News & Events
Congratulations Graduates! (May 2013)
Congratulations to all Winey Group members and friends who graduated this month especially Jae-Hong Choi, Doctor of Philosophy; Katharine Oleske, Bachelor of Science in Engineering and William Kyei-Manu, Master of Science in Engineering - Materials Science and Engineering! We rejoice at their success but are sad to see them leave.
Materials Research Society President Orlando Auciello and 2013 Fellow, Dr. Karen Winey (April 2013)
Dr. Winey attended the Materials Research Society’s Spring Meeting in San Francisco last month and received her 2013 MRS Fellow certificate.
Prof. Winey named 2013 MRS Fellow! (February 2013)
Professor Karen Winey has been named a 2013 Materials Research Society (MRS) Fellow for "outstanding contributions to the understanding of polymer nanocomposites and ion-containing polymers through rigorous and insightful experiments and distinguished leadership in the materials community." Prof. Winey will be inaugurated into the 2013 class at the Spring MRS meeting in April.
Philly Materials Day (February 2013)
The third Philly Materials Day was held on Saturday, February 2, 2013. This is a popular outreach activity for the group as members all enjoy sharing fun science with a young and receptive audience.
Several Penn Faculty and students turned out to share their love of science with the enquiring young visitors. Group Members Sharon Wang and Steve Szewczyk and five captivated young participants observed the behavior of different polymer bouncy balls: one stores energy more effectively and bounces, while the other loses energy to sound/heat.
In the afternoon Dr. Winey and her audience pondered the question: Can We Make Plastics into Metals?
Nanotechnology Facilities Workshop
On January 8, 2013, the Nanotechnology Institute (NTI) in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania hosted a workshop on Facilities for Nanotechnology in the Philadelphia area. The workshop highlighted the facilities and expertise in nanofabrication and nanoscale characterization that are available to external users at the University of Pennsylvania. The event also provided a platform to promote the new PA RapidNanoNetTM funding opportunity that is co-sponsored by the NTI.
We welcomed 37 industry participants representing over twenty companies ranging in size and complexity from small start-ups to large international companies. The program included talks by Penn faculty and staff involved in nanotechnology research and tours of the facilities. One of the highlights of the day was a tour of the new Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology due to open later this year.
Carbon-Based Materials - a walk down Memory Lane
Prof. Karen Winey gave a talk on Carbon Based Materials at the LRSM 50th anniversary symposium in May of this year. She presented an interesting review of some of the research on Carbon-Based Materials here at the LRSM over the years:
LRSM 50th Anniversary Celebration: Karen I. Winey from LRSM on Vimeo.
Presenting Dr. Jae-Hong Choi...
We are delighted to announce that group member Jae-Hong Choi successfully defended his doctoral thesis on Wednesday, September 19th, 2012! Jae-Hong’s work involved morphology studies of new polymerized ionic liquid block copolymers to further our understanding of the mechanism of ion conduction. He will be leaving in October to join Professor Tim Lodge’s research group at the University of Minnesota.
Congratulations Dr. Choi!
Great job Katie! REU (Summer 2012)
Our REU student, Kathryn ‘Katie’ Johnson, spent the summer working with Robert Middleton to investigate the effects of both mechanical testing and subsequent reprocessing of a commodity acid copolymer, Nucrel. The purpose of this study was to predict the effect of repetitive processing and mechanical testing on polymers in preparation for working with limited quantities of precise acid copolymers.
Katie was a great addition to the lab and we wish her all the best in her sophomore year at Cornell.
Go Big Red!
NSF Special Creativity Award for Dr. Composto (July 2012)
Congratulations to Winey Group collaborator Dr. Russell Composto on his National Science Foundation (NSF) Special Creativity Award for "excellent research on dispersion and assembly of gold nanorods confined to polymer nanolayers”.
Executive Committee Member, CINT (June 2012)
Prof. Karen Winey was appointed to the Users Executive Committee of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies at Sandia National Laboratories.
