Engineering the Summer is an annual series following @UChicago engineering students as they embark on summer internships and career experiences.
“NASA does more than just launch rockets,” said UChicago molecular engineering undergraduate Trevor Hagan.
Hagan should know. An undergrad research assistant in both the Rowan Group and Patel Group at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, the rising fourth-year is spending his summer interning at the NASA Glenn Research Center’s Materials Chemistry and Physics Branch Polymer Synthesis Lab in Cleveland, Ohio.
What first sparked your interest in your area of study?
Polymers can be used for almost anything so long as one can control the polymers’ chemistry and structure. This vast tunability of properties and functionality is what interests me the most. The suite of polymer science classes offered by the PME have only deepened this interest.
What research are you focused on at PME?
I work on dynamic covalent networks in the PME Patel and Rowan labs. Particularly, I am interested in making multifunctional, reprocessible, and recyclable materials.
What has been your experience so far this summer at your internship.
I have been immersed in aerogel chemistry, physics, and processing, all of which are new to me. I work in an organic chemistry lab and use multiple chemistries to produce polymer aerogels with predictable porosity and pore size for use as thermal impedance systems in hydrogen aircraft. Projects are cross-disciplinary, and NASA goes out their way to showcase research going on at Glenn. I entered this internship generally interested in polymers, and will leave having learned about aerogels, ceramics, composites, metals… the list goes on.
Why is an internship a valuable part of your experience at PME?
For a scientist, a breadth of experience in work and in research culture is essential. It exposes one to new ideas and new ways to think about and approach problems. Doing a research internship has allowed me to experience more kinds of materials, to meet other scientists, and to make connections between my classes, my research at the PME, and the various kinds of materials research at NASA.
What impact do you think your field will have on the world in the next 10 to 20 years?
I imagine that the future of polymer science and engineering is in sustainability. Creating degradable chemistries, inherently reprocessible chemistries, and methods for recycling plastics waste is and will continue to be a large thrust in research. I believe that in the next couple of decades we will see the beginning of widespread recycling or commercially available degradable polymer chemistries.
What role do you hope to play in that vision of the future?
I hope to continue my polymer science studies by pursuing a PhD. I would like to work on harnessing dynamic covalent bonds for recycling applications. Ultimately, I hope that my current and future research, and the skills I’ve learned at the UChicago PME and NASA, will contribute to a solution to the plastics pollution crisis.
How has the environment at PME influenced you?
I am thankful to have such a collaborative undergraduate community at the College and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. Working with peers has made me a better question-asker and a better teacher. I have also realized during my internship at NASA that the content and rigor of the molecular engineering courses have given me a strong and cross-disciplinary intellectual foundation. The undergraduate research that I have done in the PME for the past year and a half has prepared me for doing research more generally, and being social in my lab groups and with professors has allowed me to make friends and to learn outside the classroom. I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else.
What else do you think people should know?
NASA does more than just launch rockets. NASA does chemistry of all kinds, makes materials of all kinds, and does all kinds of modeling. They employ engineers, chemists, mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, biologists, and many more. This is to say, if you work in STEM, NASA likely does work in your field. The Artemis Program is sending people back to the moon in the next five years. Apply for an internship. Be a part of the team that makes it happen.