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2011 CCMR Symposium, The Future of Biologically-inspired Materials: Fundamentals to Applications
Released: Jun 3, 2011
ITHACA, NY -- On May 24, 2011, the CCMR held its annual symposium. The program is a networking and learning opportunity for scientists in industry and at Cornell to develop collaborative work. The symposium gathered 133 off-campus guests and Cornell faculty and students; 26 off-campus organizations, among them 17 companies, were represented.
Professors Itai Cohen, Physics; Lara Estroff, Materials Science & Engineering and David Putnam, Biomedical Engineering & Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, led CCMR's efforts. The established Sproull Lecture, endowed by former Cornell Vice President, CCMR Director and Physics Professor Robert L. Sproull and his wife, Mary Sproull, took place during the Symposium. Professor Joanna Aizenberg, Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Radcliffe Professor at Harvard University, was the 2011 Sproull lecturer. Professor Aizenberg pursues a broad range of research interests that include biomineralization, biomimetics, self-assembly, smart materials, crystal engineering, surface chemistry, nanofabrication, biomaterials, biomechanics and biooptics.
The Symposium speakers included Dr. Volker Schaedler, Vice President of Innovation & Technology North America at BASF Corporation, Dr. Odessa Petzold, Research Manager, Glass Surfaces, Science & Technology at Corning Incorporation, and distinguished faculty, and graduate student speakers from Cornell University. The speakers gave overviews of their current research interests and highlighted some potential applications of their work.
Research within the CCMR focuses on developing a fundamental understanding of advanced materials to predict and improve their properties. An emerging focus in the center is the adoption of design strategies derived from biology and applied towards the development of materials for diverse applications as demonstrated during the lectures and the poster session. The topics covered during the lectures and poster session ranged from the development of novel single crystal composites, to nanoparticle-polymer composites with applications in paint, coatings, and filtration; from the design of nanofibers and biodegradable polymer composites for air filtration to biomimetic lubricants; also highlighted were applications of 3D printing to engineered tissues and the development of Xeno-free substrates for cell culture.
Students from various departments and two companies presented 30 posters. Three posters were selected by our industry guests for the quality of the work presented.
Lauren Matlock-Colangelo, a student of Professors Margaret Frey and Antje Baeumner, who presented the" Investigation of Functionalized Electrospun Nanofibers as Bioseparators in Microfluidic Channels"; Kwan Tan, a student of Professors Michael Thompson and Ulrich Wiesner, who presented: "Bottom-Up Self-Assembly-Directed Laser-Induced Silicon Nano-Systems"; and Mingchee Tan, a student of Professor David Putnam, who presented "Synthesis, Characterization and Evaluation of Lubricin-Mimetics as Boundary Layer Lubricants of Articular Joints" received awards for best posters.
Many thanks to Robin Nichols, who took care of all the logistics; to Christina Bucko, who was in charge of the audiovisual equipment; to LiLynn Graves, who was the symposium website manager and graphics designer; and to Kevin Dilley, Kaleigh Muller, Nev Singhota, John Sinnott, and Tracy Davenport for their help and general support. This team effort was led by Dr. Michèle van de Walle.
