Research projects are selected according to whether they represent frontier polymer research, take advantage of existing technical expertise at Columbia, and reinforce existing research teams and/or promote new collaborations. The Center also engages in collaborations with other local institutions including Polytechnic, SUNY Stony Brook and UCONN at Storrs in order to create bridges among local centers of strengths in the polymer/ interface field.

Status and Accomplishments

FY 1995: The Center’s research areas were selected and teams were established involving senior and junior faculty. Selected research areas included Polymer Thin Films and Coatings; Polymers at Interfaces; Water Soluble Polymers; Polymerization Processes; and Undergraduate and Graduate Education.

FY 1996: The main accomplishments of the Center in FY 1996 included the following:

• Faculty pairs involving one professor of Chemistry and one professor of Chemical Engineering were teamed with students to pursue research collaborations involving polymer topics. Topics were the adsorption of polymers on surfaces, the mechanism of industrially important polymerizations, and the development of novel spectroscopic tools to investigate polymers at the interface.
• Related to the Chemistry Department's computer-aided chemistry education efforts, software tools were created with an emphasis on polymers. These tools aided both educational and collaborative faculty-student research projects. These efforts were implemented through linkages with the Engineering School's Gateway Project.
• Preparation for SEAS Committee on Instruction (COI) revisions to undergraduate and graduate courses in order to enhance the instruction in polymer science. In particular, revisions to our introductory polymer course (AC4620) were submitted to COI as were revisions to an existing graduate course dealing with the theory of solutions and melts, to be renamed "Dynamics of Polymeric and Complex Media" and to include topics relevant to biomedical engineering research. The revised intro course was taught through CVN in the fall of 1996. This course employed molecular simulation and animation in instruction, through the Gateway Laboratory; this effort was showcased in Gateway’s dedication as the Botwinick Lab.
• Grant activities in FY 1996 included the submission of the following proposals: National Science Foundation Engineering Division "Dynamic and Non-equilibrium Aspects of Polymer Adsorption" for $125K per year for 3 years; National Science Foundation Chemistry Division "The Mechanism of Free Radical Polymerization." for $125K per year for three years; New York State Center for Advanced Technology Initiative, with SUNY at Stony Brook "Studies of Polymer-Based Liquid Quartz Alignment Layers" for $125K; and New York State Center for Advanced Technology Initiative, with Polytechnic Institute of New York "Development of Sensors Based on Quartz Crystal Microbalances" for $20K.

• Several new research teams were formed during FY 1997 within the Center.
• A workshop has been held for training in the use of molecular simulations software in the Gateway Lab. About 20 Columbia University staff from chemistry and SEAS were trained along with industrial participants from the New York City area. The software is in use for instruction in the freshman chemistry and the introduction to polymers course and is planned for use in advanced undergraduate courses in biophysics and materials science during 1997.
• A workshop was held in fall of 1997 to develop a focal theme for research efforts around "dendrimer" polymers (highly branched polymers with tremendous technological potential). Leaders in the new field were invited to CU for talks and discussions. Several new teams and proposals are expected to result.
• An outreach effort to the Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) was to promote the use of neutron scattering and neutron reflectometry for polymer research at Columbia. Professor Durning spent half of his sabbatical at the LANL neutron scattering center (Jan. - Aug. ’97), formed a team to design a new neutron reflectometer at LANL and to develop a scientific research effort exploiting the new spectrometer. The team includes five co-principal investigators from other academic institutions and national labs.
• An outreach effort was launched to the University of Connecticut at Storrs which has a leading polymer science program to promote a student exchange and research collaboration program.
• Fundraising activities for FY 1997 included securing the following grants submitted in FY 1996: NSF Engineering Division "Dynamic and Non-equilibrium Aspects of Polymer Adsorption" for $335,000; NSF Chemistry Division "The Mechanism of Free Radical Polymerization" for $275,000; and NSF's IUCRC Program a planning grant of $10,000 toward a proposal dealing with novel properties of surfactant adsorption on interfaces. The grant to the New York State Center for Advanced Technology Initiative, with Polytechnic Institute of New York "Development of Sensors Based on Quartz Crystal Microbalances" for $20K and a grant to the NSF's Major Research Instrumentation Program "High Resolution Optical Microscopy for Synthetic and Biological Materials Research" $870K total were denied. Current pending proposals include: New York State Center for Advanced Technology Initiative, with SUNY at Stony Brook "Studies of Polymer-Based Liquid Quartz Alignment Layers" for $125K; DOE BES Division "Surface and Interface Neutron Spectrometer at Los Alamos Neutron Scattering Center $3.6M; and NSF Engineering Division "Synergistic Interactions Between Additives During Copper Electrodeposition" for $125,000 per year for 3 years.