Davidson Research Group

Davidson Lab Header Image

Welcome to the Davidson Research Group!

Our research is focused on designing, synthesizing, and guiding the assembly of soft polymeric materials to address pressing needs, particularly in health and the environment. We achieve this by working at the intersection of polymer synthesis, polymer characterization, polymer physics and self-assembly, and additive manufacturing.

Group Photo Feb2023

Recent News

Emily Davidson awarded SEAS Junior Faculty Award
May 22, 2023

Emily received the Princeton School of Engineering and Applied Science's Alfred Rheinstein Faculty Award. The award recognizes excellence in research and teaching for junior faculty. Congratulations Emily!

Check out the

Kitty presents her senior thesis!
May 2, 2023

Kitty presented a poster on her senior thesis work in collaboration with Professor Paulino in CEE. Her thesis work used liquid crystal elastomers to thermally actuate an origami tube, along with theoretical simulations of the mechanics of the origami design. Congrats to Kitty for finishing a fantastic thesis!

Kirstin and Emily O. awarded NSFGRFP fellowships!
March 29, 2023

The Davidson Lab is very proud to have two NSFGRFP recipients this year! Kirstin Bode received the award for their project using polyglyoxylates as a model system to study the kinetics and thermodynamics of depolymerization in self-immolative polymers. Emily Ostermann received the award for her project on the effect of network heterogeneity on…

Callie wins DPOLY Poster Award at APS March Meeting!
March 8, 2023

Congratulations to our undergraduate researcher Callie Zheng! Callie was awarded an award for having the best poster within the entire DPOLY division at APS! The poster looks at the effect of small molecule additives on liquid crystal elastomer phase transition behavior.

Check out her

Recent Publications

Design of soft matter for additive processing

C.L.C. Chan, J.M. Taylor, E.C. Davidson. "Design of soft matter for additive processing," Nat. Synth, 2022, DOI: 10.1038/s44160-022-00115-3

Hierarchically porous ceramics via direct writing of preceramic polymer-triblock copolymer inks

J.J. Bowen, S. Mooraj, J.A. Goodman, S.Peng, D.P. Street, B. Roman-Manso, E.C. Davidson, K.L. Martin, L.M. Rueschhoff, S.N. Schiffres, W. Chen, J.A. Jewis, M.B. Dickerson, "Hierarchically porous ceramics via direct writing of preceramic polymer-triblock…

The Role of Hydrogen Bonding in Peptoid-based Marine Antifouling Coatings

M. Barry,* E.C. Davidson,* C. Zhang, A.L. Patterson, B. Yu, A.K. Leonardi, N. Duzen, K. Malaviya, J.L. Clarke, J.A. Finlay, A.S. Clare, Z. Chen, C.K. Ober, R.A. Segalman, “The Role of Hydrogen Bonding in Peptoid-based Marine Antifouling Coatings,” Macromolecules, 2019, DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.8b02390

Davidson Lab Group Meeting Calendar