Clarke Lab

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

03-05-15: Dr. Clarke is the session chair for Focus Session S45: Polymer Nanocomposites: Dynamics (click for index) this morning from 8 - 11 am at the March Meeting.

03-04-15: Contributed talks given today at the APS Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas in Focus Session: Q39: Polymer Nanocomposites - Active Particles and Dynamics from the lab and friends, include:

Q39.00002: Photothermal Heating via Gold Nanorods within Polymer Nanocomposites by Jason Bochinski, Somsubhra Maity, Wei-Chen Wu, Joseph Tracy, and Laura Clarke [talk given by Dr. Clarke]. (click for abstract or pdf version)

Q39.00004: Photothermal heating as a methodology for post processing of polymeric nanofibers by Russell Gorga, Laura Clarke, Jason Bochinski, Vidya Viswanath, Somsubhra Maity, Ju Dong, and Gabriel Firestone [talk given by Dr. Gorga]. (click for abstract or pdf version)

Q39.00006: Using Gold Nanorods to Probe the Local Environment within Polymer Nanocomposites by Laura Clarke, Somsubhra Maity, Wei-Chen Wu, Joseph Tracy, and Jason Bochinski [talk given by Dr. Clarke]. (click for abstract or pdf version)

03-03-15: Dr. Clarke is headed to the American Physical Society meeting in San Antonio, TX; she (and lab collaborators) will be giving several talks on the photothermal research, in the Focus Sessions she co-organized with Dr. Jacinta Conrad (University of Houston) which are on Wednesday afternoon 03/04/15 Q39: Polymer Nanocomposites - Active Particles and Dynamics and on Thursday morning 03/05/15 S45: Polymer Nanocomposites: Dynamics.

2015

Above: Mike Roman and Som Maity work with the probe station.

12-08-14: Som's paper "Spatial Temperature Mapping within Polymer Nanocomposites Undergoing Ultrafast Photothermal Heating via Gold Nanorods" (S. Maity, W. Wu, C. Xu, J. B. Tracy, K. Gundogdu, J. R. Bochinski, and L. I. Clarke) appearing in the journal Nanoscale has been downloaded 89 times in the 27 days since being available online (11-12-14 article proofed; 11-20-14 with final page numbers). (download)

12-05-14: Dr. Clarke and Dr. Bochinski are at the American Physical Society headquarters today in College Park, MD, sorting abstracts for March Meeting 2015, to be held in San Antonio, TX.

11-20-14: Som's paper in Nanoscale is now available online. (link)

11-10-14: Today, Dr. Clarke is giving an invited talk for the Condensed Matter seminar at the Department of Physics, Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA.

11-06-14: The work on melt electrospinning "Unconfined, melt edge electrospinning from multiple, spontaneous, self-organized polymer jets" (Q.-Q. Wang, C. K. Curtis, N. M. Thoppey, J. R. Bochinski, R. E. Gorga, and L. I. Clarke) has just been accepted for publication by the journal Materials Research Express.

10-26-14: Som's paper on pulsed photothermal heating entitled "Spatial Temperature Mapping within Polymer Nanocomposites Undergoing Ultrafast Photothermal Heating via Gold Nanorods" (S. Maity, W. Wu, C. Xu, J. B. Tracy, K. Gundogdu, J. R. Bochinski, and L. I. Clarke) has just been accepted by the journal Nanoscale.

10-04-14: The latest edge electrospinning paper "Control of the electric field - polymer solution interaction by utilizing ultra-conductive fluids" (N. M. Thoppey, R. E. Gorga, L. I. Clarke, and J. R. Bochinski) has been accepted for publication by the journal Polymer.

09-29-14: The shape memory paper "Blending with Non-Responsive Polymers to Incorporate Nanoparticles into Shape Memory Materials and Enable Photothermal Heating: The Effects of Heterogeneous Temperature Distribution" (David B. Abbott, Somsubhra Maity, Mary T. Burkey, Russell E. Gorga, Jason R. Bochinski, and Laura I. Clarke) is now available online (click for paper)in the journal Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics.

09-22-14: Dr. Clarke is giving the NCSU Department of Physics colloquium today.

