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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

But some samples show bad agreement, which we show is caused by sufficiently low grafting density so that the polymer is no longer a cylinder but a semidilute coil. We map this through a state diagram showing the transition to poor agreement based on polymer structure.

State diagram identifying when our analytical approach fails to get accurate measurements shown in purple. This failure is caused by the polymer adopting a coil conformation rather than following the cylindrical assumption and is set by the density of polymer at the surface through polymer scaling theories.

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

We use this model to iteratively fit the grafting density until peak shifts in different solvents agree with the shifts observed for a bare particle. We achieve convergence to a unique value of grafting density, which agrees quantitatively with TGA irrespective of polymer Mw or nanoparticle size.

Consistent shift in peak position as a function of effective local index once the correct grafting density has been determined.

Correlation between grafting density measured through UV-vis and TGA measurements for different molecular weights and particle sizes (small in light, big in dark)

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Our UV-vis approach recognizes that the polymer shifts the peak of the particle based on local index of refraction. We therefore create a model of polymer conformations at a particle surface to analytically estimate the effective local index.

Schematic of our analytical model. Polymers are approximated as cylinders with radius b piercing through differential shells around a nanoparticle. The transition in polymer conformation to a coil structure is set by the critical radius Rc.

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Current state of the art is thermal gravimetric analysis which is basically… burning the sample 🔥. The remaining mass is inorganic and the change in mass relates to polymer. But this technique destroys the sample, requires knowledge of polymer Mw, and uses a lot of material (relatively speaking).

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

🧵Need to measure the grafting density of polymer on a nanoparticle? Recent work in ACS Nano @pubs.acs.org from our group identifies a new method based on simple UV-vis experiments. Our approach uses ~1000x less material, is nondestructive, and does not need to know Mw. pubs.acs.org/ancac3/artic...

Overview of the work showing correlation between our new UV-vis approach to quantify grafting density against the current state-of-the-art thermal gravimetric analysis. The correlation holds across polymer size, particle size, and grafting densities.

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I fear publishing is reaching a breaking point. I’ve seen more and more delays getting papers through journals from the overwhelming rise in submissions. Days/weeks here and there but they add up.

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American Physical Society @apsphysics.aps.org · 14/09/2026

New U.S. visa rules may affect international students, scholars, and the departments that support them. That’s why we’ve created a new toolkit with information and resources on navigating the changes. Check it out: go.aps.org/4xQxBjK

Three students sitting on a cement bench in the city. They are discussing work with papers and textbooks on their laps.

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 12/09/2026

The US President's new proposal to tax international students has been approved by the White House for release this week. It's an unprecedented $100,000 tax on int'l grads who stay to work after graduation on Optional Practical Training (most grads do), a crucial bridge to remaining by any channel.

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Philip Gourevitch @pgourevitch.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

“From Paris, it seems like a mystery. How could the United States, which has set the pace for global science for nearly a century, systematically dismantle its dominant position – and, above all, why?” From here, too, mes amis. www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/a...

lemonde.fr

Trump takes aim at American science as China pulls ahead

NEWS ANALYSIS. For US President Donald Trump, science is plagued by 'woke ideology.' His administration announced that, starting in October, research projects eligible for funding must align with 'gov...

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Only further ceding America’s advantage in science and research

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Shockingly LaGuardia was probably one of the best mayors New York has had…

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Terrible for the country and also personally, salt in the wound to receive supportive reviews on a declined proposal and then seeing such a large funding gap

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Scoop: For nearly a year, NSF has struggled to make new grants. Now we know that it will not catch up. In fact, NSF will award just 6,100 new grants—a 30% y/o/y decline, itself down from a previous avg. of 11,000+. In fact, the last time NSF awarded so few grants was in the early '80s.

nature.com

Exclusive: NSF set to issue lowest number of new grants in four decades

The US science-funding agency is withholding $1 billion of its budget so that the money can go to a special White House project.

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

After 6 years, I just learned I don't actually have access to our Faculty eCampus web portal and instead am in the system as a student 🫠🫠

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Thanks to one of my favorite podcasts @makinggayhistory.bsky.social for bringing this interview to my attention. It’s fascinating to hear such honest, open, and frankly human questions to a trans person before modern politicization and polarization. I thoroughly recommend their entire backlog too!

makinggayhistory.org

Christine Jorgensen | Making Gay History

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Carolyn Bertozzi @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social · 30/07/2026

We already do this and companies who want them are happy to pay for PhD student interns. Why do precious and limited NSF funds need to be deployed for this? Most PhD student pursue industry jobs anyways - that has always been true. Use NSF funds to support basic science that industry wont support!

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Once you understand that this is a model of science written by non-scientists who hate universities but love venture capital and redirecting money to political allies, everything makes a lot more sense. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...

nytimes.com

Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities

Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

New White House plan reimagines American science — more $$ for AI, less for universities and the “life sciences.” Written by Trump’s science adviser, who is a Silicon Valley tech guy, not a scientist. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...

nytimes.com

Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities

Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.

