Polymer Interfacial Mechanics (PIM) Group

 

Principal Investigator

Chelsea Davis, Ph.D.

 

Dr. Chelsea Davis’s research focuses on the surface and interfacial mechanics of soft matter. Utilizing mechanoresponsive fluorescent sensors coupled with established mechanical properties characterization methods, her work seeks to further our understanding of contact formation and separation mechanisms between dissimilar materials. Potential applications of her research are self-reporting damage sensors for fiber reinforced composite systems and adhesion control/enhancement of thin film polymer coatings on metal and ceramic parts for corrosion resistance.

Dr. Davis received a B.S. in Textile Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2005. She then obtained her M.S. and Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2007 and 2012, respectively, supervised by Dr. Alfred Crosby. From 2012-2013, Dr. Davis was a Michelin Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the ESPCI ParisTech working with Dr. Costantino Creton and Dr. Anke Lindner. She went on to complete a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Polymers and Complex Fluids Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with Dr. Jeffrey Gilman from 2013-2015. Dr. Davis then transitioned to the role of Materials Research Engineer within the Materials Science and Engineering Division at NIST. In 2017, she established the Polymer Interfacial Mechanics Lab in the School of Materials Engineering at Purdue University. Dr. Davis joined the University of Delaware in 2023 as an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

E-mail: ChelseaD @ udel.edu
Office: 222 Spencer Lab

School of Mechanical Engineering
Spencer Laboratory, 130 Academy St, Newark, DE 19716

 
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Postdocs & Graduate Students

Michael Wilson

Michael received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville in 2014. He then received a Ph.D. in Polymer Science from the University of Akron in 2020, under Dr. Ali Dhinojwala. He then went on to a National Research Council Research Associateship at the Naval Research Laboratory working in the lab of Dr. Christopher So. He is currently a postdoc at Purdue University in the Davis Research Group.

Michael’s research focuses on the intersection of biology and materials science. His graduate work focused on how the chemistry of an adhesive influences adhesive strength, inspired by natural underwater adhesives. Additionally, he studied the microscopic morphology of lizard adhesive toepads. During his first postdoc, he developed barnacle-inspired underwater adhesives using the self-assembly of off-the-shelf proteins. His current work seeks to understand the relationship between cell wall mechanical properties and morphogenesis in plants. He uses a combination of mechanical testing and finite element modeling to characterize the behavior of individual cells and organ-scale behavior.

Curriculum Vitae

Nazmul Haque

Nazmul received his B.S. from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Oklahoma State University in 2020. During his master’s he worked on simplifying the additive manufacturing process for lightweight composites. He also conducted his undergrad research on developing biocomposites utilizing rice husk as reinforcing material.  

Nazmul joined the Davis Research Group in Fall 2021 and is pursuing his doctorate in the School of Materials Engineering at Purdue University. His research focuses on understanding the fundamental interfacial mechanics of polymer composites using mechanoresponsive molecules.

Tyler Roberts

Tyler received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University in 2021. He is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in chemical engineering. He is co-advised by Dr. Stephen Beaudoin in CHE and Dr. Chelsea Davis in MSE. Tyler’s current research centers on characterizing the fracture toughness of high solids loaded, additively manufactured polymers. 

Previous to starting his graduate studies, Tyler completed two internships with Crane Composites, a summer term of paid research under Dr. Stephen Beaudoin, and one internship with GTI. He completed multiple semesters of undergraduate research which culminated into a solo conference presentation titled “Optimization of the Enhanced Centrifuge Method to Quantify the Effect of Particle and Surface Properties Towards van der Waals Particle Adhesion.” 

Curriculum Vitae

Geeta Pokhrel

Geeta Pokhrel received her undergraduate degree from the Department of Forestry, Nepal in 2019 and a master’s degree in Bioproducts Engineering from the University of Maine in 2021. During her undergraduate degree, she did an intern and worked as a product engineer in a wood-based industry in Nepal. She worked at Advanced Structures and Composites Center in Maine as a Graduate Research Assistant on manufacturing thermoplastic composites and testing, performing the cost analysis, and life-cycle assessment (LCA). 

