EST. 2014

May 8, 2019

Congratulations to Cuneyt Ozkardes. He graduated with a B.S. in Exercise Physiology and was recently notified on his acceptance into the FSU Medical School Class of 2024. Great job!

April 29, 2019

Aaron won the FSU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Undergraduate Research Award. He graduates in May and will be starting a summer internship at Bristol-Myers Squibb. In fall, he will start graduate school at Scripps Research, La Jolla Campus. He has done great work in our lab. Good luck in your future endeavors! 

April 13, 2019

Congratulations to Dr. Billy Neary who successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation entitled "Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization of Low Ring Strained Monomers".

April 10, 2019

Congratulations to Dr. Rob Keiber III. He successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation entitled "Investigations into Structure-Property Relationships of Novel Polymers Synthesized Primarily from Bio-Renewable Resources". 

Feburary 14, 2019

Gina and Taylor gave talks to the department on the research they have been conducting since joining the lab. Good job!

February 12, 2019

JGK has published a Perspective entitled "Poly(vinylpyridine) Segments in Block Copolymers: Synthesis, Self-Assembly, and Versatility". It highlights the synthetic advancements in block polymerizations utilizing vinylpyridines and discusses the interesting properties these block polymers have. Thanks to ACS Editors Choice, this manuscript is now open access to everyone!

Decemeber 20, 2018

Billy and JGK published a Viewpoint entitled "Polypentenamer Renaissance: Challenges and Opportunities". It highlights the challenges and recent advancement in polypentenamers, discussing the synthesis, mechanical properties, and complex architectures that can be achieved for these systems.  Congratulations!

December 6, 2018

Congratulations to Mark and Nam for successfully passing their Ph.D. candidacy exams 

November 2, 2018

Aaron gave a talk at SERMACS 2018 entitled "Synthesis and Properties of a Precision Polyelectrolyte with a Five-Carbon Phenylsulfonic Acid Topology" Great job Aaron!

September 27, 2018

FSU has awarded Aaron the Arts and Sciences Travel Grant. This will be used to support attendance at SERMACS 2018 to present his research on precision polyelectrolytes. Congratulations, Aaron! 

September 24th, 2018

We welcome two new undergraduate researchers into the lab, Karli and Lindsay. Karli will be working with Gina on the precision polypentenamers and Lindsay will be working with Taylor on our bottlebrush systems. Glad to have y'all on board.

August 22, 2018

Billy and Brandon published their work in ACS Macro Letters demonstrating the synthesis of and characterization of a polypentamener bottlebrush system.  Congratulations!

August 19, 2018

JGK gave an invited talk at the ACS national meeting in Boston within the "Stereochemical Enhancement of Materials Properties" symposia. This presentation was entitled "Influencing sustainable polymer properties with isohexide stereochemistry: Synthesis and material investigations".

August 20, 2018

At the ACS Boston 2018 PMSE Young Investigators' Symposium, JGK was awarded and gave a talk entitled "Five Alive: Functional polypentenamers towards a new class of bottlebrush systems and their place within the structure-property genome".

July 26, 2018

Prof. Daniel Hallinan (PI) in FSU/FAMU Chemical and Biological Engineering and JGK (co-PI) have received funding from the National Science Foundation's Electrochemical Systems/Energy for Sustainability program (CBET). This award offers approximately $350K over three years for their proposal entitled " "Impact of Ion Transport and Dissociation on Polymer Electrolyte Battery Rate Capability"

4/23/2018

JGK has been given a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation! His proposal entitled "CAREER: Bridging the Gap Between Bottlebrush and Comb Polymers with Precision Macroinitiators to Generate New Elastomeric Materials" will provide approximately $535K over the next 5 years.

May 10, 2018

Aaron and Billy have published a paper on precision polyethylene with a sulfonated phenyl branch on every fifth carbon. They explored synthesis, characterization, thermal properties, and insights into the polyelectrolyte effect for this unique system. 

