1. Student-Faculty Research Partnership for Undergraduates

Our laboratory provides vibrant polymer research experiences for undergraduates. If you are interested in carrying out independent research on Bioinspired Macromolecular Materials, please contact with Prof. Lin at yao.lin@uconn.edu. Financial supports may be available during the summer.

2. Public Lectures Series

Are you interested in polymeric nanomaterials? Do you have concerns over nanomaterials? By partnering with John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, We have organized three STEM workshop of "Chemical Approaches to Nanomaterials" on March 16, 2014, on March 12, 2016 and on March 17, 2019. A total of 272 middle/high school students and their parents from 10 different home states attended the one-day workshop to learn about fundamental concepts in nanochemistry and nanomaterials. Working with 6 faculty and more than 20 graduate students at each workshop, the students and their parents learned about fundamental concepts in nanochemistry and nanomaterilas through a combination of lively, short talks and participation in hands-on activities in state-of-the-art facility. We also worked with UConn ECE (early college experience) office to organized the chemistry workshop for 84 students from four Connecticut high schools (Berlin, O. H. Platt, Madison and Watertown) on May 17, 2019, and a virtual workshop of "Chemistry Virtual Lab" for 28 students at Berlin High School on May 12, 2021. These workshops were great successes and we plan to do it again in the future. Please let us know the specific topics you are interested. Send your suggestions to Prof. Lin at yao.lin@uconn.edu.

3. Providing Material Research Experience to High School Students and Teachers

We see both a need and an opportunity to work with the high school teachers to incorporate new experiments and demonstrations into their lab classes. With the support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), we are able to host at least two teachers each year in our new laboratory at Science One Research Center for a one-week research experience. The main objective is to work collaboratively to identify a few nanomaterial-related experiments that can be conducted in high school labs. Emphasis will be given to the emerging materials with “cool” functions and readily observable properties, that are also inexpensive to make by simple protocols. Examples may include the fabrication of nanostructured protein films from amyloid fibrils, LCE actuators and nanoparticle synthesis/assemblies. Groups of high school students that are selected by the teachers can visit our laboratory and other facilities at UConn during the summer. If you are a high school teacher who are interested, please contact with Prof. Lin at yao.lin@uconn.edu.

4. UConn SECRET (School of Exploratory Chemistry Research Experience & Training) for High School Students

With the other faculty in Chemistry Department, we had involved in the SECRET program for many years. It was great experiences for everyone. If you are a high school student who wants to spend a week in summer doing some really cool experiments in chemistry and materials, click here or contact with Prof. Jose Gascon in Chemistry Department to apply. Occasionally, I offer Student-Faculty Research Partnership for extremely talented high school students so that they can carry out 6-8 week of summer research in our lab, and the research mentorship may continue after the summer. If you have completed some college-level general chemistry and organic chemistry courses, contact with Prof. Lin at yao.lin@uconn.edu for more details.