June 21, 2006

Genzer Receives NSF Special Creativity Award

Dr. Genzer (Photo: Roger Winstead)

Dr. Jan Genzer, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at North Carolina State University, has received a Special Creativity Award from the Division of Materials Research at the National Science Foundation.

The award extends the recipient’s research grant by two additional years to encourage further exploration in the research area. According to the NSF, the objective of the award is "to offer the most creative investigators an extended opportunity to attack adventurous, ’high risk’ opportunities in the same general research area but not necessarily covered by the original [or] current proposal." Recipients must be nominated for consideration.

Genzer’s research project, "Random-Blocky Copolymers: Monomer Sequencing Through Templated Chemical Coloring," explores the self-assembly and chemical surface pattern recognition of random-blocky copolymers (RBCs). The research may allow RBCs to function like synthetic mimics of complex biomolecules. Applications of the research include design of novel self-assembling materials, smart adhesion promoters, specialty separation media, and other soft material structures.

Genzer received his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1996. He joined the NC State University faculty in 1998.

— weston —

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