Project Title: Fibrous polymer actuators

Project Duration: May 23 – July 29, 2016 (10 weeks), 40 hours per week.

Project Mentors

• Primary Faculty Mentor (Name, Affiliation, website and Email/Phone):
  • Professor Leonid Ionov, Engineering UGA, www.ionov-lab.com, ionov@uga.edu
• Secondary Faculty Mentor (Name, Affiliation, website and Email/Phone):
  • Professor Sergiy Minko, FACS/Chemistry UGA, www.nsmlab.com, sminko@uga.edu
• Graduate Student/PostDoc mentors (Name, Affiliation and Email/Phone):
  • Dr. G. Stoychev, FACS UGA, stoychev@uga.edu

Project Description: One research direction of our lab is development of active polymer fibers and fibrous materials, which are able to change their dimensions and shape when external stimuli (temperature, pH, light) is applied. We use these systems for design of actuators, biomaterials and smart textiles.

REU Student Role and Responsibility: The goal of student project will development of active polymer fibers which respond to temperatures close to body temperature. The project will consist of synthesis of polymers, fabrication of fibers based on them and investigation of their actuation behavior.

Expected Outcome for REU student: The results of the student’s project will be published in internationally recognized journals (for example ACS journals) as well as presented in the form of posters or talk at the conferences.