Congrats! (May 2012)
Congratulations to all Winey Group members and friends who graduated this month!
Tyler Citek(BS), Sneha Deshpande (BS), Eric Maltiel (BS), Michelle Sherrot (BS, MS).
Two Winey Group members were recognized at the SEAS UAC Awards Recognition Ceremony at the Annenberg Center (Zellerbach Theater) on Friday, April 27.
Michelle Sherrott received the 2012 The Wolf-Hallac Award which is conferred upon a graduating female senior from Penn Engineering who “is seen as a role model, has achieved excellence academically and who has demonstrated a commitment to school and/or community”.
Tyler Citek received the 2012 R. M. Brick Award which is awarded to “the graduating senior who has demonstrated through a combination of academic performance, effort, and personal qualities that he or she will be a credit to the Department, the School, and the University”.
Science Café Talk - "Touch Screens - How to make Polymers into Metals" (April 2012)
Professor Winey discussed transparent conductors in touch screens at Stoney's British Pub on Monday, April 2 at 8:00 pm. The free event was part of the Science Café series sponsored by the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter.
ACS Polymer Award for Prof. Thomas (March 2012)
Prof. Edwin L. Thomas (currently Dean of Engineering at Rice University) received the ACS Polymer Award at the Spring ACS Meeting in San Diego in March. Prof. Winey was honored to participate in the symposium to honor her thesis advisor.
NTI receives $1.16M in continued funding (March 2012)
The Nanotechnology Institute™ (NTI) was re-funded with $1.16M from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority (BFTDA). Visit the NTI website for more information.
Heilmeier Award (March 2012)
Dean Eduardo D. Glandt presented Professor Karen Winey with the 2012 the George H. Heilmeier Faculty Award for Excellence in Research on Tuesday, March 13 following her lecture, Electrical Properties in Polymer Nanocomposites in the Wu & Chen Auditorium.
Geoffrey Belton Graduate Fellowship Award (February 2012)
Rose Mutiso, Winey Group doctoral student, is the recipient of the 2012 Geoffrey Belton Graduate Fellowship Award. The fellowship is awarded to a graduate student who has made “superior and significant contributions to their field of PhD study”.
2nd Philly Materials Day (February 2012)
Prof. Winey and several members of the group participated in the second Philly Materials Day, a day-long public event about the science and engineering of materials. Prof. Winey participated in a panel discussion entitled, “Ask an Engineer.”
Director of NTI and ECI (December 2011)
Prof. Karen Winey was appointed as the University of Pennsylvania principal investigator of the Nanotechnolgy Institute and the Energy Commercialization Institute.
Alumni Magazine (November 2011)
Prof. Winey’s research was highlighted in Penn Engineering, the alumni magazine of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Philly Cares (October 2011)
Graduate students participated in Philadelphia Cares Day, a city-wide day of service. Philadelphia Cares is now part of United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania. A good time was had by all and thanks to Francisco Buitrago for organizing our group.
Award for Kraton Polymers (August 2011)
Winey Research Group collaborators, Kraton Polymers were awarded the 2011 Presidential Green Chemistry Award for their work on NEXAR, a pentablock copolymer with a sulfonated polystyrene midblock.
Summer Students Arrived (July 2011) 
The Winey Group welcomed summer students! Maria Vincent (Cornell) worked with Mike O’Reilly on the synthesis of ion-containing polymers with nanoparticles. Angeles Charparro (University of Puerto Rico) worked with Francisco Buitrago to study the viscoelastic properties of ion-containing polymers. Jack Feeney (Central High School, Philadelphia) worked with Jamie Ford on the synthesis of metal nanowires.
JJ X-Ray Systems (July 2011)
JJ X-rays licenses our design for an environmental chamber that controls temperature and relative humidity for in situ X-ray scattering.
