IRES Symposium
Join us for the IRES Dresden Symposium, where this year’s cohort of PhD students will present research conducted over their 10-week international experience in Germany. Each student will give a brief talk highlighting their project and findings.
2026 Symposium Schedule
The symposium will be held in person and broadcast via Zoom to accommodate remote attendees. Faculty advisors, research group members, local hosts, and collaborators are all encouraged to attend. The full schedule is provided below.
- Date: Friday, July 31, 2026
- 2:00 – 4:15 pm CEST (Germany)
- 8:00 – 10:15 am EST (North Carolina)
- Room Location: Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research, Conference Hall, H201
- Zoom: https://go.ncsu.edu/ires_symposium
| SESSION 1: BIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS | |
| 2:00 – 2:15 PM CEST 8:00 – 8:15 AM EST | CATHERINE CAI Duke / Leibniz IPF, Host: Quinn Besford FRET-Based Probing of Biomolecular Corona Formation Processes |
| 2:15 – 2:30 PM CEST 8:15 – 8:30 AM EST | NICOLE VIJGEN Duke / Leibniz IPF, Host: Christian Roßner The Fate of Polymer-Coated Nanoparticles in Biological Media |
| 2:30 – 2:45 PM CEST 8:30 – 8:45 AM EST | AMARIS THOMAS NC State / Leibniz IPF, Host: Jonas Schubert PEG vs. POx: A Comparison of Microbubble Construction and Characterization |
| SESSION 2: SOFT MATTER PHYSICS | |
| 2:45 – 3:00 PM CEST 8:45 – 9:00 AM EST | EDUARDO CASTELLANOS-TREJO NC State / Leibniz IPF, Host: Günter Auernhammer Dynamic Wetting of Concentrated Granular Suspensions |
| 3:00 – 3:15 PM CEST 9:00 – 9:15 AM EST | Coffee Break |
| SESSION 3: OPTICAL PROPERTIES | |
| 3:15 – 3:30 PM CEST 9:15 – 9:30 AM EST | JORDAN PERALTA NC State / Leibniz IPF, Host: Petra Uhlmann Dye Aggregation in Polymer Matrices |
| 3:30 – 3:45 PM CEST 9:30 – 9:45 AM EST | KHOA WESTON NC State / Leibniz IPF, Host: Hendrik Schlicke Multispectral Near-Infrared Photodetection Based on Plasmonic Colloidal Nanostructures |
| SESSION 4: BIOMATERIALS | |
| 3:45 – 4:00 PM CEST 9:45 – 10:00 AM EST | MARIA KULAPURATHAZHE Duke / Leibniz IPF, Hosts: Yael Politi, Yohaan Kudtarkar Assembly of Chitin-Protein Composites Inspired by Nature |
| 4:00 – 4:15 PM CEST 10:00 – 10:15 AM EST | MARA ALONSO NC State / PTS, Host: Cornell Wüstner Testing the Application of Flame Retardants on Paper-Based Materials |
2025 Symposium Schedule
- Date: Friday, July 25, 2025
- 2:00 – 4:35 pm CEST (Germany)
- 8:00 – 10:35 am EST (North Carolina)
- Room Location: Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research, Conference Hall, H201
- Zoom: https://go.ncsu.edu/ires_symposium
| SESSION 1: SIMULATIONS | |
| 2:00 – 2:15 PM CEST 8:00 – 8:15 AM EST | MERVE FEDAI NC State / Leibniz IPF, Host: Arash Nikoubashman Molecular Insights into Self-Assembly and Structural Color in CNC-Inspired Liquid Crystalline Phases |
| 2:15 – 2:30 PM CEST 8:15 – 8:30 AM EST | NIKKI HAMMOND NC State / Leibniz IPF, Hosts: Jens-Uwe Sommer, Tyler Harmon Simulation/Theory of Nucleation Barriers for Phase Separation in Polymerizing Systems |
