Faculty Directory
Kenneth Shull

Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

Contact

2220 Campus Drive
Cook Hall 2036; Office - Cook 2083
Evanston, IL 60208

Email Kenneth Shull

Website

Shull Research Group

Departments

Materials Science and Engineering

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Education

Ph.D. Materials Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

M.S. Electronic Materials, MIT, Cambridge, MA

B.S. Materials Science, MIT, Cambridge, MA


Research Interests

Our focus is on the properties of polymer surfaces and interfaces, with an emphasis on the adhesion of "soft materials." Examples range from traditional pressure-sensitive adhesives (sticky tape) to highly specialized polymeric gels commonly used in biomedical applications.

There is little understanding of the relationship in these systems between polymer adhesion and the structure of the interface on molecular or submolecular scale. We seek to make this connection through studies of well-characterized model systems synthesized in our own lab and through carefully designed fracture mechanics experiments.

Related problems of interest to us include polymer/inorganic composites and the origins of adhesion and mechanical response in biological systems.


Significant Recognition

  • Fellow, American Physical Society, 2002
  • NSF Young Investigator Award, 1994–99
  • Department Teacher of the Year, 1995
  • McCormick Adviser of the Year, 1998

Selected Publications

  • Kazi Sadman, Clinton G. Wiener, R. A. Weiss, Christopher C. White, Kenneth R. Shull, Bryan D. Vogt, “Quantitative Rheometry of Thin Soft Materials Using the Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation”, Analytical Chemistry, (2018)
  • Lindsay H. Oakley, Francesca Casadio, Kenneth R Shull, Linda J Broadbelt, “Examination of Mechanisms for Formation of Volatile Aldehydes from Oxidation of Oil-Based Systems”, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, (2018)
  • Jake Song, David D. Hsu, Kenneth R Shull, Frederick R. Phelan, Jack F. Douglas, Wenjie Xia, Sinan Keten, “Energy Renormalization Method for the Coarse-Graining of Polymer Viscoelasticity”, Macromolecules, (2018)
  • C. Joshua Yeh, Michael Hu, Kenneth R Shull, “Oxygen Inhibition of Radical Polymerizations Investigated with the Rheometric Quartz Crystal Microbalance”, Macromolecules, (2018)
  • Lele Mathis, Yaoyao Chen, Kenneth R Shull, “Tuning the Viscoelasticity of Hydrogen-Bonded Polymeric Materials through Solvent Composition”, Macromolecules, (2018)
  • Kazi Sadman, Qifeng Wang, Yaoyao Chen, Bavand Keshavarz, Zhang Jiang, Kenneth R Shull, “Influence of Hydrophobicity on Polyelectrolyte Complexation”, Macromolecules, (2017)
  • Mary Lyvers, Divya Bijukumar, Annabelle Moore, Pamela Saborio, Dmitry Royhman, Markus Wimmer, Kenneth R Shull, Mathew T. Mathew, “Electrochemically induced tribolayer with molybdenum for hip implants”, Thin Solid Films, (2017)
  • Marceau Hnot, Alexis Chennevire, Eric Drockenmuller, Kenneth Shull, Liliane Lger, Frdric Restagno, “Influence of grafting on the glass transition temperature of PS thin films”, European Physical Journal E, (2017)