May 4, 2018

Congratulations to Stefan who successfully completed his Masters Thesis.  Stefan has decided to pursue architecture and has been offered a scholarship into the masters program at UT-Austin this Fall. We wish you all the best!

May 29, 2018

Natalie Sanchez is an REU student from North Florida Community College who is joining the lab for the summer to research polymer synthesis, focusing in copolymerization by LED-light. 

May 3, 2018

Congratulations to undergraduate researchers Trevor (Biochemistry) and Sam (Chemical Engineering) who graduated this spring. 

April, 11th, 2018

JGK has been selected as a recipient of a 2017-2018 University Undergraduate Teaching Awards for his efforts in the instruction of Organic Chemistry. This award carries an honorarium of $2,000 and celebration at the FSU Faculty Awards Dinner in May. More information about the award can be found here .

April 3, 2018

Congratulations to Beatriz (Triz)! She successfully defended her Undergraduate Honors Thesis on the research she has done over the last two years. It was entitled "Understanding the Phenomenologies if Poly(vinylpyridine) Containing Block Polymers".

March 28, 2018

Rob and Billy published a recent paper in  I&EC Research exploring the mechanical and viscoelastic properties of a precision polyolefin with a phenyl branch on every fifth carbon. Congrats! The paper was nominated by Dr. Andrew Magenau as Best Presentation in the “Dynamic Chemistry in Polymer Materials” session of the 2017 ACS Fall National Meeting in Washington, D.C. Congrats to all!

March 19th, 2018

Sam presented a poster at the ACS national meeting in New Orleans. The poster was entitled "Biomass Based Polyurethanes and the Effects of Stereochemistry on Physical Properties".

March 22, 2018

RSC Polymer Chemistry has recognized JGK as an Emerging Investigator in the 2018 Edition. 

March 22, 2018

College Magazine has recognized JGK  as one of the 10 most helpful professors at FSU.

March 21, 2018

Rob attended the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans and gave a talk entitled "Synthesis of Renewable Polyurethanes Derived from Isohexide and Furans: Stereochemical Effects on Mechanical and Viscoelastic Properties".

March 20th, 2018

JGK was invited to give a talk at the 2018 ACS National Meeting in New Orleans entitled "Low Strain, more gain: harnessing polypentenamers towards complex precision architectures".

March 19th, 2018

Billy attended the 2018 ACS National Meeting in New Orleans to gave a talk entitled "Variable Temperature Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization of Cyclopentene and Derivatives".

March 18th, 2018

JGK co-organized a 3.5 day symposium at the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans. The symposium was entitled "Polymers with Complex Architectures: From Synthesis to Self-Assembly". Thank you to Professors Chang Ryu, Gila Stein, and Myungeun Seo for help with co-organizing a fantastic symposium!

March 8, 2018

JGK traveled to Los Angeles to chair a symposium at the March meeting for the DPOLY division of APS. The talks focused on bridging new polymer chemistry and polymer physics. 

Feburary 15, 2018

JGK visited Rice University to give a seminar on ROMP of cyclopentenes and the new architectures and periodicities this provides.  Thank you to Dr. Eilaf Egap for hosting this visit. 

January 10, 2018

JGK has been selected as a 2018 PMSE Young Investigator for his contributions to Polymer Science and Engineering. He has been invited to present his work in the PMSE Young Investigator Symposium at the Fall 2018 ACS National Meeting in Boston (Aug. 19-23, 2018)

January 2, 2018

Stefan, Billy, and Goutam published their work in Polymer Chemistry on controlling ROMP of chiral, allylic substituted, cyclopentenes into highly regioregular and stereoregular precision microstructures. This work is part of the 2018 Emerging Investigators themed collection. Congrats to all!

Nov. 28, 2017

JGK, Brandon, and Nam visited Argonne National Labs to do some synchotron SAXS on block polymers.

November 2017

Welcome to our new graduate students, Taylor Isais and Gina Guillory!

