LaShanda Korley, Ph.D.
Distinguished Associate Professor
LaShanda T.J. Korley joined the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering, and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware (UDel) in January 2018 as a Distinguished Associate Professor. Prior to Prof. Korley’s appointment at UDel, she held the Climo Associate Professorship of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, where she started her independent career in 2007. Prof. Korley is the Principal Investigator of the recently awarded NSF PIRE: Bio-inspired Materials and Systems.
She received a B.S. in both Chemistry & Engineering from Clark Atlanta University as well as a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1999. Dr. Korley completed her doctoral studies at MIT in Chemical Engineering and the Program in Polymer Science and Technology in 2005. LaShanda Korley was the recipient of the Provost’s Academic Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship at Cornell in 2005, where she completed a two-year postdoctoral appointment in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
Yanchun Tang, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate
Yanchun joined the Korley group in November 2018. She received her B.S. degree in Chemistry in 2011 from the Huaihua Collage, China. She then was employed as an assistant researcher in the R & D at Xiamen Changsu Industrial Co. She obtained her master’s degree (2015) and doctoral degree (2018) in Material Science from the University of Tokyo, Japan. Her research background is in “living” radical polymerization, thermoplastic vulcanizates, mesoporous membranes, and block copolymers. Now, she is working on “smart” gels in the Korley Group.
Kris Van de Voorde
Graduate Student
Louisiana native, Kris came to the Korley group in July of 2016 with a B.S. in Polymer Science from the University of Southern Mississippi. In his research, Kris utilizes multilayer coextrusion as a high-throughput method for producing biocompatible microfibers for use in tissue scaffolds supported by a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. In his spare time, Kris enjoys wearing boots, hiking, Taylor Swift, and cheesy slasher flicks.morphology and mechanics of composite materials. She loves to travel and cook.
Jignesh Mahajan
Graduate Student
Jignesh has completed his bachelor’s degree from Institute of Chemical Technology in 2016 and a Master’s degree from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 2018. He worked on electrospinnability of ultra-high molecular weight polypropylene for his Master’s thesis. Jignesh joined the Korley group in Fall 2018. His research involves design and manufacturing of bio-based polymers, and he is co-advised with Professor Thomas Epps III. Outside of research, he likes listening to music and traveling.
Joanne Norris
Graduate Student
Jo completed a bachelor of arts in economics and a Bachelor of Science in sustainability studies at Hofstra university, as well as a master’s degree in climate and society from Columbia University. She has worked in R&D for environmental applications of nanoporous fibers. She joined the Korley group in fall 2018 co-advised by Profs. John Rabolt and Bruce Chase, and will be working on biologically made, biodegradable polymers.
Akash Vaidya
Graduate Student
Akash joined the group in Fall 2018. He is from Staten Island, New York and has a B.S. in chemical engineering from Cornell University. As an undergrad, Akash studied sequence-defined oligomers, endosomal escape, and pancreatic cancer metabolism. As a grad student, Akash explores biomedical applications of supramolecular assemblies in interpenetrating polymer networks. Akash loves nature, music, tennis, ping-pong, driving, running, jogging, and walking.
Chase Thompson
Graduate Student
Chase hails from Carrier, Mississippi, and joined the Korley research group in August 2015. Chase works on the development of supramolecular chemistry and interpenetrating networks. Chase received his B.S. in polymer science from the University of Southern Mississippi. When Chase is not mixing success, he likes spending time hiking and camping in national parks: mixing together the perfect blend of nature and quality time with friends.
Daseul Jang
Graduate Student
Daseul joined the Korley lab in 2017 and received her B.S. and M.E. in chemical engineering from Inha University. During her master’s course, she worked on the development of nacre-mimetic nanocellulose/montmorillonite nanocomposites. Her current research focuses on developing spider silk-inspired peptide/polymer hybrids and studying the relationship between morphology and mechanics of composite materials. She loves to travel and cook.
Francis Klincewicz
Graduate Student
Francis grew up in Central New Jersey. Before joining the Korley group in Fall 2018, he earned his BME and MMSE from the University of Delaware. His research focuses on applying the principles established in the structural composites field to fiber-reinforced hydrogels supported as a UNIDEL fellow. When he is not doing science, he likes fencing, chess, and sharing puns.
Dajeong Kim
Graduate Student
Dajeong joined the Korley research group in Fall 2018 co-advised by Professor Thomas Epps III. During her Master’s program, Dajeong worked on synthesis of polyurethane and mechanical property enhancement of siloxane-polyurethane elastomer. Her research focuses on the development of supramolecular interpenetrating network using lignin-inspired bio-based polymers. Outside of lab, Dajeong enjoys cooking, listening to music and playing video games.
Alumni
Graduate Students and Postdocs
Tiffani Burt, Ph.D. 2012
Global Process Platform Leader, Sealed Air
Casey Johnson, Ph.D. 2014
Research Engineer, DuPont Circleville Research Lab
Nandula Wanasekara, Ph.D. 2014
Faculty, University of Moratuwa
Keon Soo Jang, Ph.D. 2014
Faculty, University of Suwon (South Korea)
Alex Jordan, Ph.D. 2016
Faculty, University of Wisconsin – Stout
Lindsay Matolyak, Ph.D. 2017
Research Chemist, PPG
Symone Alexander, Ph.D. 2018
Post-doctoral Fellow, Georgia Tech, CBE
Michelle T. Brannum, Ph. D. 2019
AFRL
Ada Anyanwu, MS 2019
University of Delaware
Bingrui Li, MS 2016
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Nicholas R. Wheeler, MS 2011
Case Western Reserve University
Dr. Lindsay Bolisay (2007-2008)
Dr. Jong Keum (2009)
Dr. David Stone (2009-2010)
Dr. Vidya Viswanath (2015-2016)
Dr. Sourav Chatterjee (2018-2019)
Undergraduate and Exchange Students
Ajay Sapre, BS
David Jones, BS
Thomas Cotey, BS
William Lenart, BS
Shadi Ahmadmehrabi, BS
Kristin Jones, BS
Emily Vrbensky, BS
Sri Vidy Uppalapati, BS
James Covello, BS
Bailey Flint, BS
Jonathan Petrozzini, BS
Kevin Van der Ploeg, MS