Chemistry and Materials Science Seminar: Plastics in the Environment

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scms seminar Melissa Maurer-Jones

Chemistry and Materials Science Seminar
Plastics in the Environment: The impact of weathering on the fate and transformations of aquatic plastic debris

Dr. Melissa Maurer-Jones
Assistant Professor
University of Minnesota, Duluth

Register Here for Zoom Link
This seminar may be attended in person in 2305 Gosnell Hall or online via Zoom.

Dr. Maurer-Jones will present on the work of quantifying photochemical and thermal degradation mechanisms of plastics commonly found in aquatic plastic debris, in order to understand fate of plastics so as to design a predictive model of plastic behavior in the environment, which has implications for accurately assessing the burden of plastics on the environment but also allows for new polymer design.

Abstract:
Plastics are a ubiquitous part of everyday life and a central challenge in the environment. Environmental stresses such as sunlight, temperature fluctuations, wet/dry cycling or microbial forces affect the longevity or degradation of plastics. Assessing the fate of plastics under these stresses allows us to accurately predict the service lifetime of plastics used in infrastructure (e.g., power cabling/solar panels) or evaluate the extent of the plastic pollution problem. This talk details the work of quantifying photochemical and thermal degradation mechanisms of plastics commonly found in aquatic plastic debris: polyethylene, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate. In this talk, I will focus on the development of a methodological framework for characterization of the rates and yields of the chemical transformations within polymers, moving beyond traditional materials characterization techniques. Additionally, we quantified the formation of microplastics upon photochemical weathering, applying our understanding of the chemical phototransformations. Beyond the transformations of the plastics, we also began to unravel the role plastics and plastic weathering play on the ecosystem health by monitoring the sorption of model micropollutants to weathered plastics. Ultimately, this work strives to quantify the transformations and fate of plastics so as to design a predictive model of plastic behavior in the environment, which has implications for accurately assessing the burden of plastics on the environment but also allows for new polymer design.

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Maurer-Jones has been an Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota, Duluth since 2016. She received Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities under the direction of Christy Haynes and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics at ETH Zurich. She is the recipient of the SCSE Young Teacher Award – Swenson College of Science and Engineering, UMD in 2020.

Intended Audience:
Undergraduates, graduates, experts. Those with interest in the topic.

To request an interpreter, please visit myaccess.rit.edu


Contact
Michael Cross
Event Snapshot
When and Where
October 19, 2021
12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
Room/Location: See Zoom Registration Link
Who

Open to the Public

Interpreter Requested?

No

Topics
research