Embedded metal nanoparticles as light-driven, localized heaters within polymeric solids.
Abstract: Metal nanoparticles strongly absorb specific wavelengths of visible/infrared light with no (or only a very weak) radiative relaxation by which to release this energy. As a result, the absorbed energy is efficiently converted to local heat (a photothermal effect). With an effective cross-section of up to 10 times its physical size, each particle acts as a "super-sized" absorber even when embedded within a transparent material environment, resulting in dramatic heating originating at the particles. Thus, with spatially-uniform illumination, one can metaphorically reach inside the sample and apply heat to pre-selected subsets (e.g., causing them to dramatically change properties due to actuation, cross-linking, crystallization, or chemical reaction) without heating the surface or strongly affecting the remainder of the material. This is particularly true for solid, polymeric samples where moderate light intensities can result in dramatic heating. By utilizing optically-accessible additives including the particles themselves, the thermal gradient from the particle outward can be experimentally determined. In particular, rotational diffusion of anisotropic particles can be used to measure the temperature at the nanoparticle, which is the warmest point in a polymeric film or nanofiber under photothermal heating. I'll discuss recent results demonstrating selective heating, measurement of average internal sample temperatures close to and far from particles, and how this temperature gradient changes as a function of irradiation intensity.

The talk is at 4:00 pm in 301 Riddick Hall Sayers Auditorium.

08-11-14: David, Mary, and Som's paper "Blending with Non-Responsive Polymers to Incorporate Nanoparticles into Shape Memory Materials and Enable Photothermal Heating: The Effects of Heterogeneous Temperature Distribution" (David B. Abbott, Somsubhra Maity, Mary T. Burkey, Russell E. Gorga, Jason R. Bochinski, and Laura I. Clarke) has been accepted by Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics.

07-13-14: This week, Dr. Clarke is attending the (biennial) 2014 Gordon Research Conference on Polymer Physics: New Developments in Polymer Dynamics, Crystallization, Self-Assembly, and Interface/Confinement Effects from July 13-18 in scenic South Hadley, MA on the campus of Mount Holyoke College.

04-22-14: Congratulations to Brandon for earning an Honorable Mention for his research poster at the Physics Department Undergraduate Student Research Poster Session yesterday. As well, Congratulations to Adrienne Cage for receiving the 2014 Richard Patty Award for Leadership as part of the McCormick Award Symposium.

04-21-14: Brandon Sellers is presenting his research work at the Physics Department Undergraduate Student Research Poster Session from 3 - 4 p.m. this afternoon as part of the McCormick Award Symposium. The poster session is organized annually by Dr. Clarke - this year there are over 15 undergraduate presenters from 11 different research groups.

04-14-14: Brandon Sellers ("Utilizing Leaf-like Morphology To Enhance Solar Steam Generation") is presenting a poster at the 23rd Annual NC State Undergraduate Research Symposium today at the McKimmon Center.

03-16-14: Dr. Clarke is giving a talk at the 247th American Chemical Society (Spring) National Meeting within the Division of Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering (PMSE) in the session Electrospinning and Nanofibers: Symposium in Honor of Darrell Reneker; her talk is entitled Unconfined fluid, needleless electrospinning for scale-up production of high quality nanofibers by Nagarajan M. Thoppey, Michael Roman, Qingqing Wang, Colin Curtis, Jason Bochinski, Laura Clarke, and Russell Gorga (11:15 am Pub #30).

03-15-14: Dr. Clarke is traveling to attend the 247th ACS National Meeting being held March 16-20, 2014 in Dallas, Texas.

03-08-14: Dr. Bochinski and Dr. Clarke gave four talks (3 contributed and 1 invited) last week in Denver, Colorado at a very busy March Meeting.

• In Focus Session: Polymeric Fibers and Superstructures (F21.00002): Edge electrospinning: a facile needle-less approach to realize scaled up production of quality nanofibers
  by J. R. Bochinski, C. Curtis, M. P. Roman, L. I. Clarke, Qing Qing Wang, N. M. Thoppey, and R. E. Gorga;
  

• In the Focus Session: Polymer Nanocomposites I - Active Particles and Dynamics (S21.00002): Spatial temperature mapping in polymer nanocomposites due to ultrafast photothermal heating of gold nanorods
  by S. Maity, C. Curtis, W.-C. Wu, Chao Xu, J. B. Tracy, K. Gundogdu, J. R. Bochinski, and L. I. Clarke;
  

• In the Focus Session: Polymer Nanocomposites I - Active Particles and Dynamics (S21.00004): Annealing polymer nanofibrous nanocomposite mats via photothermal heating: effects on overall crystallinity, morphology, and mechanical properties
  by R. E. Gorga, L. I. Clarke, J. R. Bochinski, V. Viswanath, and S. Maity;
  

• In the Invited Session: Dynamics of Polymer Nanocomposites (Y14.00004): Rotational diffusion in polymer nanocomposites as probed by anisotropic particles
  by L. I. Clarke
  

01-03-14: Members of the Clarke group and collaborators have been scheduled to present four oral presentations at the annual American Physical Society meeting, which is being held March 2-7, 2014 in Denver, Colorado.