Geeta joined the Davis Research Group in January 2022 and is co-advised by Prof. Chelsea Davis and Prof. John Howarter. She is pursuing a doctorate degree in the School of Materials Engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette. Her research is funded by the Cooling Technologies Research Center (CTRC) that focuses on designing mechanically robust thermal interface materials (TIMs). 

Anna Freund

Anna received her B.A. in Chemistry from Smith College in 2020 and M. S. in Chemistry from the University of Washington in 2022. During her M.S. studies, she worked towards developing novel polymers that utilize stress-dissipating Cope rearrangements.

Anna joined the Davis Research Group in November 2023. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering at the University of Delaware. Her research focuses on using mechanoresponsive molecules to understand fundamental interfacial mechanics of polymer composites. While at the University of Delaware, she is being sponsored by the NSF through the MIDAS-NRT program.

Curriculum Vitae

Sourav Paul

Sourav received his B.S. in 2017 and M.S. in 2022 in Mechanical Engineering from Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), Bangladesh. During his M.S. studies, he worked on developing high-performance anode materials for Li-ion batteries. From 2018 to 2023, he served as a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at CUET.

In spring 2024, Sourav joined the Davis Research Group and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Delaware. His research is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) which focuses on the contact adhesion of stretched compliant polymer network systems.

Curriculum Vitae

Angie Rojas Cardenas

Angie received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL) in 2022. As an undergraduate, she won the Undergraduate Research Experience Purdue-Colombia Scholarship (UREP-C) in the spring of 2021 to work with the PIM Group. She conducted research focusing on the elastic modulus assessment of particle-reinforced elastomers and the visualization of stresses in confined elastomers using mechanophores. 

She earned her M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Purdue University in May 2024, where she worked on enhancing thermal conductivity in bulk polymer-matrix composites. She was co-advised by Prof. Amy Marconnet and Prof. Chelsea Davis. 

Angie is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the Materials Engineering department at the University of Delaware. Her research focuses on fracture mechanics in additive manufacturing materials. 

Curriculum Vitae

Maneesha Sahni

Maneesha received her B.S. in Engineering (Concentration: Biomedical Engineering) from Drexel University in 2017. Prior to starting her graduate studies, Maneesha worked with wet analytical chemistry techniques in the pharmaceutical industry.

 She has completed her M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Delaware in January 2025 where she worked towards developing macrophage membrane-wrapped gold nanoshells for the detection and treatment of endometriosis.

 Maneesha joined the Davis Research Group in January 2025 and is pursuing her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware. Her research focuses on characterizing the mechanics, including fracture toughness, of high solids loaded polymer composites. While at the University of Delaware, she is being sponsored by the NSF as an NRT Fellow in the Center for Composite Materials.

Curriculum Vitae

Undergraduate Students

Shane West

Class of 2026 ME (2024 – Present)

Drew Warrington

 Class of 2027 ME (2025 – Present)

Curriculum Vitae

 

DRG Alumni

Graduate Alumni

Mitchell Rencheck

Completed Ph.D. in MSE Purdue Fall 2020, “Mechanically Characterizing Polymeric Materials Using Buckling Mechanics and Mechnophores,” Currently Postdoc at Oakridge National Lab

Hyungyung Jo

Completed Ph.D. in MSE Purdue Fall 2021, “Experimental Approach for Analyzing Surface and Interfacial Properties of Polymers,” Currently at Samsung

Hyeyoung Son

Completed Ph.D. in MSE Purdue Fall 2021, “Development of Mechanical and Interfacial Characterization Methods for Polymer Thin Films,” Currently at Intel

Naomi Deneke

Completed Ph.D. in MSE Purdue Summer 2022, “Adhesive Properties of Topographically Patterned and Mechanically Deformed Surfaces,” Currently Postdoc at Georgia Tech

