Davidson Research Group

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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 Spring 2025

Recent News

Congratulations to Sahana for receiving the Jui Dasgupta TA award
June 2, 2025

Sahana received the Jui Dasgupta TA award for being an outstanding mentor to the students in the undergraduate course CBE 225 - Plastics, Profit, and People: How Science & Society Can Strive for Sustainability. Congrats to Sahana and we are proud of her excellence being recognized!

Welcome to Zach, our summer undergraduate
June 2, 2025

Zach Glover is a rising second year undergraduate studying at UMBC. He is joining our group this summer to work on surface functionalization for soft functional 3D printed devices. We're excited to have Zach join the lab!

Davidson Lab members attend the 25th Mid Atlantic Soft Matter workshop
May 30, 2025

Sahana and Jiaen attended the 25th MASM workshop hosted at Johns Hopkins University. Sahana gave a flash talk about her work on chemically recyclable polymers. Our lab members had a great time getting to know the regional soft matter scientific community!

Congratulations to our graduating senior!
May 22, 2025

Congratulations to Angie Rabih for successfully completing her senior thesis research in our lab! We wish her all the best in her future endeavors beyond the Davidson Lab!

Recent Publications

Synthesis and Tunable Properties of Chemically Recyclable Multiblock Copolymers via Tandem Olefin Metathesis Polymerizations

W.R. Archer, C. Nie, S.M. Maguire, S.V. Sundar, R.D. Priestley, E.C. Davidson, P.J. Chirik, R.A. Register, “Synthesis and Tunable Properties of Chemically Recyclable Multiblock Copolymers via Tandem Olefin Metathesis Polymerizations,” Macromol., 2025, DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.5c00292 

Spatially programmed alignment and actuation in printed liquid crystal elastomers

R. Telles, A. Kotikian, G. Freychet, M. Zhernenkov, P. Wasik, B.M. Yavitt, J. Barrera, C.C. Cook, R. Pindak, E.C. Davidson**, J.A. Lewis**, “Spatially programmed alignment and actuation in printed liquid crystal elastomers,” PNAS, 2025, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.241496012

Rotator Phases in Chemically Recyclable Oligocyclobutanes

H. Zhang, S.M. Maguire, C. Nie, R. Priestley, P.J. Chirik, R.A. Register, E.C. Davidson, M.A. Webb, “Rotator Phases in Chemically Recyclable Oligocyclobutanes,” Chemistry of Materials, 2024, DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.4c02576

Davidson Lab Group Meeting Calendar