As a sophomore at UNH, Douglas Holmes joined Don Sundberg's Polymer Research Group, then later spent a summer doing similar work in Australia. He returned to UNH with a desire to conduct independent research. His latex polymer work began as a senior thesis project for his BS in Chemistry, which he received in 2004. The result of his project will be published this year in a scientific journal; however, he wanted to publish in Inquiry to show readers the research undergraduates were doing as well as to introduce them to polymers, which are all around them. The research process, he says, "taught me a lot about research and even more about myself. I quickly and continually learned how to fail and how to learn from those failures . . . Most importantly, I learned how to think like a scientist." At present, Doug is in a doctoral program in polymer science and engineering at the University of Massachusetts. He hopes one day to become a professor.
Donald Sundberg, Ph.D., has been at UNH since 1978. During that time he has had the pleasure of directing more than 25 undergraduates in his research laboratory. An associate professor of Materials Science, he specializes in polymeric materials and is director of the Nanostructured Polymers Research Center at UNH. Sundberg feels that Doug's work in his lab was a positive experience for the whole group: "I surrounded him with a number of people, all of whom served as mentors to him, and created a professional and positive atmosphere." Sundberg aided Doug in the many revisions needed to make their complex subject accessible to non-scientists.
In May, Jeffrey Stubbs will finish his Ph.D. in Materials Science. No stranger to UNH, Mr. Stubbs received his undergraduate degree here, also, and for the past four years has been a research scientist in the Materials Science Program. His areas of specialization are polymer lattices made by emulsion polymerization, nanoscale morphology control in latex particles, and free radial polymerization kinetics. Doug Holmes joined an ongoing project in his lab, which is funded by several large companies. According to Mr. Stubbs, "The work performed by Doug is an excellent example of the fine contributions that good undergraduates can make to important projects such as this one."
Read Douglas Holmes’ research article, Controlling the Morphology of Composite Latex Particles >>
