Outreach News

IMS Industrial Affiliates Program is Business Forward in the Age of COVID-19

Institute of Materials Science

Dr. Paul Nahass Dr. Hatice Bodugoz-Senturk Dr. Roger Ristau Dr. Nicholas Eddy Dr. Daniela Morales Dr. Dennis Ndaya Dr. Capri Price Dr. Haiyan Tan

The turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in March 2020 resulted in the temporary shutdown of all UConn labs. IAP staff telecommuted during this time, completing reports and providing support to the extent possible. IAP, following State of Connecticut, UConn and IMS guidelines, safely reopened labs in May and June 2020. Since then, we have been taking company requests as usual, with slightly longer lead-times on some projects (typically three weeks), mainly due to limitations on the number of persons allowed in laboratories and reduced frequency of mail deliveries. As member companies ramped back up, we were able to return to a normal volume of requests.

As we have not been able to accommodate in person visitors, we have done most meetings virtually, and have used Zoom, Teams, and Webex. We have performed many project reviews online that we might have otherwise done in person. Our team came up with numerous innovative ways to accommodate these changes, for example, electron microscopy projects have had companies tune in virtually for a live session.

While we have not done much traveling to visit companies, we have had numerous introductory meetings and virtual tours of our industry partners’ facilities. Even in the face of a pandemic, we were proud to welcome two new IAP Member companies: Nanoscale Components and Fluoropolymer Resources.

IAP has continued to expand its collaboration with UConn faculty and labs outside IMS, employing new capabilities to support company projects. During 2020, faculty have been adjusting to teaching remotely, but we have embarked on successful projects with. As in the past, IAP continued to collaborate with IMS faculty for the projects that could benefit from their expertise. Below are the examples of faculty collaborations.

IMS Core Faculty Project Examples: • Douglas Adamson: Anionic Polymerization, Electrical Conductivity • Yang Cao and Electrical Insulation Research Center (EIRC): Electrical Insulation Characterization • Lesley Frame: Microstructure Analysis of Metals, Corrosion, Metal Fatigue and Failure • Bryan Huey: Atomic Force Microscopy of Polymers, Piezoelectric Behavior of Materials • Rajeswari Kasi: Polymer Chemical Characterization and Synthesis • Seok-Woo Lee: Nano-indentation • Anson Ma: Rheological Properties of Liquids and Solids • Mu-Ping Nieh: Dynamic Light Scattering, X-ray Scattering of Polymers • Montgomery Shaw: Polymer Fatigue, Rheology • Luyi Sun: Microstructure Analysis of Polymers, • Steven L. Suib: X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Auger, Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS), battery characterization

IMS Non-Resident Faculty and Labs: • Jeremy Balsbaugh (Proteomics & Metabolomics): Chemical Characterization by LCMS • Liisa Kuhn (BME): X-ray Radiography for Biomaterials • Challa V. Kumar (CHEM): Zeta Potential • Jeffrey McCutcheon (CBE): Membrane and Filtration Efficacy • Chris O’Connell (Advanced Light Microscopy): Confocal Microscopy, Fluorescence of Optical Fiber • Sina Shabhazmohamadi (BME, REFINE Lab): X-ray Computed tomography, He-FIB • Leslie Shor (CBE): In Vitro Characterization of Biomaterials • Barrett Wells (PHYS): Optical Film Growth • Kay Wille (CEE): High-load Mechanical Testing • Dianyun Zhang (ME): Properties, Modeling of Composites • Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering: Inductively Coupled Plasma, Liquid Chromatography

The 2020 IAP Annual Meeting was cancelled, of course. Understanding the desire by our members and industry partners to keep current on analytical capabilities, IAP began planning for online webinars targeting specific analytical techniques. We have held these webinars monthly since October, with very robust attendance.

Preparations for a Virtual IAP Annual Meeting are in the works for June 2021, complete with faculty research presentations, lab tours, and student posters. Stay tuned, as the agenda should be released shortly.

Dr. Laura Pinatti retired in May 2020 and Dr. Dennis Ndaya joined the IMS technical staff as manager of the Polymer Thermal Analysis lab in June 2020.

Dr. Ndaya earned his B.Sc. in Chemistry and M.Sc. in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Nairobi, in Kenya, and his PGD in Chemistry and Physics Education from Moi University in Kenya. He completed his Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry at UConn in 2019.

He brings his polymer research skills, including material selection, design, formulation, synthesis, and characterization to the Industrial Affiliates Program, the IMS industry outreach program.