Opening the door to establishing a future joint research program between the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) and UH, Rigoberto Advincula, associate professor of chemistry at UH, has organized a first-ever joint symposium between a Texas research group and the MPI-P held Oct. 18-19 in Mainz, Germany.

"This is a very important collaboration for UH because the MPI-P is the best place in the world to do polymer research," Advincula said. "The institute is recognized by practically everyone in the polymer field, and the reputation of Max Planck Institutes is very high in terms of specific research fields, with one for almost every important branch of scientific field and interdisciplinary research."

In the spirit of renowned physicist Max Planck, a 1919 Nobel Prize winner, who proved time and again that there were new things to be discovered in science, the symposium is hosted by the MPI-P, located on the campus of the Johannes Gutenberg University. It is an opportunity for Advincula, three doctoral students from his polymer group and a research associate staff member to present their research and to visit and meet with the directors of the MPI-P departments. Wolfgang Knoll, director of material science at MPI-P, is leading his group as the other half of this joint symposium.

Advincula and Knoll already enjoy a strong collaborative relationship. In April, the two researchers hosted a symposium on "Nanostructured Materials Based on Polyelectrolytes, Colloids and Nanoparticles in Ultrathin Films" at the American Chemical Society meeting (see http://www.uh.edu/media/nr/2004/03mar/03260
'"/>

Contact: Lisa Merkl
lkmerkl@uh.edu
713-743-8192
University of Houston
14-Oct-2004