Dr. Louis Poon
Posted in ISM Stories
Louis Poon is a graduate student in Professor Richard Weiss’ lab who recently defended his PhD. His thesis is entitled “Structure-Property Relationships of Functionalized Polydimethylsiloxane-based Ionic Polymers”. Louis comes from the city of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. He completed his Masters in Science on the carbohydrate polymer Chitosan, which is when his interest in soft matter began. Chitosan is a type of fiber that comes from the outer skeleton of shellfish, which is also used in medicine and drug manufacturing. The process of making Chitosan copolymers with the crosslinker glutaraldehyde went through a sol-gel process.
Louis’ work at Georgetown and his thesis deal with the synthesis and structure-property relationship of polydimethylsiloxane ionomers and polyelectrolyte complexes with amidinium alkyldithiocarbamate pendant groups. He explains that these materials run the gamut of soft matter: from viscous liquids to soft adhesives to stiff gels. He says he had a fun time probing the molecular structures of these materials using the spectroscopic instruments of Georgetown’s chemistry department. Using that molecular information, he was able to observe trends with data on the bulk properties of the polydimethylsiloxane materials using the rheometer and Instron from the ISMSM. Louis says it was truly exciting to be able to connect what he observes at the molecular level with the bulk properties at the macroscopic scale. He describes his PhD as the marriage of physical organic chemistry and soft matter science.
Louis chose to come to Georgetown for his PhD because he wanted a place that did soft matter, with gels specifically, and snowed in the winter, claiming “unlike most snowbirds, I like the cold”. As such, working with Professor Weiss was very attractive, and Louis says he can’t believe that time went so fast. Although he recently defended his PhD and graduated, he can still remember sitting in Uncommon Grounds while it was still in front of the Leavey bookstore and pinching himself. Louis cites Professor Weiss and the many graduate students he came into contact with at Georgetown as being an integral part of his journey to getting his PhD.
Louis’ favorite part of research is its collaborative nature. He brought up multiple examples of times during his stay and research at Georgetown and with the ISMSM that he benefitted from having others around. Not just the obvious in having access to more equipment or resources, but mostly benefitting from knowledge and ideas of others. He talked about the valuable input from mentor Professor Weiss and lab mates in designing a journal cover, pictured in this article, and discussing ideas with Dr. Xinran Zhang while working with ISMSM instruments. As someone with a background mostly in chemistry, he also says it was invaluable to have discussions with others, especially Dr. Claudia Dessi (a former postdoctoral researcher in Professor Dan Blair’s group), who he credits as the source of most of his rheology knowledge. Louis says he still has a drawing from Dr. Dessi of the time temperature superposition master curve explaining the importance of frequency sweeps and talked about how it will get left behind when he leaves, in a great example of how knowledge is passed on and collaboration extends. While he acknowledges that you have to do a good amount of work in research, he says its important that you don’t have to or even should do the work alone. Louis also appreciates the genuine surprises one receives from unexpected results or finally understanding the connections between disparate sets of data, but for him nothing beats being able to talk science with those around you.
As for what’s next for Louis, he was in the process of applying for the post-completion optional practice training that will aid with obtaining a postdoctoral research position and hoping for somewhere that actually snows in the winter!