1) On Tuesday March 4, 2014 in the Focus Session: Polymeric Fibers and Superstructures (F21.00002): Edge electrospinning: a facile needle-less approach to realize scaled up production of quality nanofibers by J. R. Bochinski, C. Curtis, M. P. Roman, L. I. Clarke, Qing Qing Wang, N. M. Thoppey, and R. E. Gorga (click for abstract) from 8:36 - 8:48 A.M.

2) On Thursday March 6, 2014 in the Focus Session: Polymer Nanocomposites I - Active Particles and Dynamics (S21.00002): Spatial temperature mapping in polymer nanocomposites due to ultrafast photothermal heating of gold nanorods by S. Maity, C. Curtis, W.-C. Wu, Chao Xu, J. B. Tracy, K. Gundogdu, J. R. Bochinski, and L. I. Clarke (click for abstract) from 8:36 - 8:48 A.M.

3) On Thursday March 6, 2014 in the Focus Session: Polymer Nanocomposites I - Active Particles and Dynamics (S21.00004): Annealing polymer nanofibrous nanocomposite mats via photothermal heating: effects on overall crystallinity, morphology, and mechanical properties by R. E. Gorga, L. I. Clarke, J. R. Bochinski, V. Viswanath, and S. Maity (click for abstract) from 9:00 - 9:12 A.M.

4) On Friday March 7, 2014 in the Invited Session: Dynamics of Polymer Nanocomposites (Y14.00004): Rotational diffusion in polymer nanocomposites as probed by anisotropic particles by L. I. Clarke (click for abstract) from 9:48 A.M. - 10:24 A.M. [invited]

Dr. Clarke is chairing Session Z21: Polymer Composites: Nanocomposites (click for index).

Dr. Bochinski is chairing Session T21: Focus Session: Polymer Nanocomposites II - Dynamics (click for index); Dr. Bochinski also helped to co-organize this session as well as Session S21: Focus Session: Polymer Nanocomposites I - Active Particles and Dynamics (click for index), both are following up the similar sessions co-organized by Dr. Clarke at last years meeting.

2014

12-06-13: Dr. Clarke and Dr. Bochinski are traveling to the American Physical Society headquarters today in College Park, MD: they are helping to sort abstracts for March Meeting 2014 in Denver, CO.

12-02-13: Somsubhra Maity successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled "Photothermal Property of Metal Nanoparticles and its Application in Polymer Processing." Congratulations, Dr. Maity!

11-22-13: Som Maity is attending the annual meeting of the SouthEastern Section of the Americal Physical Society (SESAPS) being held this year (November 20-23, 2013) in Bowling Green, Kentucky at Western Kentucky University.

11-21-13: Fun facts from the Clarke Lab: As of today, Nags' paper "Edge electrospinning for high throughput production of quality nanofibers" (Nanotechnology 22, 345301 (2011) (journal)) has been downloaded 1553 times since first becoming available online on 08/01/11 -- that is an average of 12.9 downloads per week over the 120 weeks since it has appeared!

11-12-13: Som Maity is giving the Condensed Matter/Biophysics seminar today at noon in Riddick 314. His talk is entitled "Photothermal property of plasmonic nanoparticles and its application in polymer processing".

11-01-13: Vidya Viswanath successfully defended her doctoral thesis entitled "Annealing Polymer Nanocomposite Fibers & Films via Photothermal Heating." Congratulations, Dr. Viswanath!

10-13-13: Vidya's paper "Thermal annealing of polymer nanocomposites via photothermal heating: effects on crystallinity and spherulite morphology" (V. Viswanath, S. Maity, J. R. Bochinski, L. I. Clarke, and R. E. Gorga) has been accepted by Macromolecules.

09-18-13: Dr. Clarke is giving a colloquium today at 4 p.m. in the Department of Physics at Wake Forest University (located in Winston-Salem, NC), entitled "Embedded metal nanoparticles as light-driven, localized heaters within polymeric solids" (abstract).

09-13-13: Mike's paper "Maximizing spontaneous jet density and nanofiber quality in unconfined electrospinning: the role of inter-jet interactions" (M. P. Roman, N. M. Thoppey, R. E. Gorga, J. R. Bochinski, and L. I. Clarke) is now available online at the journal Macromolecules (journal) [paper].

08-30-13: Mike's paper "Maximizing spontaneous jet density and nanofiber quality in unconfined electrospinning: the role of inter-jet interactions" (M. P. Roman, N. M. Thoppey, R. E. Gorga, J. R. Bochinski, and L. I. Clarke) has been accepted by the journal Macromolecules.

