News – Laaser Lab

Graduate student Jun Huang successfully defended his PhD dissertation, titled “Effects of Polymer Chemistry on the Properties of Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervates”. Jun is our lab’s first PhD graduate, and we are very excited to see him defend – congratulations, Dr. Huang!!!

Posted on August 26, 2022December 10, 2022 by laaserlab-admin

Lab News

Tom and Kasey join the group!

Undergraduate researchers Tom Staunton and Kasey Watkins have just joined the group. Tom will be working with Victoria on characterizing regularly-crosslinked networks, and Kasey will be working with Zi on mechanochemistry in triblock copolymers. Welcome, Tom and Kasey!

Posted on September 14, 2021February 27, 2022 by laaserlab-admin

Fun Stuff

Matt graduates, and a group party!

Undergraduate Matt Bittner graduated this summer. To celebrate his graduation and his new position at PPG in Pittsburgh, we had a group soap-making party. We had lots of fun coming up with our own soap formulations, and can’t wait to see how they turn out!

Posted on August 25, 2021February 27, 2022 by laaserlab-admin

Lab News

Conner, Lavinia, Matt, Rotem, and Taylor join the group!

Graduate student Conner Chee and undergraduates Lavinia Falck, Matt Bittner, Rotem Benharush, and Taylor Tomlinson have all officially joined the group. Conner will be working on our project on understanding the composition dependence of polyelectrolyte complexation. Lavinia will be working with Zi on computational modeling of mechanochemistry in block copolymers, Matt will be working with […]

Posted on January 1, 2021February 27, 2022 by laaserlab-admin

Student Achievements

Lexi and Henry Graduate

Undergraduate researchers Lexi Knight and Henry Sun graduated this weekend. Please join us in congratulating them on this achievement! Lexi and Henry are both heading to graduate school this fall – Lexi will be starting in the PhD program in chemistry at Case Western, and Henry will be continuing on in the PhD program at […]

Posted on April 25, 2020June 16, 2020 by laaserlab-admin

Publications

First publications with the Fullerton group!

Our first two papers with our collaborators in the Fullerton group have just been published! In these papers, we demonstrated that polymerizing both species in ionic liquids enables cool new device applications, and also developed a new class of "triggerable" polymerized ionic liquids that can release ions on command. Head over to our publications page to check them out!

Posted on January 28, 2020June 16, 2020 by laaserlab-admin

Lab News

Julisa and Cindy join the group!

Graduate student Julisa Rozon and undergraduate Cindy Dinh have officially joined the group. Julisa will be working on our project on doubly-polymerized ionic liquids, while Cindy will work with Victoria on polymer networks. Welcome, Julisa and Cindy!

Posted on January 10, 2020June 16, 2020 by laaserlab-admin

Student Achievements

Frankie Graduates!

Grad student Frankie Morin successfully defended her MS thesis on the viscoelasticity of complex coacervates this afternoon. Please join us in congratulating her on this big achievement! Frankie will be starting a new position at City Charter High School in downtown Pittsburgh this fall. We are sad to see her go, but hope she’ll come […]

Posted on August 2, 2019June 16, 2020 by laaserlab-admin

Lab News

Henry Sun joins the group

Undergraduate researcher Henry Sun has officially joined the group. Henry will be working on understanding the phase behavior of poly(oxacyclobutane) in water. Welcome, Henry!

Posted on July 23, 2019June 16, 2020 by laaserlab-admin

Publications

Lab’s First Paper!

The lab's first paper, spearheaded by grad student Jun Huang, has just been published in Macromolecules. Congratulations, Jun! Head over to our Publications page to check it out!

Posted on June 27, 2019June 16, 2020 by laaserlab-admin

Student Achievements

Morgan & Marissa Graduate

Undergraduate researchers Morgan Cyron and Marissa Puppo graduated this weekend. Congratulations, Morgan and Marissa! Click through for more (including their exciting summer plans!)

Posted on May 2, 2019May 2, 2019 by laaserlab-admin

Presentations

Jenny to present at APS

Jenny will be presenting on the group's coacervate work at the American Physical Society meeting in Boston. Click through for details!

Posted on February 21, 2019February 21, 2019 by laaserlab-admin

Lab News

Victoria and Lexi join the group!

Graduate student Victoria Kong and undergraduate Lexi Knight have officially joined the group. Victoria will be working on our mechanochemistry project, while Lexi will join team coacervates. Welcome, Victoria and Lexi!

Posted on January 1, 2019February 21, 2019 by laaserlab-admin

Funding

Jenny receives NSF CAREER award

Jenny has received an NSF CAREER award through the DMR Polymers program. This award, titled "CAREER: Mechanochemical Activation in Ordered Polymer Networks", will support the group's work in mechanochemistry over the next five years.

Posted on November 26, 2018February 21, 2019 by laaserlab-admin

Presentations

Frankie, Jun, and Zi present at the NGRPC

Frankie, Jun, and Zi traveled to Minneapolis to attend the National Graduate Research Polymer Conference, where they presented posters on their ongoing research.

Posted on June 12, 2018November 1, 2018 by laaserlab-admin

Student Achievements

Brandon & Caitlyn Graduate

Undergraduate researchers Brandon Myrga and Caitlyn Choe graduated this week. Congratulations – we can’t wait to see what you do next!

Posted on April 28, 2018August 6, 2018 by laaserlab-admin

Student Achievements

Morgan Receives McKeever Fellowship

Undergraduate researcher Morgan Cyron was selected as this year’s recipient of the department’s McKeever Fellowship. This fellowship will support Morgan’s summer research in our lab. Congratulations, Morgan!

Posted on April 19, 2018August 6, 2018 by laaserlab-admin

Presentations

Jenny to Present at APS and ACS

Dr. Laaser will present the group’s work on complex coacervates at this month’s American Physical Society meeting in LA and the American Chemical Society meeting in New Orleans. If you’re interested in attending her talks, they are: APS talk: Title: Charge Density-Dependent Phase Behavior and Rheology of Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervates Session: Polyelectrolyte Complexation II: Structure […]

Posted on March 1, 2018August 6, 2018 by laaserlab-admin

Lab News

Move day!

The lab has now officially moved to its new home in the basement of Chevron. Check out this beautiful synthetic lab – we are super excited to get to work in this space!

Posted on January 12, 2018August 6, 2018 by laaserlab-admin

Lab News

Undergraduate Marissa Puppo Joins the Lab

Undergraduate Marissa Puppo has officially joined the group. She will be working with Frankie on understanding composition-dependent dynamics in polyelectrolyte complex coacervates. Welcome to the group, Marissa!

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