Prof receives grant to continue research

Chemistry Professor Timothy Swager will receive a grant of $225,000 from the Office of Naval Research to continue his research into the study of liquid crystals, the agency announced last month. The grant, which will be awarded over three years, is the only one the ONR gives for chemistry research, Swager said yesterday. Swager was selected from a pool of 234 applicants, all of whom are in tenure-track positions at American universities and earned their Ph.D.s within the past five years. "My interest in material research helped [me in securing this grant]," Swager said. Though he has never been affiliated with the Navy, Swager said the ONR has previously supported other crystal research, "a very fundamental science." Swager intends to use the money to continue his research on liquid crystals and eventually hopes to develop the materials for practical application. In the future, his work could lead to technological advances for microphones, amplifiers, optical transmitters and disk drives. "We have made a new type of liquid crystal and polymer in which molecular dipoles point in the same direction," Swager said. His future research will be further developing this breakthrough. In his research, Swager is aided by Chemistry graduate students Andre Serrette and Hanxiang Zheng and post-doctoral student C.K. Lai. "This grant is going to help us continue our research," said Serrette. "It helps pay for salaries and chemicals." Swager is a member of the chemistry department's Laboratory for Research and Structure of Matter, an organization which was supportive of Swager's preliminary efforts, he said.

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