Nazmul Haque Wins the Adhesion Society Peebles Graduate Student Research Award
February 2025
Congratulations to Nazmul for earning the prestigious Adhesion Society Peebles Graduate Student Research Award! Nazmul delivered an outstanding presentation titled “Stress Visualization in Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites via Mechanophores”
PIM Group Current Members and Alumni Reunite at the Adhesion Society Meeting
February 2025
The Adhesion Society Meeting, held from February 16–19 in New Orleans, provided a fantastic opportunity for current PIM group members and alumni to reconnect. We enjoyed meaningful discussions, shared experiences, and wrapped up the event with a wonderful evening together.
Anna Freund Wins People’s Choice Poster Award
February 2025
Congratulations to Anna for winning the People’s Choice Poster Award at the Materials Research Showcase Event organized by the Center for Research in Soft matter and Polymers (CRiSP)
Happy Holidays from the PIM Research Group!
December 2024
As 2024 comes to a close, we celebrate another year of exciting discoveries and collaboration. Thank you for being part of our journey! Here's to more fun science, innovation, and incredible achievements in 2025. Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a fantastic new year ahead!
Anna Freund Wins Poster Award!
November 2024
Congratulations to Anna for receiving an Honorable Mention in the poster competition at the 2024 Future Composite Symposium!
New Group Member
June 2024
We welcome Angie Rojas Cardenas, Ph.D. student in Materials Science Engineering at UD
Welcome Summer Undergraduate Researchers
May 2024
The PIM group is pleased to welcome our new undergraduate researchers!
Shane West (Class of 2026 ME)
Justyn Friedler (Williams College Class of 2025 Physics)
Congratulations to Angie Rojas Cardenas on her Master's Graduation!
May 2024
Congratulations to Angie on completing her MS degree in Materials Science and Engineering at Purdue!
Angie was co-advised with Prof. Amy Marconnet (ME) on a project related to developing high thermal conductivity, moldable polymers (learn more). Angie has done great work throughout her MS at Purdue winning awards such as a Best Poster Award at the Cooling Technologies Research Center Review Meeting earlier this month. Angie will continue her education and research at the University of Delaware.
Anna Freund Recipient of NRT-MIDAS
January 2024
Congratulations to Anna for receiving the NRT: Computing and Data Science Training for Materials Innovation, Discovery, AnalyticS (MIDAS)
New Group Members
November 2023
Two new Ph.D. students joined the group this semester.
Anna Freund, Ph.D. student in Materials Science Engineering at UD
Sourav Paul, Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering at UD
Welcome to the group Anna and Sourav!
Professor Chelsea Davis Receives Tenure at the University of Delaware!
October 2023
We proudly announce that Prof. Chelsea Davis has received tenure at the University of Delaware! This milestone reflects her outstanding contributions to polymer mechanics and her dedication to research and mentoring
Congratulations to Dr. Jared Gohl on his Ph.D. Graduation!
August 2023
The PIM Group proudly congratulates Dr. Jared Gohl on earning his Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from Purdue University!
Dr. Gohl's research, titled "Mechanics of Polymer Interfaces: Pressure Sensitive Adhesive Tapes and Polymer Matrix Composites," tackled critical challenges in interfacial mechanics, advancing applications from medical adhesives to polymer composites. Learn more
He has now joined LyondellBasell to continue his impactful work.
Best wishes for your future endeavors, Dr. Gohl!
Our Research Group Has Moved to the University of Delaware!
July 2023
We are excited to share that the Polymer Interfacial Mechanics has relocated from Purdue University to the University of Delaware.
We look forward to continuing our research and exploring new collaborations in UD's dynamic and innovative research environment!
New Group Member
May 2023
We are excited to welcome our new postdoc, Michael Wilson!
Michael will be working jointly with Prof. Daniel Szymanski (Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University) to study plant biomechanics.
New Group Members
August 2022
Two new Ph.D. students joined the group this Fall semester.
Angie Rojas Cardenas, Ph.D. student in Materials Engineering will be co-advised by Prof. Amy Marconnet.
Cassidy J Holdeman, Ph.D. student in Materials Engineering.
Welcome to the group Angie and CJ!
Upcoming Ph.D. Defense
June 2022
Naomi will be defending her Ph.D. thesis on June 27th. Please contact Professor Davis via email regarding virtual meeting log-in information.
Best wishes Naomi!
New Group Members
January 2022
Two new Ph.D. students joined the group this Spring semester.
Tyler Jacob Roberts, Ph.D. student in Chemical Engineering will be co-advised by Prof. Stephen Beaudoin.
Geeta Pokhrel, Ph.D. student in Materials Engineering will be co-advised by Prof. John Howarter
Welcome to the group Tyler and Geeta!
Upcoming Ph.D. Defense
October 14, 2021
Hyeyoung and Jo will be defending their Ph.D. thesis on October 18th and October 20th respectively. Please contact Professor Davis via email regarding virtual meeting log-in information.
Best wishes Hyeyoung and Jo!
