Gregory Sotzing received his PhD in Organic
Chemistry in 1997 and is presently a tenured Associate Professor
at the
University of Connecticut in the Department of Chemistry
and
Polymer Program at the Institute of Materials Science.
Greg obtained his Bachelors of Science degree at Mary Washington
College, now named
Mary Washington University, in Fredericksburg
Virginia where he received one of the ACS POLYED awards for his research on novel fluorinated polyimides under the advisement
of Professor Roy F. Gratz. At the University of Florida,
Greg carried out his graduate work with
Professor John Reynolds
on the polymerization of oligomers containing 3,4-ethylenedioxy-thiophene
as a route to energy gap control of conjugated polymers
and use of conjugated polymers in electrochromic devices.
Greg moved on from U.F. for a joint post-doc with Professor
Robert Grubbs and Professor Nathan Lewis at the
California
Institute of Technology where he was involved in research
on the use of conductive polymers and composites as detectors
for an electronic nose with application toward explosives
and disease detection.
In 1999, Greg established his research program at the University
of Connecticut on optically transparent conductive polymers
involving the use of thieno[3,4-b]thiophene. Shortly after,
this work was funded by Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
and eventually commercialized primarily for use as a hole
injection layer for
light
emitting diodes. In 2003, he was awarded an NSF CAREER
for work involving low energy gap conjugated polymers and
a means to convert processable precursor polymers in the
solid state into conductive polymers. Activities outside
the University have included, with help from many dear friends,
the establishment of a Science and Technology high school,
the
Putnam Science Academy (PSA) and the first Science Olympiads
in the state of Connecticut which are now in their second
year running. For the past couple years, Greg has been trying
to convince the state legislature that downtown Hartford
is in dire need of a Science and Technology Charter school
that would give, considering the demographics, underprivileged
minorities a choice in education within the public school
system.
Research efforts continue to concentrate on how to make
conductive polymers more processable and to have their preparation
in as few steps as possible while maintaining control of
electrical and optical properties. From these efforts, Greg’s
research group has been able to electrospin polymer with
electrochromic function. Greg anticipates that this could
be used in the future for color changing fabric/wearable
fabric displays. Recently, this research was carried by
NewScientist, National Geographic, Discovery/TLC, NPR and
public television. Greg has had the opportunity to collaborate
around the globe and, recently, received a US-Europe collaborative
NSF grant with Toribio F. Otero working with rapid generation
of conductive polymer nanostructures and study of ion diffusion
within these structures during redox switching. With Toribio
being a world expert in artificial muscles, the hope is
to have conductive polymer fiber muscles that will both
flex and change color upon charge injection/removal. Greg
has had research contracts with Air Products and Chemicals,
Inc., Kraft Foods, Philip Morris USA, Triton Systems, Inc.
(Phase II SBIRs with ONR and Army), Sekisui Integrated Research,
National Science Foundation, ACS, and the National Institutes
of Health.
You can view his website at:
http://www.ims.uconn.edu/~sotzing_grp/
Greg and his wife, Fatma Selampinar, live in Storrs,
Connecticut with their son Michael and newly born daughter
Aisha (Feb. 21, 2007). Greg and Michael enjoy biking,
canoeing, and fishing; however, Michael is bored to tears
listening to his father talk about how canoeing in Connecticut
is nothing compared to Florida!
Content Updated: 2009
