The Gutekunst Lab is interested in pushing the limits of complexity in macromolecular systems using innovative concepts from synthetic organic chemistry. 

Specific projects in the lab will explore the design of novel monomers for the construction of functional polyamides, the development of small molecule reagents for the dynamic modulation of branched polymer architectures, and the investigation of new concepts for creating covalent bonds in challenging contexts. Each of these research projects will enable the generation of new functional materials with structures or assemblies that were previously inaccessible for study. 

Prospective students will obtain extensive training in synthetic organic chemistry, as well as polymer synthesis and characterization.

Eric M. Vogel is currently Hightower Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, courtesy Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Executive Director of the Institute for Matter and Systems at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT). Prior to joining GT in 2011, he was Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). Prior to joining UTD in August of 2006, he was leader of the Semiconductor and Novel Devices Group and founded the Nanofab at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He received his Ph.D. in 1998 in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University and his B.S. in 1994 in electrical engineering from Penn State University. His research is related to the synthesis, structure, properties and applications of a wide variety of electronic and nanoscale materials and devices (vogellab.gatech.edu). He has published over 240 journal publications and proceedings, written six book chapters, and given over 100 invited talks and tutorials.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Professor of the Practice                       
School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
College of Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Associate Director, Pulp, Paper, Packaging and Tissue, Renewable Bioproducts Institute, an Interdisciplinary Research Institute at GT

Director, GT Pulp and Paper Engineering Undergraduate Certificate Program and Foundation
 

Brief Biography:  
Luettgen has 25 plus years of industry experience, with Scott Paper and Kimberly-Clark Corp., where he most recently served as head of North American Innovation the Kimberly-Clark Professional business sector. He has held positions in product development and innovation as well as in capital project management and manufacturing facility leadership.

For several years, Luettgen has served on the Georgia Tech Renewable Bioproducts Institute Industry Board of Advisors, and as the Chairman of the Board of the Technical Association of the Pulp & Paper Industry (TAPPI).  He earned his bachelor's degree in Paper Engineering at Western Michigan University (’85), his master’s degree at the Institute of Paper Chemistry, Appleton, WI (’87), and his Ph.D. in Surface Chemistry at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology - now the Renewable Bioproducts Institute at Georgia Tech (’91).

He rejoined Georgia Tech in November 2014 as a Professor of the Practice in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Associate Director of Pulp, Paper, Tissue and Packaging at RBI. He also serves as the Director of the undergraduate Pulp and Paper Certificate Program and its Foundation.

Areas of research interest include:  Recycling; renewable cellulosic feedstocks; replacing fossil-based products with bio-based materials; commercialization of nanocellulosic materials in consumer and packaging products; Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0; tissue/towel manufacturing and converting; and manufacturing leadership / operational excellence.

Jianxin (Roger) Jiao (M’01) received the Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, China, the Master's degree in manufacturing engineering from Tianjin University, Tianjin, China, and the Ph.D. degree in industrial engineering from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong, in 1998.,He is currently an Associate Professor of enterprise systems engineering in the G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. He was an Assistant Professor and Associate Professor in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests include engineering design, manufacturing systems and logistics, affective computing, and engineering management.

Donggang Yao is a professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. and Master’s degrees both from University of Massachusetts Amherst, and his B.S. degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. He teaches and directs research in the broad area of polymer engineering. His current research focuses on polymer micromolding, fiber spinning, single-polymer composites, constitutive modeling, and process modeling and simulation. He has published over 60 journal papers and 80 conference papers on polymer processing. He was a recipient of NSF Career Award in 2003 for his research on polymer micromolding. He chaired the ASME Composites and Textile Engineering Technical Committee from 2009 to 2011. He currently serves as an associate editor for ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering and an editorial board member for Polymer Engineering and Science.

Marta Hatzell is a professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to starting at Georgia Tech in August of 2015, she was a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Material Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign. During her post doc, she worked in the Braun Research Group on research at the interface between colloid science and electrochemistry. She completed her Ph.D. at Penn state University in the Logan Research Group. Her Ph.D. explored environmental technology for energy generation and water treatment. During graduate school she was an NSF and PEO Graduate Research Fellow. 

Currently her research group focuses on exploring the sustainable catalysis and separations, with applications spanning from solar energy conversion to desalination. She is an active member of the American Chemical Society, the Electrochemical Society, ASEEP, and ASME. Hatzell was awarded the NSF Early CAREER award in 2019 for her work on distributed solar-fertilizers, attended the 2019 US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium through the National Academy of Engineering, and was awarded the 2020 Sloan Research Fellowships in Chemistry.

Todd Sulchek is an associate professor in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech where he conducts fundamental and applied research in the field of biophysics. His research program focuses on the mechanical and adhesive properties of cell and biological systems and the development of microsystems to aid in their study. His research employs tools, including, MEMS, microfluidics, imaging, and patterning to understand or enable biological systems. His interests include cancer diagnostics, stem cell biomanufacturing, novel therapeutics, and ultracheap engineering tools. He is a member of the interdisciplinary Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. Dr. Sulchek also holds program faculty positions in Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering and has a courtesy appointment in the School of Biology. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford in Applied Physics under Calvin Quate and received a bachelors in math and physics from Johns Hopkins. He was a postdoc and staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. He joined Georgia Tech in 2008 as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award, the BP Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, the Lockheed Inspirational Young Faculty award, and the 2012 Petit Institute Above and Beyond Award. To date he has published 42 journal papers and has filed or been issued 7 patents. Prof. Sulchek is a strong supporter of undergraduate research, and he participates in a variety of undergraduate education activities including the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and includes over 8 undergraduate authors in the past year.

H. Jerry Qi is a professor and the Woodruff Faculty Fellow in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his bachelor degrees (dual degree), master and Ph.D. degree from Tsinghua University (Beijing, China) and a ScD degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Boston, MA, USA). After one year postdoc at MIT, he joined University of Colorado Boulder as an assistant professor in 2004, and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2010. He joined Georgia Tech in 2014 as an associate professor with tenure and was promoted to a full professor in 2016. Qi is a recipient of NSF CAREER award (2007). He is a member of Board of Directors for the Society of Engineering Science. In 2015, he was elected to an ASME Fellow. The research in Qi's group is in the general area of soft active materials, with a focus on 1) 3D printing of soft active materials to enable 4D printing methods; and 2) recycling of thermosetting polymers. The material systems include: shape memory polymers, light activated polymers, vitrimers. On 3D printing, they developed a wide spectrum of 3D printing capability, including: multIMaTerial inkjet 3D printing, digit light process (DLP) 3D printing, direct ink write (DIW) 3D printing, and fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing. These printers allow his group to develop new 3D printing materials to meet the different challenging requirements. For thermosetting polymer recycling, his group developed methods that allow 100% recycling carbon fiber reinforced composites and electronic packaging materials. Although his group develops different novel applications, his work also relies on the understanding and modeling of material structure and properties under environmental stimuli, such as temperature, light, etc, and during material processing, such as 3D printing. Constitutive model developments are typically based on the observations from experiments and are then integrated with finite element through user material subroutines so that these models can be used to solve complicated 3D multiphysics problems involving nonlinear mechanics. A notable example is their recent pioneer work on 4D printing, where soft active materials is integrated with 3D printing to enable shape change (or time in shape forming process). Recently, his developed a state-of-the-art hybrid 3D printing station, which allows his group to integrate different polymers and conduct inks into one system. Currently, his group is working on using this printing station for a variety of applications, including printed 3D electronics, printed soft robots, etc.