PREM collaboration yields scientific and educational results

1. PREM collaboration yields scientific and educational results Robert Smith, Rufina Alamo, and Michael Bockstaller Supported by the MRSEC Program of the NSF under award number DMR-0520425 A collaboration between PREM partners, Michael Bockstaller (CMU) and Rufina Alamo (FAMU) had great outcomes for both science and education. A student from Alamos’s group at FAMU, Robert Smith, joined Bockstaller’s group during the summer to study the effect of selective chlorine substitution on the crystallization of polyethylene. Scientifically, the collaboration resulted in two publications co-authored by Smith, Bockstaller, Alamo, and others (see figures below). Educationally, Smith’s exposure to graduate research at CMU led him to apply for graduate school at CMU and elsewhere. This year, Smith enrolled in the doctoral program at CMU. This is an example of how collaborations between Centers and minority serving institutions can help increase the diversity of the Center institution. Figure 15.3. Atomic force microscopy (phase) images of Cl-substituted polyethylenes with (a) precise and (b) random Cl placement, slowly cooled to room temperature from the melt. These results reported in Alamo et al., Macromolecules, 2008, 41 (19), 7141-7151.