John Dorgan
Affiliate Faculty, Chemical and Biological Engineering
Ecological concerns are a predominant theme for the 21st century; humanity must develop sustainable systems for materials and fuels. Biologically derived and inspired materials offer hope for achieving this important goal. Also, nanotechnology is rapidly expanding and its convergence with both biology and ecology is now being recognized. Ecobionanocomposites are a new class of green materials that exploit this triple convergence of technologies and are an active area of investigation within my group. In this technical area, we work to maximize the renewable content of these next-generation plastics materials under the guidelines of the principles of green chemistry.
The long-term transition away from fossil fuels towards a sustainable system of providing fuels and materials is the greatest technical challenge facing humanity. Our efforts are aimed at improving the efficiency of present systems while working to develop new technologies that are inherently more environmentally benign and sustainable. A clear example is our work to improve the materials used to make wind turbines as part of IACMI (iacmi.org). Clearly, this is an important and exciting area in which to work and there is much to be done!
Education
- BS – University of Massachusetts
- PhD – University of California, Berkeley
- Post-Doctoral Study – Max Planck Institut für Polymerforschung
Selected Publications
- Molecular Scale Simulation of Homopolymer Wall Slip, John R. Dorgan, Nicholas A. Rorrer, Physical Review Letters, 110, 176001 (2013). (DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.176001)
- Parameter Free Prediction of Rheological Properties of Homopolymer Melts by Dynamic Monte Carlo Simulation, John R. Dorgan, Nicholas A. Rorrer, C. Mark Maupin, Macromolecules, 45(12) 8833-8840 (2012). (DOI: 10.1021/ma301307d)
- Supra-Molecular EcoBioNanocomposites Based on Polylactide and Cellulosic Nanowhiskers: Synthesis and Properties, Birgit Braun, John R. Dorgan, Laura O. Hollingsworth, Biomacromolecules, 13(7), 2013-2019 (2012).
- Thermal and mechanical properties of cassava and pineapple flours-filled PLA bio-composites, Ki-Wook Kim, Byoung-Ho Lee, Hyun-Joong Kim, Klanarong Sriroth, John R. Dorgan, Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, 108 (3) 1131-1139 (2012).
- Next-generation biopolymers: Advanced functionality and improved sustainability, Peter Halley, John R. Dorgan (editors) MRS Bulletin, 36, September, 687-691 (2011).
- Solution and Melt Viscoelastic Properties of Controlled Microstructure Poly(lactide) Norhayani Othman, Alberto Acosta-Ramirez, Parisa Mehrkhodavandi, John R. Dorgan, Savvas G. Hatzikiriakos, Journal of Rheology 55(5), 987-1005 (2011).
Honors and Awards
- Collaborative Appointment, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- Invited Keynote speaker, Spring 2015 meeting of the American Physical Society
- Invited speaker, Spring 2015 meeting of the American Chemical Society
- Keynote Speaker, First International Conference on Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun China – August 2012
- Plenary Speaker, Fourth Annual Conference on Biomaterials and Biocomposites, Seoul, Korea – May 2011
- Keynote Speaker, American Physical Society Annual Meeting, Dallas, TX – March 2011
- Faculty Elected Trustee, Colorado School of Mines, 2008-2012
- Faculty in Residence, Naval Research Laboratory, 2006
- President, BioEnvironmental Polymer Society, 2005
- Visiting Scholar, FORTH Institute, Heraklion, Greece 2000
- Dow Outstanding New Faculty Award 1996
- 1995 NSF CAREER Award
- Hertz Fellow at UC Berkeley 1986-1991
- Chancellors Fellow at University of Massachusetts 1982-1986
Research Group
- Dr. Bo Liu: PhD Washington State U.
- Nicholas Rorrer: Virginia Tech
- Dylan Cousins: UC Boulder
- Christopher Moran: Clarkson U.