Ryan Poling-Skutvik
@rpslab
Associate Professor | Chemical Engineering and Physics | University of Rhode Island | Responsive, multifunctional soft materials 🏳️🌈 (he/him)
I have the great privilege to return to my alma mater @cooperunion.bsky.social to give a seminar today. It’s been over a decade since I was last on campus and it still brings back so many memories. I’m going to be discussing our work on biomaterials and soft matter physics.
RPS Lab celebrating the start of the year watching the Rhode Island Football Club
Celebrating our lab's newest graduate, Kylie Hartley, who passed her Masters defense last Friday! 🥳🎓🍺 She has been an incredibly productive student in her time in our group working on developing polymer-based anodes for microbial fuel cells, and we are so proud of her current and future success!
In the spirit of @sorheology.bsky.social and “Everything Flows”, look at these beautiful “streamlines” of shale around a rock. Taken at Watkins Glen State Park
Surprisingly, this collapse is independent of material composition and structure. Furthermore, the position of this peak can be predicted by a combination of linear metrics of viscoelasticity and flow viscosity.
Specifically, yielding is typically associated with a peak in the loss modulus G”, the height of which is solely a function of tan(delta) in the linear regime. Our finding indicates that the same physics controlling linear viscoelasticity also controls the magnitude of yielding.
As a @cooperunion.bsky.social alum, I am shocked (and proud) to only just learn that Cooper was integral to the founding of the Society of Women Engineers
Welp. It happened. Our NIH training grant was terminated on Friday. Just highlighting this incredibly derisive language used in our termination notice. To focus on the positives, see some of the great things our undergraduates have done over the last couple of years: web.uri.edu/esteemed/
Not a bad morning walk to @apsphysics.bsky.social ! Stop by the @apsdsoft.bsky.social table near Hilton Huntington B/C to say hi!
Visiting @ucdavisengineering.bsky.social for the day! Looking forward to some good science discussions. Thanks to Tonya Kuhl and the rest of the CHE department for the seminar invitation.
Fantastic day at New England Complex Fluids. Great talks all around including the first presentations by a couple RPS Lab Members: Undergrad Liam Kennings discussed conductive liquid crystal elastomers and first year PhD candidate Sepehr Yari presented on faster-than-expected SWCNT dynamics
Another summer research opportunity! We have multiple summer programs designed at giving undergraduate students hands-on research experience on Navy-related projects. Summer housing and $6,000 stipend provided. Dates: May 27 - August 1, 2025 Application: bit.ly/4gp1MWl Deadline: Feb. 14, 2025
Last week, I got the special opportunity to connect four generations of my academic family tree together! Weitz + Lewis --> Conrad @jcconrad.bsky.social --> RPS --> Daniel Keane and RPS lab members IMO, it's one of the best parts of the job to see our impact on new generations of students
Beautiful Providence morning on my way to the 100(+1)th New England Complex Fluids Symposium
Congratulations to DOCTOR Daniel Keane for his successful PhD defense!! 🎉👨🎓 Today was a big milestone for the RPS Lab today: our first PhD graduate! Danny was our first student and really set an incredible standard for everyone in our group. I am beyond proud of him.
Know an undergraduate interested in tackling plastic waste and its impact on the environment? Our URI Plastics REU is open for applications! Earn up to $7,000 for a 10-week research course with housing provided (and maybe enjoy some RI seafood and beaches!) Learn more at web.uri.edu/plastics-reu/