Dr. Bridgette M. Budhlall is currently a Professor and Associate Chair of Doctoral Programs in the department of Plastics Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. After graduating from Lehigh University with a PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering in 2000, Dr. Budhlall, spent 7 years in industry at Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. where she conducted research on the synthesis of latexes for coatings and developed photoresist polymers and immersion fluids for microlithography applications. The opportunity to return to academia was irresistible and she completed a brief stint at the department of Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University, working as a Visiting Research Assistant Professor, with Professor Orlin D. Velev before recruited to join the NSF Center for High Rate Nanomanufacturing at UMass, Lowell.
In her current position, Dr. Budhlall’s lab conducts research on the synthesis of nanostructured polymers with controlled morphologies specifically designed to trigger and control motility and assembly with external stimuli. These nanostructured polymers are useful in variety of industrial applications ranging from biosensors, chemical sensors and nanofluidic devices, smart coatings and adhesives, drug delivery systems and biomedical devices. Dr. Budhlall has received over $2.2 million in funding from NSF, US Army Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center, NextFlex, Massachusetts Manufacturing & Innovation Institute (M2I2), and various industrial collaborations, published more than 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, has two US and European Patents and five (PCT and US) applications (among a total of 8 patents and applications) and published 1 book chapter.
Dr. Budhlall is also committed to teaching, mentoring and training the next generation of Plastics Engineers for leadership positions in Industry, Academia and Government. Dr. Budhlall’s regular course offerings cover physical polymer science (junior level course) polymer science lab (junior level lab), coatings science, and colloidal nanoscience and nanoscale engineering (graduate level courses).