06-25-13: Dr. Clarke is traveling to the National Science Foundation today: for the next several days she will serve on a panel as part of the peer reviewing process for proposals.

05-15-13: We welcome David Abbott and Colin Curtis, both graduate students finishing their first year in the Department of Physics, as the newest members of the Clarke Group.

04-23-13: Congratulations to Mary Burkey for winning Second Place at the Physics Department Undergraduate Student Research Poster Session yesterday for her poster "Shape Memory Actuation Using the Photo-Thermal Effect".

04-22-13: Group members Mary Burkey ("Shape Memory Actuation Using the Photo-Thermal Effect") and Adrienne Cage ("The Effect of Photothermal heating on Crystallinity in Semicrystalline polymers") will be presenting their research work at the Physics Department Undergraduate Student Research Poster Session from 3 - 4 p.m. this afternoon as part of the McCormick Award Symposium. The poster session is organized annually by Dr. Clarke - this year there are over 20 undergraduate presenters from 13 different research groups.

03-27-13: If it is March, then it must be time for another Mary Scott Nature paper: Mary Scott, former Clarke lab rat currently at U.C.L.A., is (again!) a co-author of paper appearing in the journal Nature (journal).

03-18-13 - 03-22-13:

Members of the Clarke Lab (and collaborators) attended the annual American Physical Society meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Clarke (in fact) help to organize the G32 Focus Session: Polymer Nanocomposites: Active Particles where the Session Chair was Dr. Gorga, while Som and Dr. Bochinski each gave a talk on different research results from the photothermal project. Additionally, Vidya presented her work in the C32 Session: Polymer Nanocomposites I and Dr. Clarke gave a talk in the Z34 Session: Polymeric Glasses. Dr. Clarke also was the Session Chair for the M32 Focus Session: Polymer Nanocomposites: Dynamics. All in all, it was a very productive and interesting meeting for all involved.

02-21-13: Dr. Clarke is giving a talk at 4 p.m. (PST) today at the Department of Physics at the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR:

Embedded metal nanoparticles as light-driven, localized heaters within polymeric solids
Metal nanoparticles strongly absorb specific wavelengths of visible/infrared light with no (or only a very weak) radiative relaxation by which to release this energy. As a result, the absorbed energy is efficiently converted to local heat (a photothermal effect). With an effective cross-section of up to 10 times its physical size, each particle acts as a "super-sized" absorber even when embedded within a transparent material environment, resulting in dramatic heating originating at the particles. Thus, with spatially-uniform illumination, one can metaphorically reach inside the sample and apply heat to pre-selected subsets (e.g., causing them to dramatically change properties due to actuation, cross-linking, crystallization, or chemical reaction) without heating the surface or strongly affecting the remainder of the material. I'll discuss recent results demonstrating selective heating of metastable nanostructured samples, anisotropic processing by using the polarized absorption of rod-like particles, measurement of average internal sample temperatures via a sensitive, relative fluorescence approach with embedded molecules, estimation of the particle temperature from rotational diffusion, and how this temperature gradient changes as a function of irradiation intensity.

02-12-13: Som's paper "Anisotropic Thermal Processing of Polymer Nanocomposites via the Photothermal Effect of Gold Nanorods" (with co-authors Krystian A. Kozek, Wei-Chen Wu, and Joseph B. Tracy from the Tracy Group in Materials Science and Engineering, NCSU) is now available online at the journal Particle & Particle Systems Characterization (journal) [paper].

01-04-13: Members of the Clarke group have been scheduled to present four oral presentations at the annual American Physical Society meeting, which is being held March 18-22, 2013 in Baltimore, Maryland.

1) On Monday March 18, 2013 in the C32 Session: Polymer Nanocomposites I (C32.00012): Annealing polymer nanocomposite fibers and films with photothermal heating: effects on overall crystallinity and resultant mechanical properties by Vidya Viswanath, Somsubhra Maity, Jason Bochinski, Laura Clarke, and Russell Gorga (click for abstract) from 4:42 - 4:54 P.M.

2) On Tuesday March 19, 2013 in the G32 Focus Session: Polymer Nanocomposites: Active Particles (G32.00005): Anisotropic Thermal Processing of Polymer Nanocomposites via the Photothermal Effect of Gold Nanorods by J.R. Bochinski, S. Maity, L.I. Clarke, K.A. Kozek, W. Wu, and J.B. Tracy (click for abstract) from 12:03 - 12:15 P.M.

3) On Tuesday March 19, 2013 in the G32 Focus Session: Polymer Nanocomposites: Active Particles (G32.00011): Photothermally-induced rotation of gold nanorods within a polymer matrix to probe local nanocomposite properties by Somsubhra Maity, Laura Clarke, and Jason Bochinski (click for abstract) from 1:15 - 1:27 P.M.

