Degree Information:

B.S.E. Chemical Engineering, Princeton University, 1999

Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, UC Santa Barbara, 2004

 

 

Email: ryan.hayward@colorado.edu

Hayward Research Group

Bio or Research Interests:

We work on a variety of topics inspired by the concept of materials that can change their properties on demand, clean or repair themselves, and actively interact with their surroundings. We are particularly interested in the mechanics of constrained and patterned soft polymeric materials that undergo shape instabilities in response to specific stimuli. For example, we have developed strategies by which temperature responsive gel sheets are micro-patterned to reversibly swell from flat sheets into precisely defined buckled shapes, such as the 5-node Enneper's surface and Randlett's bird shown at right. Other projects concern creasing, wrinkling, and folding instabilities of soft polymer multilayers, mechanics of supramolecular gels, and characterization of nanoscale structural heterogeneities in polymer networks.

• Research Interests

  Assembly of polymer and particle-based nanostructures; mechanics and instabilities of soft active materials.

  Active polymer materials and interfaces 

  Our group works on a variety of projects related to soft and stimulus-responsive polymer films that can be dynamically reconfigured to change their structures and properties. We take advantage of mechanical instabilities and patterned growth as mechanisms to drive structural transformations.

  Self assembly of polymers and particles

  We study questions related to assembly of polymers and particles in a variety of contexts including emulsion processing, solution-state crystallization-driven assembly, and melt-state organization in nanocomposites. Our primary interests lie in developing approaches to tailor nanoscale structure for materials with applications ranging from encapsulation and delivery to renewable energy.