Undergraduate Research in Polymer Science Symposium

The Symposium

This one-day symposium is held annually at the Spring ACS National Meeting.  The symposium consists of 10-12 oral presentations and approximately a dozen posters, presented by undergraduate students from universities across the USA.  The National Science Foundation Department of Materials Research sponsors travel awards for the top ten preprints.  The POLY Division Industrial Advisory Board sponsors an award for the best oral presentation and an award for the best poster. 

Spring 2011, symposium and winners

The sixth annual Undergraduate Research in Polymer Science Symposium was held at the Anaheim National Meeting. There were twelve oral presentations and twelve posters from students from fifteen universities across the country. Sabic Innovative Plastics and Hunstman Polyurethanes sponsored Travel Awards for the top six preprints.

The POLY Division Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) sponsored best oral and best poster presentations. IAB representatives, Diana Gerbi and Travis Baughman were in attendance to present the Best Paper and Best Poster awards. The program included a career session with speakers from university, industry and national labs. The program was co-sponsored by POLY, The Society Committee on Education, and The University of Southern Mississippi and culminated with a joint
reception with the Excellence in Graduate Research Symposium. The two symposia were recognized as Presidential Events.

The symposium was organized by Sarah Morgan and Sergei Nazarenko of the University of Southern Mississippi.

 Travel Award Winners:
Fadwa Constandinidis, Wright State University
Mark F. Fordney, University of Colorado
Daniel L. Harrison, Colorado School of Mines
Elizabeth E. Hwang, Williams College
Alexander J. Mijales, Texas A&M University
Adlina Paramarta, North Dakota State University

Best Paper
Daniel L. Harrison, Colorado School of Mines

Best Poster
Elizabeth E. Hwang, Williams College

Spring 2010, symposium and winners

 The fifth annual Undergraduate Research in Polymer Science Symposium was held at the San Francisco ACS National Meeting.  There were eleven oral presentations and thirteen posters from students from nineteen universities across the country.  The National Science Foundation Department of Materials Research sponsored travel awards for the top ten preprints.  The POLY Division Industrial Advisory Board sponsored best oral and best poster presentations. The program was co-sponsored by POLY, The Society Committee on Education and The University of Southern Mississippi and culminated with a joint reception with the Excellence in Graduate Research Symposium.  The two symposia were recognized as Presidential Events.  The travel award winners are listed below.

The symposium was organized by Sarah Morgan and Sergei Nazarenko of the University of Southern Mississippi.

Travel Award Winners:
Brian Aguado, Stanford
Jennifer Chan, Georgia Tech
Christopher Childers, University of Evansville
Kenneth Drombosky, Akron Univeristy
Aaron Ham, Texas A&M University
Courtney Jenkins, St. Louis University
Jenny Lin, Pomona College
Brennen Mueller, University of Texas
John Swanson, California Polytechnic State University
Matthew Zhou, Williams College

The POLY IAB Award Winners:

Brian Aguado, Stanford

Jennifer Chan, Georgia Tech