4) On Friday March 22, 2013 in the Z34 Session: Polymeric Glasses (Z34.00004): Observing density-dependent formation of a fragile glass in surface-bound molecular chains by L.I. Clarke, M.P. Roman, D.R. Stevens, M.C. Scott, and J.R. Bochinski (click for abstract) from 11:51 A.M. - 12:03 P.M. .

2013

11-09-12: Dr. Clarke is giving a talk at 2 p.m. today at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT on our group's innovative research on utilizing the photothermal effect of metal nanoparticles for thermally-processing polymers.

10-31-12: Mike Roman successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled "Study of Inter-Molecular Dynamics within Alkylsiloxane Self-Assembled Monolayer and Elastomer Systems." Congratulations, Dr. Mike!

10-19-12: Dr. Clarke is giving a talk entitled "Embedded metal nanoparticles as light-driven, localized heaters for in-situ materials processing" today at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia as part of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center seminar series.

10-13-12: Som's paper "Anisotropic Thermal Processing of Polymer Nanocomposites via the Photothermal Effect of Gold Nanorods" (with co-authors Krystian A. Kozek, Wei-Chen Wu, and Joseph B. Tracy from the Tracy Group in Materials Science and Engineering, NCSU) has been accepted by the journal Particle & Particle Systems Characterization.

10-05-12: Dr. Clarke is giving a talk entitled "Embedded metal nanoparticles as light-driven, localized heaters for in-situ materials processing" today at the University of South Carolina in historic Columbia, South Carolina.

09-04-12: Nags has accepted a post-doctoral position in Prof. Gang Chen's NanoEngineering Group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M. I. T.) in Cambridge, MA.

08-09-12: Adrienne Cage has been awarded a 2012-2013 Undergraduate Research Award Grant from the Office of Undergraduate Research of NC State University. Adrienne will be investigating using the photothermal heating properties of gold nanorods to alter the post-processed crystallization level of electrospun mats while maintaining the fibrous morphology.

07-22-12: Som Maity and Dr. Clarke are attending the 2012 Polymer Physics Gordon Research Conference July 22-27, 2012 being held at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA.

07-21-12: Som Maity is giving a talk entitled "Utilization of metal nanoparticles as light-activated heaters for in situ processing within polymer nanocomposites" at the 2012 Polymer Physics Gordon-Kenan Research Seminar today at Mount Holyoke College.

07-19-12: Vidya Viswanath passed her Preliminary Oral Examination today; her talk was entitled "Structural and mechanical properties of fibrous materials annealed via photothermal heating". Congratulations, Vidya!

07-17-12: Nag's paper "The effect of solution parameters on spontaneous jet formation and throughput in edge electrospinning from a fluid-filled bowl" has been accepted by the journal Macromolecules.

07-09-12: Dr. Clarke is attending the NSF CMMI Engineering Research and Innovation Conference 2012 ("Grantee Conference") held in Boston, MA from July 9-12, 2012. The conference theme is Engineering Transformation through Partnerships. Dr. Clarke will present a poster entitled "Utilizing the Photothermal Effect of Metal Nanoparticles for Processing of Polymers" which discusses the latests results achieved under our NSF grant MPM 1069108... Dr. Gorga is also presenting a poster entitled "A Mechanistic Understanding of the Process-Property Relationships in an Alternative Electrospinning Process" which details the advances and insights in high throughput nanofiber production via new electrospinning methods (i.e. edge electrospinning) developed under MPM 0800237.

07-06-12: Som's paper "Metal nanoparticles acting as light-activated heating elements within composite materials" has been accepted by the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

07-01-12: The new electrospinning fume hood is fully operational and has been approved by EH&S.

06-28-12: TUNL REU students got a brief tour of EaRL by Dr. Clarke, and were also shown the scale-up electrospinning project that Mike has been working on in the Clarke Lab proper.

06-26-12: Nagarajan Thoppey Muthuraman successfully defended his thesis entitled "Edge Electrospinning for High Throughput Production of Nanofibers". Congratulations, Dr. Nags!

06-01-12: Installation of the new fume hood (in the Clarke Lab room 123) dedicated to electrospinning should get underway this month. This will enable safe spinning of polymers with non-aqueous solvents.

05-21-12: Provost Warwick Arden was given a brief tour of EaRL by Dr. Clarke this morning, showing the Physics Departments implementation of the shared resource facility with use for both undergraduate education and high end, scientific research.

