Teaching & Outreach

EMAC 355 Polymer Analysis Laboratory

Spring Semester 2026

The purpose of this undergraduate laboratory course is to acquaint students with experimental techniques in polymer synthesis and characterization. Synthetic experiments will focus on free radical and condensation polymerization. Analysis of polymer structure will be probed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Molecular weight determination will be characterized by size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) will be used as tools for thermal characterization. Rheological properties of polymers will be studied using shear oscillatory rheometry. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) will be used to characterize polymer colloids. Finally, filament-based 3D printing will demonstrate considerations underlying the processing of thermoplastics.

EMAC 382/482Polymer Composites for Electronics

Fall Semester 2025

Course Overview:

This course introduces principles for engineering polymer materials for use in electronic technologies. Students will learn about the electronic behavior of polymers and their composites, focusing on dielectric, conductive (both electronic and ionic), and semiconductive properties. The course covers various methods of material characterization and quantitative analysis of multi-material devices, ranging from sub-micrometer to millimeter scales. Through lectures, problem sets, hands-on experiments, and a capstone design project, students will learn how to tailor and process polymer composites for a wide range of electronic applications. The course starts with fundamental concepts in electromagnetism and progresses to technologically relevant topics in energy, health, and robotics

Course Objectives:

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

      1. Apply fundamental electromagnetic concepts to analyze polymer-based electronic devices.
      2. Understand the dielectric, conductive, and semiconductive behaviors of polymer materials and composites, including their interplay with mechanical behavior in the context of processing, device stability, and flexible electronics.
      3. Measure key electrical properties (dielectric constant, conductivity, field-effect mobility etc.) using AC and DC methods—and understand how these relate to molecular structure and composition of composites.
      4. Design and prototype circuits using polymeric materials, including working with microcontrollers for integration of analog prototypes with digital computers.
      5. Complete a final project that correlates the electrical and mechanical properties of a processed polymer composite to device performance.

Previous Teaching Experiences

Teaching Assistant

Responsibilities included developing new class materials and exam questions; leading class discussions; grading assignments and exams; and meeting with students individually.

Graduate Level

    • Applied Boundary Value Problems and Fourier Series Analysis (Fall 2013)
      University of Rochester, ~100 students.
    • Intermolecular & Surface Forces (Fall 2015 & 16)
      University of California, San Diego, ~50 students.

Undergraduate Level

    • Polymeric Materials (Winter 2016 & 17)
      University of California, San Diego, ~100 students.
    • Statistical Thermodynamics (Spring 2020)
      Harvard University, ~30 students.

Guest lecturer

    • Intermolecular & Surface Forces: Computer Simulations (Winter 2017) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_jccjjjk8s
    • Polymeric Materials: Computer Simulations (Spring 2016 & 17)
    • Statistical Thermodynamics (Spring 2020)

Outreach

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