ACS Award for Prof. Long and Dr. Willis (March 2011)
Collaborators Prof. Tim Long (VATech) and Dr. Carl Willis (Kraton Polymers) receive the Cooperative Research Award in Polymer Science and Engineering Award at the Spring ACS Meeting in Anaheim, CA. Both the symposium and the celebratory dinner were greatly enjoyed by all.
DPOLY Executive Committee (March 2011)
Prof. Karen Winey is elected to the Executive Committee of the Division of Polymer Physics within the American Physical Society. During her four year term she will hold the sequential positions of Vice-Chair, Chair Elect, Chair and Past Chair.
Philly Materials Day (February 2011)
In coordination with the PBS series entitled, Making Stuff, Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania co-organized a day-long public event about the science and engineering of materials. Prof. Winey presented a lecture entitled "Can we make polymers into metals?"
Philly Cares (October 2011)
Six graduate students participated in Philadlephia Cares Day, a day of service. In particular, they painted the lunch room at the Science Leadership Academy, a public high school in Philadelphia that partners with the Benjamin Franklin Institute. 
DOE Grant Renewed (September 2010)
The Department of Energy renewed the grant entitled, "Conduction Mechanisms and Structure in Single-Ion Polymer Conductors." This project is a collaboration with Profs. Ralph Colby, Janna Marans, Karl Mueller and Jim Runt of the Pennsylvania State University. New polymers are being designed and synthesized in an effort to understand what is necessary for the ions to conduct efficiently. A driving force for our work is polymer electrolytes for lightweight batteries.
Macromolecules (July 2010)
On July 1, 2010, Karen Winey became an Associate Editor for Macromolecules, a publication of the American Chemical Society. This journal is the premier journal in polymer sciences.
Polymer Physics GRC! (June 2010)
Prof. Karen Winey chaired the Polymer Physics Gordon Research Conference in summer 2010 at Mount Holyoke College. The conference was a great success with dynamic speakers and lively discussions. In additions, records were set for number of participants and fund-raising.
Trustee’s Council of Penn Women (Octber 2009)
Prof. Winey spoke to the Trustees' Council of Penn Women on "Nanotechnology - The Cutting Edge of the Very Small." Few in the audience have science or engineering backgrounds, so they particularly appreciated Karen's ability to start from the familiar and lead them through the nanoscale world of integrated circuits, carbon nanotubes, and nanoparticles. Video can be found here.
New Grant to Study Diffusion in Polymer Nanocomposites (August 2009)
The National Science Foundation has recently awarded Karen Winey (PI) and several collaborators (Russ Composto, Nigel Clarke and Tom McLeish) a Materials World Network grant to study polymer dynamics in the presence of nanoparticles. We recently found that polymers behave differently in the presence of nanoparticles, where the polymer diffusion first slowed and then recovered with the addition of cylindrical nanoparticles, namely carbon nanotubes. This research will allow for the fundamental understanding of this observed behavior by further studying the polymer dynamics in these nanocomposite systems using a coordinated experimental and theoretical approach.
Monir (postdoc 2005-08) Wins Award (July 2009)
Dr. M. Moniruzzaman was recognized as a 2009 Most Valuable Player at SABIC Innovative Plastics.
Dan Polis (PhD 1999) Wins Award (July 2009)
Dr. Dan Polis has received a 2009 NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal for Materials Engineering Excellence in the Implementation of Composites for Primary Structure in NASA Human Spacecraft.
NSF Creativity Award (February 2009)
Prof. Karen Winey’s pioneering work in ion-containing polymers has been recognized through her receipt of the National Science Foundation Creativity Award. The award is aimed at offering “the most creative investigators an extended opportunity to attack adventurous, 'high-risk' opportunities." Dr. Winey will use the funds to investigate the behavior of ion-containing polymers at elevated temperatures, in high humidity environments and under applied electric fields using newly designed in situ experiments. These systems have potential applications in low-temperature fuel cells and actuators.