05-01-11: Mary Burkey won 3rd place at the Physics Department Undergraduate Student Research Poster Session yesterday for her poster "Exploring the Use of Heating From Embedded Metal Nanoparticles to Actuate Shape Memory Polymers".

04-13-12: The members of the Physics Alumni Board were given a tour of EaRL by Dr. Bochinski, with some demonstrations of the recently purchased, modern instruments and the Physics Departments implementation of a dual-use, shared resource facility.

04-13-12: Dr. Clarke is giving the physics department colloquium today at Montana State University located in scenic Bozeman, Montana. Dr. Clarke's talk is entitled Embedded metal nanoparticles as light-driven, localized heaters for in-situ materials processing.

04-10-12: Mary Burkey is presenting her poster "Exploring the Use of Heating From Embedded Metal Nanoparticles to Actuate Shape Memory Polymers" at the NCSU 21st Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium being held today at the McKimmon Center.

04-08-12: Som Maity has been selected to give a talk at the 2012 Polymer Physics Gordon-Kenan Research Seminar. This research seminar is for graduate students and post doctoral researchers and takes place July 21-22, 2012 at MT. Holyoke College, preceding the Polymer Physics Gordon Research Conference. Som's talk is entitled "Utilization of metal nanoparticles as light-activated heaters for in situ processing within polymer nanocomposites" and will be during the session "Tuning Polymeric Materials by Local Control".

03-30-12: Dr. Clarke is giving a colloquium today at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering in Greensboro, NC, which is a colloborative institute between North Carolina A&T State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dr. Clarke's talk is entitled Embedded metal nanoparticles as light-driven, localized heaters for in-situ materials processing.

03-21-12: Mary Scott, former Clarke lab rat, is the first author of paper just appearing in the prestigious scientific journal Nature (journal). Mary received her bachelor's and master's degrees at NCSU; she is currently pursuing her PhD at UCLA. Congratulations, Mary!

03-01-12: Som Maity and Dr. Clarke are both giving talks today at the annual March Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts in the Focus Session: Interparticle Interactions in Polymer Nanocomposites - Mechanical, Electrical, and Optical Properties (W44.00008). Dr. Clarke's talk [Finite-size effects in nanocomposites: experimental and computational studies (abstract)] is from 1:03 - 1:15 P.M.; Som's talk [Utilizing photothermal heating by metal nanoparticles within polymer composites (abstract)] is from 1:39 - 1:51 P.M..

02-27-12: Dr. Clarke is giving a talk today from 1:03 - 1:15 P.M. at the annual March Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts entitled Edge electrospinning from a fluid-filled bowl for high throughput production of quality nanofibers (abstract). Her talk is in the Focus Session: Long-time, Entangled Dynamics in Polymers - Rods, Rings, Fibers, Particle Tracking (B49.00008).

01-25-12: NCSU Chancellor Woodson visited Riddick today for his annual town hall meeting in PAMS. Afterwards, accompanied by Dean Solomon, Dean Gould, and Dean Krim, he took a brief tour (led by Dr. Clarke) of EaRL, and saw a demo of the laboratory's Asylum AFM (given by Dr. Dougherty and Dr. Ade).

01-05-12: A new piece of equipment has been installed in EaRL today: it is a Photon Technology International (PTI) Quantamaster 40 Spectrofluorometer. This powerful device enables sensitive fluorescence detection from fluid as well as solid samples; additionally, depolarization measurements (e.g., fluorescence anisotropy) are also possible.

2012

12-27-11: The Clarke group has been scheduled to present three oral presentations at the annual American Physical Society meeting, which is being held February 27 - March 2, 2012. The March Meeting will be in Boston, Massachusetts this year.

1) On Monday February 27, 2012 in the Focus Session: Long-time, Entangled Dynamics in Polymers - Rods, Rings, Fibers, Particle Tracking (B49.00008): Edge electrospinning from a fluid-filled bowl for high throughput production of quality nanofibers by J.R. Bochinski, N.M. Thoppey, R.E. Gorga, and L.I. Clarke (click for abstract) from 1:03 - 1:15 P.M.

2) On Thursday March 1, 2012 in the Focus Session: Interparticle Interactions in Polymer Nanocomposites - Mechanical, Electrical, and Optical Properties (W44.00008): Finite-size effects in nanocomposites: experimental and computational studies by L.I. Clarke, M.P. Roman, E.W. Skau, D.R. Stevens, L.N. Downen, T.J. Hoffman, and J.R. Bochinski (click for abstract) from 1:03 - 1:15 P.M.

