Prof. Kenneth B. Wagener

"Members of the Wagener research group focus on the chemistry associated with polymer science. We deal largely with mechanism as applied to the synthesis of new polymer structures. My contributions as a research advisor are to suggest opportunities for original research, and to maintain proper connections with external organizations that are interested in our work. Ultimately, I want to see all students in this group get what they want out of the degree, then enthusiastically proceed on to the next step in their career."

Email: wagener@chem.ufl.edu

Prof. Fabio Zuluaga

Dr. Fabio returns as a visiting summer scientist after graduating in 1993 with his PhD. He is a professor in the Chemistry Department of the Universidad del Valle in Colombia and returns to Florida in the summer to work on increasing branch distance in precision alkyl branched model polyethylenes.

Email: fazulu@univalle.edu.co.

Giovanni Rojas

Giovanni is a fifth year graduate student from Colombia, where he graduated in chemistry at Universidad del Valle (1999) and he worked in BAYER (1999-2000) and UNILEVER (2000-2001). He is finishing his Masters in Organic Chemistry (Polymers) at Universidad del Valle, while pursuing a PhD in the Wagener Research Group. Giovanni is continuing with the research performed by John Sworen in the field of modeling polyethylene via ADMET polymerization.

Email: grojas@chem.ufl.edu.

James Leonard

James is currently a fifth year student from the University of Michigan (2003). He received B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Biochemistry along with a B.A. in Spanish. His undergraduate research was supervised by Prof. Paul Rasmussen and was performed on vinazene polymer synthesis and characterization. James's research entails the synthesis and charaterization of amino acid containing olefins targeted for biological activity.

Email: jamesleo@ufl.edu.

Erik Berda

Erik is a fourth year graduate student qualifying in the Organic Division performing his research on amphiphilic polymers produced through ADMET. He recieved his B.S. from Penn State University in 2003 where he performed research on polyphosphazenes under Dr. Harry Allcock.

Email: eberda@chem.ufl.edu.

Kate Opper

Kate is currently a third year graduate student. She comes from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute after graduating in May 2005 with a B.S. in Chemistry and Biology. During her undergraduate time, she worked on polybenzimidazole and fuel cell research under Dr. Brian Benicewicz. Kate's current PhD research is in the area of organic synthesis of ADMET ionomers.

Email: kopper@chem.ufl.edu.

Sam Popwell

Sam is a second year graduate student and hails from the University of Southern Mississippi where he did his undergraduate studies on polymer research. Sam is continuing his interest bio-olefins through research related to polyolefin bioactivity.

Email: spopwell@ufl.edu.

Yuying is now a second year graduate student coming to the University of Florida from Xi'an, China. She attended the University of Petroleum in Bejing and then came to the U.S. to attend Clemson University and study Polymer Physics. Yuying has both technical and theoretical experience in Neutron and X-ray scattering. Yuying is working on her doctoral degree in the Analytical Division and will work on the synthesis and analysis of deuterated polyethylene samples.

Email: yuyingwei@chem.ufl.edu.

Paula Andrea Delgado

Paula is also a second year graduate student. She graduated from the Universidad de Valle, Colombia in November 2005. She's working this summer on the carbosilane-carbosiloxane project with Professor Fabio Zuluaga.

Email: pauladeg@gmail.com.

Bora, a native of Turkey, is a first year graduate student qualifying in the organic division. He recieved his B.S. degree in 2005 from the Bilkent University. In 2007 he earned his M.S. degree from Koc University in the area of polyurethane synthesis and characterization. He joins the Wagener group in fall of 2007 with interest in mechanism and structure/property relationships.

Email: binci@chem.ufl.edu

Brian Aitken

Brian is from Orlando, FL and joins the group after receiving his degree from the University of Central Florida.

Email: baitken@chem.ufl.edu