Chemical Engineering Assistant

Mengguo Yan, Ph.D.

Mountain View, CA ***** 515-***-****

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mengguo-yan-0267415a ********@*****.***

Chemical Engineer

Materials Scientist Research & Development (R&D) Characterization & Analytical Tests

Over five years of R&D experiences in polymer science & engineering.

Expertise in thermoplastic elastomer and rubber including synthesis, process, characterization, and product formulation.

Hands on polymerization via RAFT, ATRP, ring open, or condensation of styrene, acrylates, epoxy, acid/amides, bio-based monomer and etc.

Experiences in small molecule synthesis, monomer design, rheology analysis, thermal & mechanical tests, morphology tests, technical trouble shooting, equipment maintenance & fixing, and SOP development.

Knowledge of plant & process design, energy optimization, heat/mass transfer and thermodynamics.

Experiences in reaction scaling up and pilot plant process optimization.

Team player and team leader in research lab.

Accomplished academic with a lengthy repertoire of publications and technique talks, eager to employ refined knowledge base within a position of research scientist/engineer in an energetic and innovative company.

Education & Credentials

Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 2016

Thesis: Structure Architecture & Property Relation of Hyperbranched Polymer Produced from Triglycerides via RAFT Polymerization

B. Eng. in Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology, Shanghai, China, 2011

Languages: English, Mandarin, & Cantonese

Professional Experience

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY, Ames, IA 08/2011 – 08/2016

Research Assistant & Teaching Assistant

Innovatively applied controlled/living free radical polymerization in producing bio-based thermoplastic elastomer from vegetable oils, making evident commercial values.

Developed chain architectures and rheological properties relations of hyperbranched polymers.

Studied the kinetics of polymer network formation via radical polymerization and demonstrated that thermoplastic rubbers could be produced based on multifunctional bio-renewable feedstocks.

Applied bio-based block polystyrene copolymers in pressure sensitive adhesives and asphalt blending additives, which have shown competitive performance with traditional ones.

Actively involved in pilot plant building-up, in the continued commercial development of bio-based thermoplastic elastomer and provided kinetics and heat/mass transfer data. (http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2015/08/20/bio-polymerpilotplant)

Studied efforts of self-assembly of morphologies in terpolymers of high χ acrylate monomers.

Designed, produced, and optimized formulation of thermosetting rubber from pure bio-based monomers with desired mechanical and thermal properties.

Served as a Teaching Assistant in the course Process and Plant Design using Aspen HYSIS; developing and conducting comprehensive lectures on chemical engineering safety.

EAST CHINA UNIVERSITY OF SCINECE & TECHNOLOGY, Shanghai, China 01/2009 – 05/2011

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Actively participated in research on direct synthesis of hierarchically porous zeolites and developed the solvent-evaporation route.

Studied of extrusion foaming of polypropylene and optimized the formulation.

Technical Skills

Polymer Synthesis: Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain Transfer (RAFT) Polymerization, Atom-Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP), Polycondensation

Characterization: Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Rheometry, Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRD), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Small-Angle Light Scattering (SAXS), Infared Spectroscopy (IR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

Professional software and programming languages: Aspen Plus, Aspen HYSIS, ProII, MATLAB, Python, LaTex

Publication

1.Yan, M.; Lin, F.Y.; Cochran, E. W., Linear rheology of hyperbranched poly-triglyceride derived from soybean oil. Macromolecules(2016) (under review).

2.Yan, M.; Huang Y.; Lu, M.; Lin, F.Y.; Hernandez, N. C.; Cochran, E. W., Gel point suppression in RAFT polymerization of pure acrylic crosslinker derived from soybean oil. Biomacromolecules 2016 17 (8), 2701-2709 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.6b00745

3.Hernández, N. C.; Yan, M.; Cochran, E. W.; Matthiesen, J. E.; Tessonnier, J., Bioadvantaged Nylon: Polycondensation of 3-Hexenedioic Acid with Hexamethylenediamine. Patent filed in early stage.

http://isurftech.technologypublisher.com/technology/20750

4.Zhang, C.; Yan, M.; Cochran, E. W. and Kessler, M. R., Biorenewable Polymers Based on Acrylated Epoxidized Soybean Oil and Methacrylated Vanillin. Materials Today Communications (2015): 18-22.

DOI:10.1016/j.mtcomm.2015.09.003

5.Hernández, N. C.; Yan, M.; Williams, R. C. and Cochran, E. W., Thermoplastic Elastomers from Vegetable Oils via Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization. Green Polymer Chemistry: Biobased Materials and Biocatalysis. January 1, 2015, 183-199

DOI:10.1021/bk-2015-1192.ch012

6.Kong, Z.; Yue, B.; Dong, W.; Zhu, K.; Yan, M.; Peng, Y. and He. H. Direct synthesis of hierarchically porous TS-1 through a solvent-evaporation route and its application as an oxidation catalyst. Applied Organometallic Chemistry 28.4 (2014): 239-243.

Manuscript in preparation

1.Yan, M.; Bergman, J.; Cochran, E.W.; Heinen, J., Self-Assembling morphologies in terpolymers of high χ monomers. To be submitted to Polymer

2.Yan, M.; Frank, E.; Cochran, E. W., Effects of Vegetable Oil Composition and its' Epoxidation Level to the physical properties. To be submitted to Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society

Technical Presentation

1.Yan, M. and Cochran, E.W., Determination of the Economic Opportunity for Soybean Oils for Use as a Monomer.

In United Soybean Oil Board Technical Panel Meeting, Detroit, MI, April, 2016

2.Yan, M., and Cochran, E. W., Role of Acrylic Content on the Kinetics and Rheology of Thermoplastic Poly(acrylated expoxidized soybean oil) Produced Via RAFT Polymerization. In Annual Meeting of the American

Institute of Chemical Engineers, Salt Lake City, UT, November 2015

3.Yan, M., Hernández, N. C. and Cochran, E. W., Kinetics Study on Hyperbranched Thermoplastic Elastomer from Soybean Oil Via RAFT.

In Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Atlanta, GA, November 2014

4.Yan, M. and Cochran, E. W., Rheology of hyperbranched poly(triglyceride)-based thermoplastic elastomers via RAFT polymerization.

In March Meeting of the American Physical Society, Denver, CO, March 2014

Mentoring Experiences

01/2013-01/2014

Lucas Dunshee

Polystyrene synthesis

ATRP polymerization

03/2014-12/2015

Mingjia Lu

RAFT polymerization

Polymerization kinetics

08/2013-08/2015

Yuerui Huang

RAFT polymerization

Polymer network formation

01/2014-07/2015

Fengze Sun

Small molecule synthesis

08/2013-08/2015

Moises Contreras

RAFT polymerization

Rheology

01/2015-05/2016

Elizabeth Frank

Bio-based monomer modification

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