Dr. Megan Robertson, Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Cullen College of Engineering , Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

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• Areas of expertise

  • Sustainable and biodegradable polymers derived from renewable resources
  • Advanced materials for wind energy
  • Structure and dynamics of block copolymer micelles
  • pH-responsive, antifouling polymer brushes
  • Multicomponent and multiphase polymer blends

• Awards

  • Rubber Division Sparks-Thomas Award, American Chemical Society, 2018
  • University of Houston Undergraduate Research Mentor Award, 2017
  • Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering Division Young Investigator, American Chemical Society, 2017
  • Kavli Fellow, 2015
  • National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2014
  • Norman Hackerman Advanced Research Program Early Career Award, 2013
  • Texas Space Grant Consortium New Investigator Award, 2012

  For more awards, see CV below.

   

• Publications

  • Ganewatta, M. S., Ding, W. Y., Rahman, M. A., Yuan, L., Wang, Z. K., Hamidi, N., Tang, C. B, "Biobased Plastics and Elastomers from Renewable Rosin via "Living" Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization", Macromolecules, 49(19), 7155-7164 [DOI], 2016
  • Kristufek, S. L.; Yang, G.; Link, L. A.; Rohde, B. J.; Robertson, M. L.; Wooley, K. L., "Synthesis, Characterization and Cross-linking Strategy of a Quercetin-based Epoxidized Monomer as a Naturally-Derived Replacement for DGEBA in Epoxy Resins,"ChemSusChem, in press., 2016
  • Mauck, S. C.; Wang, S.; Ding, W.; Rohde, B. J.; Fortune, C. K.; Yang, G.; Ahn, S. K.; Robertson, M. L., "Biorenewable Tough Blends of Polylactide and Acrylated Epoxidized Soybean Oil Compatibilized by a Polylactide Star Polymer," Macromolecules, 49, 1605-1615, 2016
  • Pesek, S. L.; Lin, Y. H.; Mah, H. Z.; Kasper, W.; Chen, B.; Rohde, B. J.; Robertson, M. L.; Stein, G. E.; Verduzco, R.,  "Synthesis of Bottlebrush Copolymers based on Poly(dimethylsiloxane) for Surface Active Additives," Polymer, 98, 495-504, 2016
  • Wang, S.; Ding, W.; Yang, G.; Robertson, M. L., "Biorenewable Thermoplastic Elastomeric Triblock Copolymers containing Salicylic Acid-Derived End-Blocks and a Fatty Acid-Derived Midblock,"  Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, 217, 292-303, 2016
  • Wang, S.; Xie, R.; Vajjala Kesava, S.; Gomez, E. D.; Cochran, E. W.; Robertson, M. L., "Close-Packed Spherical Morphology in an ABA Triblock Copolymer Aligned with Large Amplitude Oscillatory Shear," Macromolecules, 49, 4875-4888, 2016
  • Xie, M.; Wang, S.; Singh, A.; Cooksey, T. J.; Marquez, M. D.; Bhattarai, A.; Kourentzi, K.; Robertson, M. L., "Fluorophore Exchange Kinetics in Block Copolymer Micelles with Varying Solvent- Fluorophore and Solvent-Polymer Interactions." Soft Matter, 12, 6196-6205, 2016
  • Yadav, V.; Harkin, A. V.; Robertson, M. L.; Conrad, J. C., “Hysteretic Memory in pH-Response of Water Contact Angle on Poly(acrylic acid) Brushes,” Soft Matter, 12, 3589-3599, 2016
  • Rohde, B. J.; Robertson, M. L.; Krishnamoorti, R., "Concurrent Curing Kinetics of an Anhydride-Cured Epoxy Resin and Polydicyclopentadiene," Polymer, 69, 204-214, 2015
  • Wang, S.; Robertson, M.L., "Thermodynamic Interactions between Polystyrene and Long-Chain Poly(n-alkyl acrylates) Derived from Plant Oils," ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 7, 12109-12118, 2015

  For more publications, see faculty website above, or visit google scholar page here.

• Patents

  • Polylactide Composites and Methods of Producing the Same. 10 May 2011. Patent Number: 7939603

• Grants and Funded Research

  • $300,000 NSF grant to explore physical properties of epoxy resins containing multifunctional biobased components. 2016.
  • $500,000 NSF grant to develop plant-based plastics and rubbers. 2013.

• Curriculum Vitae

  • Megan Robertson CV

• Contact information

  Engineering Building 1, Room S224B

  Phone: 713-743-2748   |   Fax: 713-743-4323

  mlrobertson@uh.edu