Professor Chelsea Davis Recipient of NSF Career Award
Congratulations to Professor Davis, for receiving the NSF CAREER Grant from the National Science Foundation. Her work will explore the use of illuminating stress sensors known as mechanophores to visualize the mechanical performance of soft material interfaces. More information can be found here.
Mitchell Rencheck to Defend His Dissertation
November 24, 2020
Mitch has performed extensive work in developing new and innovative materials characterization techniques. These techniques utilize buckling mechanics to measure the mechanical properties of polymers and using luminescent mechanophores to visualize stress and monitor failure of various polymer systems. Click here to learn more information about his defense.
Hugh Grennan Presents at the Fall 2020 Purdue Undergraduate Research Expo
November 14, 2020
Hugh presented his research on determining the modulus of temporary pavement marking using the Peirce cantilever method. You can watch his presentation here!
Jared Gohl Successfully Defended His Preliminary Exam
May 7, 2020
Jared is now a Ph.D. candidate after presenting his preliminary research on developing a new method to measure the peel strength of pressure sensitive adhesives.
Mitchell Rencheck (Middle)
Photo adopted from the linked article by Dr. Jackie McDermott, 2020
Mitchell Rencheck named Dean’s Teaching Fellow 2020
Mitchell Rencheck was one of three graduate students selected to be the first Dean’s Teaching Fellows for 2020. This opportunity will provide Mitchell with a chance to learn and perform teaching skills required to be an effective instructor.
“I was excited about applying for this opportunity because it will allow me to share my enthusiasm for materials engineering and allow me to develop my skills as an instructor at the same time,” said Mitchell Rencheck
DRG Summer Undergraduate is Featured on the Materials Engineering Website
Eline Ghimire joined the DRG group as a SURF participant to understand adhesion mechanics between rigid microspheres and soft substrates.
Eline Ghimire
End of Year Celebration
April 30, 2018
Thanks for a great year. Looking forward to a productive summer.
Allison Chau wins First Place Oral Presentation
April 10, 2018
Congrats to Allison! She took the top prize among the oral presentations at the campus-wide Purdue Undergraduate Research Conference!
Thanks to the Davis Research Group members that attended to support her presentation and a special thanks to Hyeyoung for her consistent mentorship throughout the year.
Welcome New Undergraduate Researchers
January 2018
The Davis Research Group is pleased to welcome several new undergraduate researchers!
Tara Goldberg (Sophomore in Materials Science and Engineering) will be working with Naomi on fluorescent dye functionalization of surfaces.
Michael Klingseisen (Sophomore in Materials Science and Engineering) will be working with Amin on LabView coding.
Nolan Miller (Sophomore in Materials Science and Engineering) will be working with Mitchell and Hyeyoung on thin film buckling mechanics.
If you are interested in performing independent undergraduate research (MSE 499) in our group, please contact Dr. Davis.
Hyeyoung Successfully Defended her Prelim
October 2, 2017
Hyeyoung is now officially a Ph.D. candidate after presenting her preliminary research results and successfully defending her work to the committee.
Utilizing the wrinkle-to-delamination transition, Hyeyoung is measuring the adhesion of thin films on compliant substrates
Mitch Successfully Defended his Prelim
September 26, 2017
Mitch is now officially a Ph.D. candidate after presenting his preliminary research results and successfully defending his work to the committee.
New Group Members
September 2017
The Davis Research Group is pleased to welcome several new researchers and collaborators!
Naomi Deneke (Graduate student in Materials Science and Engineering) will be developing the normal adhesion testing apparatus to be used with FRET.
Amin Zareei (Ph.D. Student in Engineering Technology, Purdue Polytechnic Institute) will be working on LabView programming of custom mechanical testing equipment.
John Liu (Sophomore in Materials Science and Engineering) will be working with Amin on LabView coding.
Allison Chau (Junior in Materials Science and Engineering) will be working with Hyeyoung on characterizing the wrinkle to delamination transition of thin films.
Ricardo Rodriguez (Senior at Jefferson High School) will be working with Mitchell on thin film buckling mechanics.
Optical Microscopes Installed
June 30, 2017
The lab is coming together! Both Leica scopes arrived and were installed. Now to get down to the business of building up our characterization suite.
Next up: adhesion tester and installation of the micromechanical testing frame.
Work featured on cover:
Advanced Materials Interfaces 2017.
Interfacial Mechanophore in Silk-Epoxy Composites Article Published
May 22, 2017
Work conducted by researchers (including Dr. Davis) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently appeared in the journal Advanced Materials Interfaces. This research focused on the installation of a mechanically-activated fluorescent probe molecule at the interface of a fiber/polymer composite. Upon deformation of a single fiber tensile specimen, the fluorescent intensity of the mechanophore increased, indicating the transfer of stress across the composite interface. The technique can be generalized to a host of industrially-relevant materials systems, leading to self-reporting interfacial damage sensors in bulk fiber reinforced composite systems.
The full article can be found here.
A press release was also featured on the NIST website.
Wide-spread media coverage is summarized here.