Leibfarth announced as inaugural Institute for Convergent Science faculty fellow
The institute’s Faculty Fellowship Program will provide support for Frank Leibfarth, associate professor in the chemistry department within the College of 艺术 and Sciences, whose re太阳城娱乐城 includes expanding options for recycling.
Frank Leibfarth的研究 tests molecules to turn plastic waste into useful 材料 — a potential method of recycling that could upend the industry and prevent recyclable 材料 from ending up in landfills, 垃圾焚烧厂, or as environmental pollutants. It’s the type of inter-disciplinary, translational re太阳城娱乐城 that the Institute for Convergent Science 是为了支持.
The Institute for Convergent Science is a pan-campus unit working to expand the scale and scope of Carolina’s impact on society by translating discovery into solutions through invention, 创新, 和企业. 成立于2022年, the institute delivers resources through a “Ready-Set-Go” framework built around the concepts of readying re太阳城娱乐城ers to converge on an issue, setting projects up for success by developing intellectual property and inventions, and launching the product or technology through the appropriate channels.
“ICS is designed to gather and focus Carolina’s scientific talent to create new technologies, 材料, 治疗, and devices that can be rapidly implemented to improve the lives of North Carolinians and the country as a whole,” 格雷格Copenhaver, the institute’s director. “Frank is a fabulous example of this approach. 他有很深的, world-class expertise in synthetic chemistry, but also the ability to collaborate productively with partners across the university to create technologies that make a real-world difference, including a way to remove ‘forever chemicals’ from drinking water and novel approaches for turning waste plastic into useful, 即使是高价值, 材料.”
The ICS Faculty Fellows Program offers five-year fellowships in collaboration with other Carolina departments and supports re太阳城娱乐城ers pursuing 创新-oriented science to produce impactful solutions to technological or societal issues. Mentorship and information sharing is also built into the program to ensure the continued advancement of UNC-Chapel Hill’s re太阳城娱乐城 enterprise.
ICS faculty fellowships invest in re太阳城娱乐城ers instead of specific projects. Leibfarth can choose from his full scope of re太阳城娱乐城, including how to make PFAS-contaminated water safe to drink, when deciding which issues to tackle in the coming years.
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