Chemistry

Dr. Brent Sumerlin has been selected for the 2024 Mark Scholar Award, recognizing excellence in basic or applied research and leadership in polymer science, and will be honored at the Fall 2024 ACS National Meeting.

The Mark Scholar Awards are administered by the POLY division of the ACS. The award is presented biennially at the fall ACS National meeting (even years) during the POLY/PMSE award program.

Click here for the official ACS post recognizing Dr. Sumerlin as the 2024 Mark Scholar https://polyacs.org/marks-scholar-awards/

Dr. Adrian Roitberg was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in December 2023, and honor bestowed for his contributions to the field.

Honorary Fellows of the RSC, nominated by peers, represent diverse backgrounds, careers, and countries.

They include research pioneers, industry leaders, and innovators who significantly impact chemical science advancement.

By recognizing Dr. Roitberg with its highest accolade, the RSC celebrates his monumental contributions to science, making him an exemplary role model for aspiring researchers.

Polymer chemists Austin Evans and Brent Sumerlin receive U.S. government funding

By Brian Smith — April 24, 2023

AUSTIN EVANS and BRENT SUMERLIN from University of Florida’s Department of Chemistry have secured a generous research grant from the U.S government that will fuel their materials science research. The Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives (MURI) program is a highly competitive grant program funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. It aims to accelerate research by providing a network spanning multiple scientific disciplines, state-of-the-art research facilities, and ample funding.

With this funding, the duo can expand their work on synthetic polymers, which has already enjoyed tremendous success. Last August, they discovered a new way to purify pharmaceuticals, and earlier this year, their team helped discover a new form of carbon. The new funding Evans and Sumerlin have just received will continue to drive innovations in polymer science at the University of Florida.

“I’m particularly excited about how the MURI facilitates our interactions with members of the Department of Defense Research Laboratories and National Laboratories such as Oak Ridge National Lab and NIST, which are also world-class research enterprises,” Evans said.

UF is no stranger to receiving MURI grants, although they are rare. The last time a group of researchers from UF received this grant was in 2017 at the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. This MURI award will also support scientists across the country who will collaborate with Evans and Sumerlin in their polymer science aims.

“This MURI award represents a great opportunity for scientists at UF to build bridges with our collaborators at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Delaware who bring together the necessary expertise to drive innovation in polymer science,” Sumerlin said.

Evans and Sumerlin attracted the attention of the U.S. government with their research into synthetic polymers. Polymers are complex substances made up of macromolecules that are both naturally occurring and synthetic. Synthetic polymers are not a new technology. There are many examples including plastics, silicones, and even toys like Silly Putty, but they are constantly becoming more complex and versatile.

The polymers Evans and Sumerlin are working to develop are designed to be soft and thermally conductive, which would allow them to transfer heat instead of just insulating it. The technology is still at a very early stage of development, but Evans is hopeful that the MURI grant will act as a stepping stone towards making it a reality.

“Despite the ubiquity of thermal conductivity phenomena,” Evans explained, “we still don’t understand how this works at a microscopic level for polymeric materials. We’re going to build this fundamental understanding and use that to produce next-generation thermal transport materials.”

Evans believes that this technology could be used to create smaller computer chips, environmentally adaptive fabrics, and more efficient batteries.

For more information about the MURI program and for a list of all 2023 winners, click here(opens in new tab).

Professor Rick Yost has been awarded the 2023 ABRF Award for Outstanding Contributions to Biomolecular Technologies.  Dr. Yost is University Professor Emeritus and directs the Southeast Center for Integrated Metabolomics and the NIH National Metabolomics Consortium. He has received the ASMS Award for Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry, the MSACL Award for Distinguished Contribution to Clinical Mass Spectrometry, the Florida Academy of Sciences Medal, and the Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award.  He has also been inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame and the National Academy of Inventors

This prestigious award was established in 1994 by the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) to recognize scientific pioneers who are responsible for making transformative advances that serve as foundations for the modern biological research enterprise.  As ABRF explains, “Technology is a driving force behind scientific advancements. As new approaches to investigating the natural world are conceived, developed, and implemented, new possibilities emerge — opening doors that otherwise would have remained locked. The ABRF Award recognizes those pioneers responsible for developing powerful new tools that form the foundation upon which the modern biomolecular research enterprise thrives.”  Past recipients include five Nobel Laureates; Professor Yost is the first awardee from UF.

The award, along with an honorarium and a plaque, was presented at the ABRF 2023 Annual Meeting in Boston during a symposium on May 8.  Professor Yost was selected, along with Professor Chris Enke, as the 2023 award recipients in “recognition of their development of the triple quadrupole mass spectrometer and the tremendous impact triple quads have made for a wide range of biomedical research applications”.

Yu Tin Lin, a Chemistry and Biology double major at the University of Florida, has been awarded a 2023 Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Lin was one of 413 college sophomores and juniors selected nationwide in natural science, engineering, and mathematics as a Goldwater Scholar. The Scholarship Program honoring the late Senator Barry Goldwater is designed to encourage outstanding students who plan to pursue research careers in STEM and is considered the preeminent undergraduate award in these fields.

Lin is an undergraduate research student in Prof. Boone Prentice’s lab in the Department of Chemistry. Lin’s research focuses on developing spatial metabolomics strategies to investigate sepsis using imaging mass spectrometry as well as building data analysis pipelines using novel normalization and unsupervised machine learning algorithms. These projects in the Prentice Lab are carried out in collaboration with Prof. Ramon Miranda Quintana, also in the Department of Chemistry, and Prof. Peter Stacpoole in the College of Medicine.

Goldwater Scholars have gone on to win a wide variety of prestigious graduate fellowships, including NSF, DOE, and National Defense Graduate Fellowships, Rhodes Scholarships, and Hertz Fellowships. The University of Florida had one student recognized as a Goldwater Scholar in 2022 (Emily Pallack, a microbiology major in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering) and one student recognized in 2021 (Muhammad Abdulla, a mathematics major in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences). Following graduation, Lin plans to attend graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemistry focusing in multi-omics technologies.

Congratulations Yu Tin Lin!