Brettmann Lab

Halloween is peak materials science season 🎃
Candy = polymer chemistry
Pumpkin spice = molecular aroma design
Fake blood = non-Newtonian flow
Science never looked so spooky (or sweet). 👻🧪

Calling all chemists and polymer scientists! We are seeking your feedback on new recommendations for classifying and defining polymerization reactions—a chance to help shape the language of our field. Read the provisional recommendation here: iupac.org/recommendati...
#chemsky #polymers @iupac.org

On my way to Kuala Lumpur for IUPAC 2025! Ready for a great week with @iupacpolymer.bsky.social

Ph.D. student Shiqi Wei is spending her summer as an R&D Formulations Intern at Alcon, developing new contact lens materials and care products.

Fun fact: She has two orange cats and once worked with phosgene! 🧪🐱

#GTmse #MSEinternship #PhDLife #WomenInSTEM #MaterialsScience

Ice cream = triphase material:
❄️ Ice crystals
💨 Air bubbles
🧈 Fat emulsion
It’s soft matter science in a cone!
Cool structure, creamy texture—all thanks to materials engineering 🍦
#IceCreamScience #SummerSTEM #MaterialsScience #GTMSE

New publication examining the scientific and economics/policy progress and challenges for enabling on-demand manufacturing of polymer materials! Micah Ziegler and I teamed up to think about the interplay between scale and flexibility for commercialization.

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

📢 Last chance! Abstract submissions for #NAMES2025 close June 15. Don’t miss your opportunity to present at the premier MSE education conference!
🔗 Submit now: www.names25.mse.gatech.edu/abstract-sub...
#MaterialsScience #EngineeringEducation #STEM #gtmse

At Columbia, dismay among chemical scientists Some have already lost grants, while others fear for students and future funding

Lots of people are keeping silent, because lots of people are scared. But my colleague Aayushi Pratap found a group of chemists at Columbia willing to talk about what's going on in the labs they lead. Her story, and Natalie Keyssar's portraits, are worth your time.

cen.acs.org/policy/resea...

Good cover @economist.com

*looking for reviewers who reviewed a recent opinion piece of mine*

An unusual request, I know. I wrote an opinion article on my experience as trans person in science upon invitation of a journal. Despite mostly good reviews, the article was rejected.

#trans #academicchatter

Trump’s NIH And NSF Cuts Estimated To Cost The U.S. Economy $10 Billion Annually Economists find public R&D drives U.S. productivity growth — and pays for itself

www.forbes.com/sites/johndr...

We're diving into the future of Materials Science Education at #NAMES2025:
🔹 Innovation in curriculum + delivery
🤖 AI and machine learning
🎓 High-impact learning practices
Join the conversation. View the agenda + register: [https://www.names25.mse.gatech.edu/]

There's still time to submit your abstract for NAMES 2025! Deadline extended to June 15, 2025. Details here: [https://www.names25.mse.gatech.edu/] #NAMES2025 #gatechmse #gatechmsenames #materialsscience

Take two polls to help Iupac define molecular machines An Iupac committee wants your input to guide its recommendations for key terms in the field

The 2016 Nobel prize in chemistry was awarded 'for the design and synthesis of molecular machines'. Ironically, we do not know exactly what constitutes a molecular machine. With the ultimate goal of unifying definitions and standardising terminology, Iupac needs your help!
#ChemSky #ScienceSky

PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081

MSE showed up strong at Georgia Tech’s 2025 Three Minute Thesis!
Ph.D. Winner: Sakshi Sharma
Master’s Winner: Sai Shreeya Yara
Finalists: Sumaiyatul Ahsan, Haley Carroll, and Aubrey Toland
Next up: Sakshi represents GT at the regional level. Let’s go!
#GT3MT #MSE #GeorgiaTech

Read more here www.mse.gatech.edu/news/mse-stu...

Very excited that Convexity Electronics, the undergrad entrepreneur team that is mentored by Prof Brettmann won the top prize at the Georgia Tech InVenture Prize competition!! These students are amazing and we enjoy hosting them in our lab!

Antonio Facchetti

The National Academy of Engineering has added another Georgia Tech engineer to its membership of leading professionals. Antonio Facchetti in @gatechmse.bsky.social was elected for pioneering work in commercially viable electronic materials and devices: b.gatech.edu/4hUygYT

🏆 The Lombardi Trophy is more than a symbol of victory—it’s materials science in action! 🏈🔬

Made from sterling silver, this handcrafted masterpiece takes months of work to ensure balance, durability, and shine. #LombardiTrophy #SuperBowl #MaterialsEngineering

Picture courtesy of the New York Times

Excited about this new publication led by Jaehyun Cho showing the effect of stoichiometry on relaxation and reprocessing of covalent adaptable networks. Some very nice science that we hope will improve development of new sustainable polymer materials!
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Congrats!!! 🥂🎉 well-deserved!

Hot off the press! Check out the Fall 2024 MSE Newsletter for the newest insights and stories from our department. Read it here: www.mse.gatech.edu/newsletters

Congrats!!! One of my colleagues got it and I was excited to see your name on the list too. Very cool!

At GT the chairs don’t have access to comments (sometimes this is a good thing), so this year I put the biased and mean ones in my annual report for the chair. I am truly surprised that there haven’t been successful lawsuits or that universities haven’t stopped using them for fear of lawsuits.

Evaluating Resonant Acoustic Mixing as a Wet Granulation Process Control of powder properties is crucial for industrial processes across the food, pharmaceutical, agriculture, and mineral processing industries, and granulation is an important tool for providing agg...

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Image of granules, their particle size distribution and the key stages in the process of granulation with a resonant acoustic mixer.

New paper alert ❗ ❕ 📄 We look at using a resonant acoustic mixer for wet granulation. This is a particularly fun project because much of it was done during my mini-sabbatical at LLNL and its always fun to use acoustic mixing on the Resodyn LabRAM

Me too!

What happens when you try to 3D print at -30 C? We explored this question as it relates to extrudability and curability in a new paper in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...