Andrew Clark Receives GSAS Award for Outstanding Academic Scholarship

Andrew Clark (right) is a fifth-year student who is graduating in May 2021 with a Ph. D. in physics.
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He has been working in the Polymer Physics Group with Prof. Peggy Cebe since early in 2018. Andrew’s interdisciplinary research focuses on gaining a deeper physical understanding of a class of polymers known as polyzwitterions. These polymers contain positive and negative charges on each molecule, though overall they are electrically neutral. His work is directed at answering fundamental questions in polymer physics as well as providing the knowledge base for applications and performance enhancement of these unique polymers in “green” technologies. An interdisciplinary project with the group of Prof. Matt Panzer (CBE Dept.) focused on quantifying the behavior and interactions of ionic liquids and zwitterionic polymers in ionogels that are under development as next generation safer batteries. His work and insight were instrumental in providing proof of concept for an NSF grant on polyzwitterions awarded in 2020 to Prof. Cebe and Co-PI Prof. Ayse Asatekin (CBE). Andrew's work has led to seven oral and nine poster presentations at local, national, and international conferences, culminating in four first-author manuscripts, two already published and two ready for submission.

Andrew has shown outstanding leadership as manager of the Thermal Analysis facility, host of the Condensed Matter Seminar Series, and the graduate students' Union representative. He also contributed to STEM diversity and inclusion by serving as the teaching assistant for the 2019 summer internship program for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) interns. Andrew worked with four DHH interns from the Rochester Institute of Technology conducting research into polyzwitterions. Andrew helped instruct the interns in safe practice in the lab, and trained and monitored them on proper usage of the high precision instrumentation of the Cebe Research Lab. He oversaw their experiments and data collection, and helped these students prepare their results for presentation to the Tufts community.

For his excellent scholarship in the conduct of his PhD research, for his leadership and contributions to diversity in STEM education, Andrew has been awarded the graduate student Outstanding Academic Achievement Awa