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Jacob “Jake” Brutman has been awarded the first Richard D. Amelar and Arthur S. Lodge Fellowship for Outstanding Collaborative Research in Materials. This award is given to a student whose research interests encompass the overlapping scope of chemistry and chemical engineering and materials science. Award winners must have demonstrated excellence in their area of interest and a willingness to collaborate with other students and/or research groups.
Jake will begin his fourth year of graduate studies as a member of the Center for Sustainable Polymers in September 2015. His adviser is Professor Marc Hillmyer. His research interests include synthesis of sustainable cross-linked materials with a focus on their reprocessibility. Polyesters are a main focus of his research as they are easily accessed through biosourced feedstocks and are generally considered biocompatible. While his initial studies focused primarily on cross-linked polylactides,1 Jake’s research now focuses on producing toughened polyester elastomers displaying material properties competitive with conventional rubbers.
Jake has been involved in a variety of collaborative efforts, including production of polystyrene scintillators for dark matter detection with Professor Prisca Cushman in the Physics Department, and the production and mechanical characterization of healable cross-linked polyhydroxyurethanes with David Fortman and Professor Will Dichtel of Cornell University. His interest in collaborative efforts also recently led to a joint project involving renewable cross-linkers with Professor Geoff Coates of Cornell University.
He was born on Nov. 1, 1989, in Red Bank, NJ. Jake graduated from the University of Vermont in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. During his undergraduate career, Jake came to the University of Minnesota to participate in the National Science Foundation Lando/Research Experience for Undergraduates program, and worked on healable cross-linked materials under the supervision of Professor Hillmyer. Jake chose to return to Minnesota in 2012 and joined the Hillmyer group for his doctorate studies. His hobbies include skiing, lacrosse and building desktop computers.
The Richard D. Amelar and Arthur S. Lodge Fellowship for Outstanding Collaborative Research in Materials was created by Susanna and Timothy Lodge in honor of their fathers who were accomplished scientists. It includes a $3,500 award.
1 Brutman, J. P.; Delgado, P. A.; Hillmyer, M. A., Polylactide Vitrimers. ACS Macro Lett. 2014, 3, 607-610.