The 49th Annual David M. Mason Lecture in Chemical Engineering

The Schedule 

The Speaker 

Professor Frank S. Bates

Regents Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
University of Minnesota

Bio:

Frank S. Bates is a Regents Professor and a member of the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science department at the University of Minnesota. He received a B.S. in Mathematics from SUNY Albany and M.S. and Sc.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from MIT. Between 1982 and 1989 Bates was a member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories then joined the University of Minnesota where he served as department Head from 1999 to 2014. He was named a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Bell Labs in 1988, a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in 1996, and a Regents Professor in 2007. Bates conducts research on a range of topics related to polymers, including the thermodynamics, dynamics, structure, and properties of block polymers, polymer blends and solutions. He has published more than 550 articles in leading peer reviewed journals and lectured worldwide at Universities, international scientific and engineering conferences, and at numerous companies. His research has resulted in several commercial products and in 2015 he co-founded the startup company Valerian Materials with two colleagues from the University of Minnesota, pursuing sustainable plastics. Bates is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Inventors.

May 5th | Colloquium

Title: Bottlebrush Block Copolymer Prevents Disease Onset in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Abstract: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a rare genetic disorder that appears in about 3,600 newborn boys in the US annually. This progressive degenerative muscle disease leads to disability and death as the afflicted individual matures to adult age. My colleagues and I have discovered that a bottlebrush (BB) version of poly(ethylene oxide-b-propylene oxide) block copolymer, a variation on commercial compounds known as Poloxamers, has a remarkable effect on genetically modified DMD mice. These results will be discussed in the context of recent studies dealing with the interaction of Poloxamer triblock copolymers with model lipid bilayers and comparison with the new BB diblock compound.

May 6th | Mason Lecture

Title: What to do with plastics?

Abstract: Plastics provide innumerable benefits to society, with essential applications that span virtually every sector of the economy. However, these remarkable materials are accumulating in the environment at an alarming rate, leading to a seemingly intractable dilemma. Two complimentary strategies for addressing this problem will be discussed: (1) improving the physical properties of compostable poly(lactide), and (2) development of economically viable approaches to recycle polyolefins. This broad based effort to creating sustainable polymers relies on state-of-the-art synthetic chemistry combined with characterization of the structure and physical properties of these commodity materials strategically modified through blending with block copolymers.