3) On Thursday March 1, 2012 in the Focus Session: Interparticle Interactions in Polymer Nanocomposites - Mechanical, Electrical, and Optical Properties (W44.00011): Utilizing photothermal heating by metal nanoparticles within polymer composites by Somsubhra Maity, Jason Bochinski, and Laura Clarke (click for abstract) from 1:39 - 1:51 P.M.

12-14-11: Dr. John Thomas, who has recently relocated his experimental research group to NCSU from Duke University, has generously given the Clarke Lab a large optical table (4' x 12' x 1.5'). We will use this resource immediately as a opportunity to expand the plasmonic heating project and implement a) an enhanced fluorescence temperature measurement experiment, and b) fluorescence anisotropy detection of nanocomposite samples while undergoing photothermal heating.

Above: The new Clarke lab optical table (already with a bunch of stuff on it!).

11-14-11: Nags has been chosen to give an oral presentation in the "Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Symposium" at the ACS meeting. This is nice accomplishment (Congratulation, Nags!) as "...Selection to this symposium is a distinct honor and recognition among the polymer community..."

10-06-11: Nags has been selected as the outstanding graduate student nominee from NCSU TECS to submit an abstract for "... a recognition symposium to be held at the ACS National Meeting in San Diego, CA on March 25-29, 2012 being organized by the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry (POLY). The symposium is called "Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Symposium" and is meant to provide recognition to outstanding graduate students engaged in polymer research...It will consist of two half-day oral sessions, a poster session, and a networking social... The purposes of this symposium are to provide recognition to outstanding graduate students in polymer science and engineering, to foster networking and exposure, and to help develop the careers of future leaders in our field... "

09-07-11: The publisher just informed us that our recent Nanotechnology paper been downloaded over 250 times in its first month of being available online.

08-25-11: Nanotechweb also has an article detailing the results highlighted in our recent Nanotechnology paper.

08-22-11: Mike Roman passed his Preliminary Oral Examination today; his talk was entitled "A Study of Molecular Motion". Congratulations, Mike!

08-18-11: Derek, Erik, Lori, and Mike's paper "Finite-size effects in nanocomposite thin films and fibers" is now available online at the journal Physical Review E: (link).

08-18-11: Textile World has also summarized our recent results in a short article about the "bowl electrospinning" paper.

08-16-11: Jesse Bao successfully defended her Master's Thesis today. Congratulations, Jesse!

08-15-11: Som Maity passed his Preliminary Oral Examination today; his talk was entitled "Photothermal property of nanoparticles and its application in polymer processing". Congratulations, Som!

08-09-11: The NC State University news service has sent out a press release about the waterfall project to develop techniques to scale up nanofiber production rates, highlighting the recent "bowl electrospinning" paper.

08-01-11: Nags' paper "Edge electrospinning for high throughput production of quality nanofibers" is available online at the journal Nanotechnology: (link)

07-12-11: Nags' paper "Edge electrospinning for high throughput production of quality nanofibers" has been accepted by the journal Nanotechnology.

07-12-11: Derek Stevens, Erik Skau, Lori Downen, and Mike Roman's paper "Finite-size effects in nanocomposite thin films and fibers" has been accepted by the journal Physical Review E.

06-09-11: Sangeetha Ramaswamy's paper "Morphological, mechanical, and electrical properties as a function of thermal bonding in electrospun nanocomposites" is now available online. (link)

05-13-11: Sangeetha Ramaswamy's paper "Morphological, mechanical, and electrical properties as a function of thermal bonding in electrospun nanocomposites" has been accepted by the journal Polymer.

05-02-11: Kristen Hale won 3rd place at the Physics Department Undergraduate Student Research Poster Session for her poster "Changes in the Mechanical Properties of Electrospun Polymer Mats due to Annealing".

04-13-11: It was announced during the April Physics faculty meeting that Som Maity tied for 1st place at the Physics Department Graduate Student Recruiting Poster Session. (link)

04-12-11: Kristen Hale is presenting her poster "Changes in the Mechanical Properties of Electrospun Polymer Mats due to Annealing" at the NCSU 20th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium at the McKimmon Center.

04-01-11: Mike Roman and Som Maity are presenting posters at the Physics Department Graduate Student Recruiting Poster Session in the Hearth, Riddick Hall from 4:15 - 5: 00 p.m. today.

03-26-11: Dr. Clarke is giving a talk entitled "Glassy dynamics within surface-bound molecular monolayers" in Session Y42: Focus Session: Dynamics of Polymers--Phenomena due to Confinement--Theory, Wrinkling, and Glass Transitions today at the APS March meeting.

03-24-11: Som Maity is giving a talk entitled "Use of embedded metal nanoparticles as photothermal heaters in polymer nanocomposites" in Session X45: Focus Session: Nanocomposite Physics I-Dispersions and Physical Properties today at the APS March meeting.

