Karen Winey

Professor

University of Pennsylvania

United States

Professional Summary

I joined the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania as an assistant professor in 1992. My current research interests are nanocomposites and ion-containing polymers. We design and fabricate new polymer nanocomposites containing carbon nanotubes and now metal nanowires with the aim of improving their mechanical, electrical and thermal properties. With ion-containing polymers our focus is uncovering the nanoscale structure using a variety of state-of-the-art instruments for both static and dynamic experiments and then correlating the structure with the ion conduction. These materials have potential applications in batteries and fuel cells. In addition to these research activities, I have expertise in block copolymers and morphological characterization of polymers. I have published over 95 journal articles that have been cited more than 3000 times. At Penn, I serve on our departmental hiring committee and the personnel committee at the school level. In addition to an active schedule of invited talks, I recently participated in the 2007 NSF Polymers Workshop and will chair the 2010 Polymer Physics Gordon Research Conference.

Skills

Specialization

Polymers, morphology, electron microscopy, X-ray scattering, Polymer Science and Engineering; Nanotechnology