MatSE grad named to ITF "50 for the Future"

3/24/2015

Hanze Ying, a Ph.D. student in the Cheng group, was recently honored as a 2015 Illinois Technology Foundation "Fifty for the Future" Awardee.

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Hanze Ying, a Ph.D. student in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois, was recently honored as a 2015 Illinois Technology Foundation “Fifty for the Future” Awardee.

Ying, a member of the Jianjun Cheng research group, has developed a new type of polymers named ‘dynamic polyurea’ as self-healing and hydrolysable materials. While other self-healing material systems have focused on solid, strong materials, Ying and his fellow researchers are using softer elastic materials made of polyurea, one of the most widely used classes of polymers in consumer goods such as paints, coatings, elastics and plastics. The hydrolysable polymers could be useful for drug delivery, tissue engineering, controlled release, and other applications in which polymer breakdown in aqueous solution is desirable.

Hanze Ying received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Peking University in 2011. He has 4 publications and 5 patents. In addition to this latest honor, he has received a 3M Graduate Fellowship and conference travel grant at Illinois. His other research interests include polymer synthesis, organic electronics and biomaterials.

The Illinois Technology Foundation (ITF) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to fueling the technology workforce in Illinois. "Fifty for the Future" mobilizes academia and industry to support students across Illinois universities who aspire to greatness in the field of technology.

Watch a video of Hanze Ying demonstrating self-healing polymers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i3yoK0C9Ag


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This story was published March 24, 2015.