October 28, 2017

Our "Get to Know Your Plastics" exhibit reached record attendance at this years Tallahassee Science Festival. Pictures can be found here

August 20-24, 2017

JGK gave a talk entitled "Dynamic Polymers from Low Strain Cycloalkenes" at the 254th American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition." PMSE 568

July 28, 2017

Rob and Sam published their work in Polymer Chemistry on the effects of isohexide stereochemistry on the material properties of biomass derived polyurethanes. Congrats!

6/28/2017

Billy had his work on variable temperature (VT)-ROMP published in Macromolecules. Congrats Billy.

June 11-16 2017

JGK was a discussion leader and William Neary presented a poster at the recent Gordon Research Conference - Polymers at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. Billy also beat Marc Hillmyer in cornhole. Thanks to Matt Becker and Brent Sumerlin for a great conference.

June 1, 2017

Morgan is an REU student from Hampton University, VA and will joining us for the summer to gain research experience in polymer synthesis.

April 3, 2017

JGK gives a talk entitled "Variable Temperature (VT)-ROMP: Achieving Targeted Molar Mass and Low Dispersity from Low Ring-Strain Monomers" at the American Chemical Society 253rd National Meeting and Exposition.

March 17, 2017

Dr. Kennemur gives a talk entitled "Synthesis and Properties of a Precision Sulfonated Trimethylene-Styrene Polyelectrolyte" in the DPOLY Division of the APS March 2017 Meeting.

February 1, 2017

Cuneyt excelled in Dr. Kennemur's Organic Chem I course last Fall and we are happy to welcome him for undergraduate research in the area of sustainable polymers.

November 2016

We are pleased to announce our new graduate student members, Nam Nguyen and Mark Yarolimek. More information can be found on our members page. Welcome!

Fall 2016

Congratulations to our 3rd year Graduate Students, Rob, Brandon, and Billy for successful completion of their Ph.D. Candidacy Exams.

October 2016

The Kennemur Group would like to welcome our new undergraduate researchers! Trevor Hine, Beatriz Dunoyer de Segonzac, and Aaron Kendrick.

September 24, 2016

Our "Get to Know Your Plastics" exhibit made its second annual appearance at the "Whatever Floats your Boat" Regatta. Participants are asked to fabricate their own boats out of trash (most of them plastic) and race them for prizes. All boats are recycled afterward so its a great opportunity to teach about plastics. Pictures can be found here

September 10, 2016

Our "Get to Know Your Plastics" exhibit provided some polymer education outreach and silly putty experiments for children at the Tallahassee Science Festival this year. Pictures from the event can be found here

August 26, 2016

The Kennemur Group is looking for motivated and enthusiastic students ready to pioneer polymer science! Our group meetings will be in CSL 2010 at 4:15pm on Wednesdays starting Sept. 14th. Email Dr. Kennemur if you are interested in meeting with him to discuss research.

August 2016

The Kennemur Group has moved into a new laboratory space. These conjoined hybridized labs are perfect for polymer synthesis, characterization, and processing. We also adopted a few new instuments (polarimeter, FTIR, GC) which we have repaired and brought back to working order. Check out the labs here

August 2016

Rising 2nd year Stefan Brits has just arrived in Rio to compete in the Olympic Men's Long Jump Competition set to take place on August 12 & 13th. Stefan will be competing for his native country, South Africa. Congrats!

July 25 - 29 2016

Dr. Kennemur presents a poster entitled "Exploring the Five-Carbon Branch Topology on Precision Polyolefins" at the 2016 Gordon Research Conference: Polymer Physics at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA.

May 7, 2016

Congratulations to Samantha Silver for bringing home 3rd place in the 2016 Florida ACS Meeting and Exposition (FAME) undergraduate poster session. Her poster was entitled " Exploring new sustainable polymers using biomass-­derived diols".

