Department of Polymer Science

The summer 2004 program consisted of 14 student interns from the following universities: Ashland University, Mississippi Valley State University, Mount Union College, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, University of Akron, University of Tulsa, Washington & Jefferson University, Youngstown State University.

Majors: Biology, Biochemistry, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics or Physics

"Of course, I learned a lot of things, including how to operate the Molecular Dynamics Simulation programming, while working on my project. It was a very good experience to work in a top institution of polymer science research in the world."

"I would definitely recommend Dr. Sokolov for future students. He has a number of research projects appropriate for undergraduates to take part in and a great research group that is very helpful and has a good attitude."

"I loved the Friday group lunches. Those were awesome and I enjoyed hearing about everybody's progress as well as hearing from people from outside groups that none of us normally see."

"I enjoyed visiting Bayer the most, but all three trips were a great learning experience. The weekly meetings could have been shorter. I enjoyed hearing about the research being done by graduate students the most. I also liked hearing the faculty presentations."

"I really liked working for Dr. Pugh's group in that I was able to do 'real' research--in other words, something a real graduate student would do, and not some tried-and-true experiment. I definitely think that it gave me a feel for graduate school."

"Dr. Quirk was a wonderful faculty mentor. He paired me up with a great grad student and was always available to answer questions, unless he was at a conference."

"I would recommend Dr. Brittain as a future mentor. I enjoyed doing research with his group. The graduate students were very helpful. Dr. Brittain was always available for help. He expected me to be prepared for group discussions, and he helped me to keep the other interns up-to-date on my research developments."

"The trips and weekly gatherings were good because you were able to see what the other students were working on, even if you didn't totally understand it. I liked Firestone the best because they actually showed you labs and processes, instead of just physical types of experiments and tests."

"Ali Dhinojwala is an excellent mentor. He was very helpful while I interned and he has continued to be helpful after I left Akron, especially with recommendation letters and advice. I highly recommend him for any future interns."

"Drs. Newkome and Moorefield are wonderful people and mentors and I would recommend them to anybody."

"I liked visiting Goodyear. The trips to the companies were very interesting. It allowed the interns to really see all of the processes that actually went into a tire."

"Dr. Gujrati was great. Had a lot of time to help me. Very available, very knowledgeable. Great guy."

"I enjoyed the opportunity to present my research orally at the symposium because I feel that you can never speak in front of a crowd too much, and presenting chemical information makes speaking in public that much harder."

"I thought (the symposium) was a great experience. I learned how to share my research with others and answer any questions. I also enjoyed hearing about the research being done at Case Western Reserve University."

"I took my poster to the Conference on Undergraduate and Graduate Student Research and won an award for best poster."