Shan Jiang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, has been chosen to receive a highly prestigious Doctoral New Investigator Grant (DNIG), funded by the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (ACS-PRF) for his proposed research to study polymeric particles and their self-assembly for film formation and coating applications.
Each year, ACS-PRF holds a highly selective competition to award seed funding to top researchers with a track record of producing innovative fundamental research. Established in 1954, its goal has been to support “advanced scientific education, and the careers of scientists, to aid in significantly increasing the world’s energy options.”
The DNIG program is designed as a source of funds for young investigators who are developing their own independent research projects. The new investigator must demonstrate that the project is an original research direction and is independent of their graduate or post-graduate studies.
Jiang’s group has been actively seeking solutions for long-term sustainability in coating and packaging materials. The research progress in this area has been recently published in several high-impact journals, including ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and Chemical Society Reviews. Jiang’s new project will help advance understanding of the film formation process in coating applications and create environmentally friendly and high-performance smart coating materials.
Jiang (bottom right) with his research group.