Biosketch

Dr. Rabolt’s research interests are in the area of polymer deformation and orientation, electrospinning polymer nanofibers, organic thin films, IR/Raman spectroscopy, and biomolecular materials for tissue engineering. An additional area of research that has evolved over the last decade has been instrumental development. A new infrared technique that promises to change the time scale for observing new phenomena (fast reactions, polymer fracture, irreproducible events, etc.) in materials was developed in Dr. Rabolt’s lab and uses a dispersive spectrograph and a focal plane array. The new technique, planar array IR (PA-IR), has no moving parts, is capable of double beam operation, and can record an infrared spectrum in less than 10 milliseconds. Recently, this instrument has been used to study “real-time” Langmuir film compression, liquid crystal reorientation, and cyclic elastic deformation of polymer films.

Awards

Award for Cooperative Research in Polymer Science and Engineering from the American Chemical Society of Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering (co-recipient: Bruce Chase) 2018

Innovation in Materials Characterization award from MRS, (2013)

Member, National Academy of Inventors, (2014)

MRS Innovation in Materials Characterization Award, (2013)

NY Society of Applied Spectroscopy Gold Medal, (2008)

Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Society Award, (2005)

Howard L. Ritter Memorial Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, Miami University, (2002)

A. E. Michelson Award in Molecular Spectroscopy, (2002)

Ellis Lippincott Award in Vibrational Spectroscopy, (1993)

Louis A. Strait Award in Applied Spectroscopy, (1992)

Williams-Wright Award in Vibrational Spectroscopy, (1990)

Fellow, American Physical Society (APS), (1986)

Coblentz Award in Molecular Spectroscopy, (1985)

Research Interests

• The Development of Spectroscopic Instrumentation for “Real-Time” Characterization
• Nanoscale Control of Biomaterials
• Tissue Engineering Constructs for Biomedical Applications