The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently awarded Assistant Professor Bryan Boudouris a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program Award for his work with electronically-active radical polymers.

The work focuses on the development of new, lightweight, flexible and stretchable electronic materials with applications in biomedical, homeland security, drug delivery and personal electronics scenarios. It further aims to find low-cost production techniques to provide these materials to private and military markets in a rapid manner.

In addition, the grant provides funding to incorporate a high school research program and a massive open online course (MOOC) about the polymer science behind these materials with the goal of attracting a larger number of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and increasing the diversity of future classes of scientists and engineers.

The NSF CAREER Award is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations

This project begins March 1, 2016 and will end February 28, 2021. The total grant award is $504K.