Faculty First Year Seminars 191POLY - The Polymer Age

The rise of human civilization is marked by the development of ever more advanced materials, i. e. Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age?. How will future historians refer to our time? Perhaps it is the Age of Polymers? Polymers encompass a broad spectrum of our world from the readily available commercially plastics for packaging, to the cutting edge, such as the wings of advanced aircraft, or flexible electronic devices (example foldable phones). The DNA that encodes the blueprints for life, and the proteins that build our bodies, are also polymers. Professors Hsu and Gido in the Polymer Science and Engineering Department will introduce first year students to polymer enabled advances and opportunities in biomedical engineering, electronics, energy, packaging, clothing, food production, quality and quantity of clean water and other important applications. We will also address challenges of one-time-use plastics and plans for resolving this environmental problem.

First year (Fr or Soph)