| SESSION 2: SYNTHETIC SOFT MATERIALS | |
| 2:30 – 2:45 PM CEST 8:30 – 8:45 AM EST | NICHOLAS FINAN Duke / Leibniz IPF, Host: Quinn Besford Developing Messenger Material Nanoparticles for Probing Physical Phenomena |
| 2:45 – 2:55 PM CEST 8:45 – 8:55 AM EST | Coffee Break |
| 2:55 – 3:10 PM CEST 8:55 – 9:10 AM EST | CLAIRE WANG UNC / Leibniz IPF, Host: Christian Roßner Polyoxazoline-Based Bottle-Brush Polymers for Functionalizing Gold Nanoparticles |
| 3:10 – 3:25 PM CEST 9:10 – 9:25 AM EST | AARON CROSS NC State / HZDR, Host: Denys Makarov Self-Aware and Self-Healable Magnetic Soft Robots |
| SESSION 3: BIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS | |
| 3:25 – 3:40 PM CEST 9:25 – 9:40 AM EST | RICHARD GILMAN NC State / Leibniz IPF, Host: Jonas Schubert TBD |
| 3:40 – 3:50 PM CEST 9:40 – 9:50 AM EST | Coffee Break |
| 3:50 – 4:05 PM CEST 9:50 – 10:05 AM EST | S M ABU NASER SHOVON NC State / DKFZ, Hosts: Tian Qiu, Jiyuan Tian Soft Micro-Robot via Ultrasound Actuation |
| SESSION 4: BIOMATERIALS | |
| 4:05 – 4:20 PM CEST 10:05 – 10:20 AM EST | FONTAINE MCFEATERS NC State / Leibniz IPF, Hosts: Carsten Werner, Lars Renner Multifunctional Anchor Polymer Coatings for Next-Generation Antibacterial Surfaces |
| 4:20 – 4:35 PM CEST 10:20 – 10:35 AM EST | REID BARNETT NC State / PTS, Host: Andreas Geißler Biological Functionalization of Paper |
2024 Symposium Schedule
- Date: Friday, July 26, 2024
- 2:00 – 4:40 pm CEST (Germany)
- 8:00 – 10:40 am EST (North Carolina)
- Room Location: Barkhausen Bau I88
- Zoom: https://go.ncsu.edu/ires_symposium
| SESSION 1: SIMULATIONS | |
| 2:00 – 2:20 PM CEST 8:00 – 8:20 AM EST | MATT DORSEY NC State / Leibniz IPF, Hosts: Jens-Uwe Sommer, Ron Dockhorn Hysteresis of Stiff, Interlocking Polymer Rings |
| 2:20 – 2:40 PM CEST 8:20 – 8:40 AM EST | CHRISSY BAYARD NC State / TU Dresden, Hosts: Gianaurelio Cuniberti, Leonardo Medrano Sandonas Quantum Machine Learning for RNA Simulations |
| 2:40 – 2:50 PM CEST 8:40 – 8:50 AM EST | Coffee Break |
| SESSION 2: POLYMER CHEMISTRY | |
| 2:50 – 3:10 PM CEST 8:50 – 9:10 AM EST | MARIA FURUKAWA UNC / Leibniz IPF, Host: Petra Uhlmann Preparation of Biocompatible Polyamide Nanofilms with Multifunctional Polymer Brushes |
| 3:10 – 3:30 PM CEST 9:10 – 9:30 AM EST | ALEX FORET Duke / Leibniz IPF, Host: Christian Roßner Synthesis of Terpyridine-Containing Copolymers with Star Topology as Ligands for Gold Nanoparticles |
| 3:30 – 3:50 PM CEST 9:30 – 9:50 AM EST | TAYLOR ROBINSON UNC / Leibniz IPF, Host: Quinn Besford Developing Messenger Material Nanoparticles for Probing Physical Phenomena |
| 3:50 – 4:00 PM CEST 9:50 – 10:00 AM EST | Coffee Break |
| SESSION 3: APPLICATIONS | |
| 4:00 – 4:20 PM CEST 10:00 -10:20 AM EST | DARRYL TAYLOR Duke / Papiertechnische Stiftung, Host: Martin Zahel Acetosolv Nanocellulose |
| 4:20 – 4:40 PM CEST 10:20 – 10:40 AM EST | JIMMY NGUYEN NC State / TU Dresden, Hosts: Stefan Kaskel, Irena Senkovska Synthesis and Chemistry of 2D Metal-Organic Frameworks |
