the 2015 K. Patricia Cross Future

Leaders Award from the American Association of Colleges and Universities.   According to the association, the award

“recognizes graduate students who show exemplary promise as future leaders of higher education; who demonstrate

a commitment to developing academic and civic responsibility in themselves and in others; and whose work reflects a

strong emphasis on teaching and learning. 

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JAN 6

Kitchen of the future to debut in Las Vegas

The Virginia Tech Center for Design Research, part of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, will unveil the innovative future of kitchen design and construction Jan. 20-22 at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas.

The show is North America’s premier annual event dedicated to the kitchen and bath industry.  read more...

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JAN 6

Christopher Williams, has been appointed Associate Director of the Macromolecules and Interfaces
Institute
Christopher Williams, an Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
and the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, has been appointed Associate Director of the
Macromolecules and Interfaces Institute (MII) effective January 10, 2015.  As Associate Director, he will be part of
the leadership team for MII and will be responsible for building collaboration between the faculty in MII, the
College of Science, the College of Engineering, the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, and the Institute’s industrial partners, as MII continues to build and strengthen its research portfolio.         
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