2024 Turner J. Alfrey Visiting Professorship Lecture Series
Date: Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Time: 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Location: MSU St. Andrews lecture theater located at 1910 West St. Andrews, Midland, MI 48640
Guest Lecturer: Dr. Karen I. Winey

Karen I. Winey, Ph.D., of University of Pennsylvania is the 2025 Turner J. Alfrey Visiting Professor.

Karen I. Winey is the Howard Pender Professor of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania with a 50:50 appointment in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering.

Dr. Winey earned her B.S. from Cornell University in 1985 and her Ph.D. from University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1991.  After holding a brief postdoc at AT&T Bell Labs she joined the faculty at University of Pennsylvania Engineering.

Karen’s current research interests focus on (1) ion and proton conduction in polymer for a variety of electrochemical applications, including batteries, fuel cells, and electrolyzers, (2) polymer-to-polymer chemical upcycling of waste polyolefins to functionalized higher value polyolefins, and (3) nanoparticle dynamics in polymer melts and polymer electrolytes across time and length scales. The Winey research group approach typically includes model materials, careful processing, and thorough characterization of morphology and properties, and often directly couples to theory and simulations, with X-ray scattering, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and time of flight SIMS

Karen has also held various service and leadership positions, including department chair and chair of the Division of Polymer Physics within the APS. In addition to earlier recognitions, Karen was awarded the 2020 Braskem Award by AIChE, fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2022, and the 2023 ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry. Karen has delivered over 290 invited lectures, holds 21 patents, has published over 265 papers, and graduated 30 doctoral students.

Recent Publications:

Increasing Branching and Functionalization Decreases Crystallinity and Crystallization Rate in Linear EVOH.  Eli J. Fastow, Anne N. Radzanowski, E. Bryan Coughlin, Karen I. Winey*, ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 2025.

Impact of Hydroxyl Functionalization and Unsaturation on Linear Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol).  Anne N. Radzanowski, Eli J. Fastow, Chien-Hua Tu, James Votruba-Drzal, Vivek Nair, Karen I. Winey*, and E. Bryan Coughlin*, Macromolecules,  2025 58 (5), 2675-2682

Gold Nanoparticle Adsorption in Covalently Bonded Weak Polyelectrolyte Brusheshttps://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.macromol.4c02332.  Katie Sun, Ye Chan Kim, Russell J. Composto*, and Karen I. Winey*, Macromolecules, 2025 58 (5), 2412-2424

Hydroesterification of Polycyclooctene to Access Linear Ethylene Ethyl Acrylate Copolymers as a Step Toward Polyolefin Functionalization.  Ikechukwu Martin Ogbu, Eli J. Fastow, Karen I. Winey* and Marisa C. Kozlowski*, Macromolecules, 2024, 57, 10767−10777.

Hydrocarboxylation of C═C Bonds in Polycyclooctene: Progress Toward Valorization of Waste Polyolefins.  I. M. Ogbu, Eli J. Fastow, W. Zhu, L. A. Wells, R. J. Chethalen, Vivek Nair, Z. R. Hinton, A. H. Balzer, W. Hu, E. Bryan Coughlin, Karen I. Winey*, and Marisa C. Kozlowski*, Macromolecules, 2024.

Hoda Shokrollahzadeh Behbahani is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Material Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, under the mentorship of Prof. Karen I. Winey. Her research focuses on characterizing functional polymers derivable from the upcycling of polyolefins, with the goal of advancing sustainability and innovating material reuse. She earned her PhD in Chemical Engineering from Arizona State University, where she was advised by Prof. Matthew D. Green. Her doctoral work focused on the synthesis and characterization of polymeric materials for sustainable applications, including direct air capture and desalination technologies. She holds a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tehran and a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Petroleum University of Technology, both in Iran.

Agenda

• 9:00 a.m.: Introduction and Housekeeping Items
• 9:15 a.m.: Nanoparticle, Segmental & Chain Dynamics in Polymer Nanocomposites.  Karen I. Winey
• 10:00 am: Discussion –
• 10:15 a.m.: Ionomers and the Impact of Precise Microstructures on Mechanical Properties.  Karen I. Winey
• 11:00 am: Discussion
• Break 11:15 a.m. – 11:30 am
• 11:30 a.m.: Polymer to Polymer Chemical Transformations to Produce Specialty Plastics from Waste Polyolefins.  Dr. Hoda Shokrollahzadeh Behbahani
• 12:15 am: Discussion
• 12:30 p.m.: Break for Lunch – please note, lunch will be served in the rotunda – we hope you will stay as we will resume the afternoon talks at 2:00 pm.
• 2:00 p.m.: Ionomers and the Impact of Precise Microstructures on Transport Properties.  Karen I. Winey
• 2:45 p.m.: Discussion
• 3:00 p.m.: Proton Conductivity in Hydrated Fluorine Free Polymers.  Karen I. Winey 
• 3:45 p.m.: Discussion
• 4:00 p.m.: Closing Remarks – Robert Bubeck