Completed Ph.D. in MSE Purdue Spring 2023, “Mechanics of Polymer Interfaces: Pressure Sensitive Adhesives Tapes and Polymer Matrix Composites,” Currently at LyondellBasell

Jared Gohl

Completed M.S. in MSE Purdue Summer 2024, “Enhancing Thermal Conductivity in Bulk Polymer-Matrix Composites“, Currently Ph.D. Student at University of Delaware

Angie Rojas Cardenas

Undergraduate Alumni

  1. Allison Chau – Class of 2019 MSE (2017-2019) – Purdue University

  2. John Liu – Class of 2021 MSE (2017) – Purdue University

  3. Michael Klingseisen – Class of 2020 MSE (2018-2020) – Purdue University

  4. Nolan Miller – Class of 2020 MSE (2018- 2020) – Purdue University

  5.  Tara Goldberg – Class of 2020 MSE (2018) – Purdue University

  6. Daniel Puckett – Class of 2021 MSE (2018) – Purdue University

  7. Abigail Mitchell – Class of 2020 MSE (2018-2019) – Purdue University

  8. Sabrina King – Class of 2020 MSE (2018-2019) – Purdue University

  9. Riley Plotner – Class of 2021 MSE (2019- 2020) – Purdue University

  10. Andrew Weiss – Class of 2021 MSE (2019) – Purdue University

  11. Valeria Tellez – Class of 2020 (2019) – Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, ChE from Texas A&M Kingsville 

  12. Elina Ghimire – Class of 2020 (2019) – Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, PSE from University of Southern Mississippi 

  13. Margaret Serewicz – Class of 2020 MSE (2019) – Purdue University

  14. Arianna Harmon – Class of 2021 MSE (2019- 2020) – Purdue University

  15. Trevor Thiele-Sardina – Class of 2022 MSE (2019- 2020) – Purdue University

  16. Kiana McDonald – Class of 2022 MSE (2019) – Purdue University

  17. Leah Alexander – Class of 2022 MSE (2020) – Purdue University

  18. Kate Jarvis – Class of 2022 MSE (2020- 2021) – Purdue University 

  19. Nikole McPheron – Class of 2021 MSE (2020- 2021) – Purdue University 

  20. Dawson Smith – Class of 2022 MSE (2021- 2021) – Purdue University 

  21. Matthew Giroux – Class of 2022 MSE (2021) – Purdue University 

  22. Devin Madigan – Class of 2022 MSE (2021) – Purdue University 

  23.  Hugh Grennan – Class of 2022 MSE (2020- 2021) – Purdue University 

  24. Tristan Wiley – Class of 2023 MSE (2021- 2023) – Purdue University 

  25. Xinzhu Huang – Class of 2022 MSE (2021- 2022) – Purdue University 

  26. Rebecca Jennings – Class of 2024 MSE (2022- 2023) – Purdue University 

  27. Fernando Dapino – Class of 2023 ME (2022) – Purdue University 

  28. Janine Kaede Tze-Rei Lee – Class of 2024 MSE (2022- 2023) – Purdue University 

  29. Nicholas Christ – Class of 2024 MSE (2022- 2023) – Purdue University 

  30. Isabella Gueth – Class of 2024 MSE (2023) – Purdue University 

  31. Reece Tippery – Class of 2025 MSE (2023) – Purdue University 

  32. Sarah Gover – Class of 2025 ME (2023) – University of Southern California

  33. Justyn Friedler – Class of 2025 Physics (2024) – Williams College

Visiting Scientists

Amin Zareei – Purdue Polytechnic Institute, (2017-2018) 

Juan Camilo Cardenas Valasco – National University of Colombia, (2018) – URep-C Purdue Exchange Program 

Angie Daniela Rojas Cardenas – National University of Colombia, (2021) – URep-C Purdue Exchange Program 

Juan Pablo Jaimes Bermonth – National University of Colombia, (2023) – URep-C Purdue Exchange Program