03-22-11: Som Maity won 3rd place in the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences for his poster presentation at the Sixth Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium yesterday.

03-21-11: Mike Roman will present his poster "Experimental and computational studies of finite-size effects in nanocomposites" in Poster Session I (2:00pm - 5:00pm) this afternoon at the American Physical Society (APS) March meeting in Dallas, Texas.

03-21-11: Som Maity, representing the Physics department, will present his poster "Use of embedded metal nanoparticles as photothermal heaters in polymer nanocomposites"; Nagarajan Thoppey Muthuraman will present his poster "Development and optimization of an alternative electrospinning process for high throughput" and Jiaxing Bao will present her poster "Role of fiber mat morphology on electrical properties of composite nanofibers" (both representing the Textile Engineering, Chemistry, and Science department) at the Sixth Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium, being held in the McKimmon Center today.

03-09-11: The National Science Foundation has awarded our grant Utilizing the Photothermal Effect of Metal Nanoparticles for Processing of Polymers. This research effort, led by Dr. Clarke, is a collaborative research project with team members from the Department of Physics (Dr. Clarke and Dr. Bochinski) and the Textile Engineering, Chemistry, and Science Department (Dr. Gorga).

03-04-11: Som Maity's and Lori Downen's paper "Embedded metal nanoparticles as localized heat sources: an alternative processing approach for complex polymeric materials" is now availabe online by the journal , or go to Publications link in the banner above.

01-31-11: Som Maity's and Lori Downen's paper "Embedded metal nanoparticles as localized heat sources: an alternative processing approach for complex polymeric materials" has been accepted by the journal Polymer.

01-28-11: Som Maity (Physics), Nagarajan Thoppey Muthuraman (Textile Engineering, Chemistry, and Science), and Jiaxing Bao (Textile Engineering, Chemistry, and Science) have all been selected to present posters at the Sixth Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium. The Graduate Research Symposium will be held in the McKimmon Center on Monday, March 21, 2011.

***Click EaRL for weekly photo updates on the Riddick 165 renovation project.***

01-09-11: Construction on renovating the shell out space in Riddick 165 and turning it into the new Education and Research Laboratory (EaRL) has begun!

01-03-11: Kristen Hale has been awarded a 2010-2011 Undergraduate Research Award Grant from the Office of Undergraduate Research of NC State University. Kristen will be performing mechanical measurements on electrospun nanofibrous mats.

2011

Above: Torissa Hoffman and her liquid nitrogen dewar.

12-15-10: Som Maity has been awarded a Grant-in-Aid of Research from Sigma Xi The Scientific Research Society.

11-20-10: Seth McCullen's paper "Application of Low Frequency Alternating Current Electric Fields Via Interdigitated Electrodes: Effects on Cellular Viability, Cytoplasmic Calcium, and Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells" in the journal Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods is now available online (go to Publications link in the banner).

09-03-10: Dr. Clarke is giving an invited colloquium at Emory University today; her talk is entitled "Studying Glassy Physics in Molecular Monolayers".

08-10-10: Nags' paper "Unconfined fluid electrospun into high quality nanofibers from a plate edge" has been accepted by the journal Polymer.

05-01-10: Erik Skau has won the Graduating Senior Award for Research from the NC State Department of Physics.

04-26-10: Julie Crowe-Willoughby (Genzer Group) and Derrick Stevens' paper "Investigating the molecular origins of responsiveness in functional silicone elastomer networks" has been accepted by the journal Macromolecules.

03-30-10: Seth McCullen's paper "Application of low frequency AC electric fields via interdigitated electrodes: effects on cellular viability, cytoplasmic calcium, and osteogenic differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells" has been accepted by the journal Tissue Engineering.

01-20-10: Erik Skau has been awarded a Grant-in-Aid of Research from Sigma Xi The Scientific Research Society. This award is part of their program that is designed to "... promote scientific excellence and achievement through hands-on learning."

2010

12-13-09: Dr. Clarke has been announced as the recipient of the Elva and Leroy Martin Teaching Effectiveness Award for 2009-2010. Professor Leroy Martin, Jr. was a distinguished and beloved faculty member for 47 years in the Department of Mathematics; this award honors Professor Martin's parents' dedication to public education.

10-27-09: Erik Skau has been awarded a 2009-2010 Undergraduate Research Award Grant in the amount of $1000 from the Office of Undergraduate Research of NC State University. Erik will be exploring methods to more efficaciously fabricate omniphobic surfaces via electrospinning doped polymer nanocomposites.

Above: Daniel Sikes works on the metal evaporator system.