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Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 19/07/2026

A father in Idaho, speaking to police after his child died by suicide: “There is a huge amount of animosity, every single day, thrown at trans kids. The whole fucking country. The whole fucking administration, every single fucking day.” Please read this important story by @joyurcaba.bsky.social

nbcnews.com

Idaho pushed anti-trans laws for years. Then a teen died.

The life and death of May Pollard, 16, provides a window into the tragic effect that legislation and political rhetoric have had on trans people in America.

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Not the most pressing issue of our day but really getting tired of all these clearly AI-generated journal covers. Makes me completely disinterested in the science.

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 29/05/2026

Of all the harm this administration has done to US science, today's proposed changes to the way federal grants are awarded and administered is the most damaging yet. The text of the federal register document is impenetrably tedious by design, so here's an excellent summary of what it says.

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

For the polymer, just relaxations. No detectable change in structure. But we would expect there to be some effect of mobility on the structures that the entire grafted particle may form during aggregation or surface absorption. We have not yet investigated that.

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Collab w/ Shivraj Kotkar, Michael Howard, Arash Nikoubashman, @jcconrad.bsky.social, and Jeremy

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

New paper out today in @pubs.acs.org Macro Letters! Grafted polymers functionalize interfaces but grafting leads to confined dynamics. Mobile sites, as would be the case for polymers absorbed on emulsion drops or lipid bilayers, relax that confinement even though grafted structure remains constant.

pubs.acs.org

Mobile Grafts Allow Polymers to Escape Confinement

Polymers attached to spherical particles are widely used in applications such as nanocomposites, drug delivery, and interfacial modification. In these systems, curvature-induced variations in monomer ...

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Summer has finally hit New England

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

It’s incredibly disheartening (and scary) to watch the US squander one of our biggest strengths and intellectual capital

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

It’s already been selected by my group for a journal club! Beautiful work

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Mazi Jalaal @mazi1.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Two open postdoctoral positions in my group at DAMTP, at University of Cambridge: Cell Biophysics & Biological Active Matter: www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/job/55046 Active & Intelligent Matter: www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/job/55141 Repost is much appreciated ! 🙏🏼 #Postdoc #CellBioPhysics #Robots #ActiveMatter

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

I had the opportunity to talk about the impacts of the upgraded optics and computing power at Advanced Photon Source. These national lab resources are incredibly valuable for our work identifying dynamics in complex soft materials. Be on the look out for papers once we process our >TBs of data!

anl.gov

Data analysis at the speed of light source experiments

The integration of Advanced Photon Source experiments with Argonne Leadership Computing Facility supercomputers enables scientists to analyze data in near real time, guiding their work and acceleratin...

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Slaughtering our golden goose: massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

Massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration

Budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing.

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Another year, another round of asking "Why does AIChE need my abstract so early?"

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

I’m embarrassed to admit that I can never get COLLOID in spelling bee…

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Honestly it motivates my students to write because the drafts look “formal”. Also, they can then easily combine papers to form their thesis with minimal effort

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Beautiful peaceful silence for you then

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Working on a proposal today like...

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Got one of those a couple of months ago. Felt very surreal having to respond to the comments

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Robert Garisto @robertgaristo.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Job Opening: Full-Time Associate Editor, PRL We seek a dynamic and personable individual with postdoctoral experience in soft matter and statistical physics, to join our close-knit team of editors running the world’s leading physics journal. aps.applicantstack.com/x/detail/a27...

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Alban Sauret @albansauret.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

I am looking to hire PhD students to join our Multiphase & Multiscale Flow Lab in Mechanical Engineering @univofmaryland.bsky.social Background in ME, Physics, ChemE, Civil (or related), interest in fluid mechanics/soft matter, and hands-on lab work are key. Please help spread the word!

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Fresh off the press in @pubs.acs.org! Our group aims to understand the phase behavior of polymer-grafted nanoparticles. Here, we find that: 1. The RATE of aggregation is a more precise metric to define phase boundaries than size, and 2. PGNPs aggregate like globular polymers rather than colloids.

pubs.acs.org

Stability and Anomalous Aggregation in Suspensions of Polymer-Grafted Nanoparticles

Polymer-grafted nanoparticles (PGNPs) are a class of hybrid materials with properties intermediate between those of polymer and colloidal systems. Here, we assess how polymer conformation and solvent ...

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

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.

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Ryan Poling-Skutvik @rpslab.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

It's been my pleasure to host Blanca Sesé this semester working in my group! She has joined us from the University of Zaragoza through our partnership in the IAESTE program and is working on building thermally responsive hydrogels from cellulose. web.uri.edu/engineering/...

web.uri.edu

International STEM internship opportunities through global exchange program partnership

University of Rhode Island students in STEM fields can select from a robust list of international internships from around the globe with new affiliation with the International Association for the Exch...

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