April 16, 2016

The "Get to Know Your Plastics" exhibit made another appearance, this time at the 2016 LeMoyne Chain of Parks Art Festival in an effort to support the "Going Green in 2016" theme. We upgraded our exhibit to introduce a "make your own artist putty" table for children to do a little polymer science. More photos can be found here

May 3, 2016

After a semester of training, Michele offically joins us this summer for undergraduate research. Michele will join Billy in the pursuit of fully characterizing the backbone microstructures of precision polypentenamers as a function of temperature, catalyst, and monomer chemistry.

April 27, 2016

Congrats to Billy for his accepted manuscript on a unique copolymer analog with precisely placed phenyl substituents at every fifth carbon along the backbone.

March 13, 2016

Dr. Kennemur gives an oral presentation entitled "Precision Polyolefins from Substituted Cyclopentenes" at the 251st American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition in San Diego, CA.

March 2016

The Kennemur Group welcome potential graduate students for the Fall 2016 semester. We are looking for enthusiastic candidates who want to persue polymer science. Check out our research page to see whats new!

October 3, 2015

The group inaugurated our new outreach exhibit entitled "Get to Know your Plastics" at the FSU Marine Laboratory's annual regatta. Local attendees were asked questions about the plastics that surround them and learned about the current challenges we face in polymer science. More info. here

October 2015

Nicole joins us as a part of FSU's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), a highly competitive accolade for top freshman and sophomores to become exposed to research early. Nicole will be using spectroscopy to study sustainable polymer degradation.

August 21, 2015

After a productive summer, we celebrated with some group recreation. Congrats to Billy for winning the 1st annual Group Bowling Tournament.

September 1, 2015

As an undergraduate researcher, Garrettt will be working with Brandon on synthesis of unique triblock terpolymers.

June 25, 2015

Kennemur has received funding approval for his proposal to the American Chemical Society - Petroleum Research Fund. The Doctoral New Investigator (DNI) Award will total $110,000 over 2 years.

May 2015

With the installation of our glove box, kiln, glassware oven, and SEC system this spring, we move into our first summer as a fully operational laboratory. A complete description of equipment and amenities can be viewed here

May 7-9, 2015

Prof. Kennemur gives an invited talk entitled "Understanding the Interaction Parameter for Next Generation Lithographic Patterning Materials" hosted by the UF POLY/PMSE Student Chapter at the ACS 91st Florida Annual Meeting and Exposition (FAME) 2015 in Palm Harbor, FL.

May 1, 2015 - Spring Graduation Commencement Ceremony

Undergraduate researcher Stefan Brits graduates Summa Cum Laude (3.9 or higher GPA) with a B.S. in Chemical Sciences. He joins the FSU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in pursuit of a Ph.D. this fall. Congrats Stefan!

March 3, 2015

We are pleased to welcome our first post-doc, Goutam Palui.

March 3, 2015

The SEC Suite is complete and our size exclusion chromatography instrument is fully installed with a 3-angle laser light scattering detector, differential pressure viscometer, and refractive index detectors. See the completion of the SEC Suite here

December 18, 2014

Although a few renovations are still in progress, we have new equipment that has been received and setup. View our equipment list (here)

November 17, 2014

Welcome to our first graduate students:
Alexander Blanchard
Brandon Fultz
Robert Kieber
William Neary

October 17, 2014

Although not yet fully operational,  activity has begun in the CSL Labs and the first monomer synthesis has officially been performed.

October 13, 2014

Hats off to Tom Dusek, our acclaimed in-house glassblower, who has completed the fabrication of 3 custom manifolds. Each features heavy wall glass construction, 4 reaction ports, a vacuum gauge port, and a custom dampener valve for reduced pressure distillations.

Nov. 2019

Congrats to Taylor Isais (Nov. 20th) and Gina Guillory (Nov. 25th) who both passed their candidacy exams!

May 28, 2019

Rob, Cuneyt, and REU student, Natalie published their work in Polymer Chemistry entitled "Cationic Copolymerization of Isosorbide Towards Value-added Poly(vinyl ethers)". Great work!