Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

whitney loo @whitneysloo.bsky.social · 13d

excited to announce that we've been awarded an NSF DMREF grant to study crosslinkable photoresists for EUV lithography! can't wait to work with the great team of e researchers at the University of Illinois on this project. learn more here: engineering.wisc.edu/blog/an-nsf-...

An NSF DMREF award will help Whitney Loo design polymers critical to making next-gen computer chips - College of Engineering - University of Wisconsin-Madison

Whitney Loo, the Conway Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is part of a four-year project selected by the National Sci...

engineering.wisc.edu

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Tehshik Yoon @tehshik.bsky.social · 19d

Come be my newest colleague!

jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/assista...

Assistant Professor of Chemistry - Madison, Wisconsin, United States

Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.Job Category:FacultyEmployment Type:Regula...

jobs.wisc.edu

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Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · Sep 4

Sec. Kennedy is, as usual, lying. Scientists and physicians across the country and indeed around the world are aghast at what he's been doing.

Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · Sep 4

RFK claims scientists and doctors across the country as supporting him. Jesus fuck. #FIreRFK

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whitney loo @whitneysloo.bsky.social · Aug 11

great day (and view!!) at the @als.lbl.gov User Meeting today!

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whitney loo @whitneysloo.bsky.social · Aug 11

the second Loo Lab paper is out! here we use a combined SAXS/SANS approach to study the phase behavior of charged-neutral polymer blends. despite being macroscopically miscible, these blends form disordered nanostructures due to ionic interactions pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

The Influence of Charge Correlation and Ion Solvation on the Phase Behavior of Single-Ion Conducting Polymer Blend Electrolytes Using SAXS/SANS

Single-ion conducting polymer blends (SICPBs) have demonstrated exceptional electrochemical performance as solid-state battery electrolytes; however, their nanoscale morphology and thermodynamic behavior remain unexplored. In this work, we investigate blends composed of deuterated poly(ethylene oxide) and poly[lithium sulfonyl(trifluoromethane sulfonyl)imide methacrylate], dPEO/P(LiMTFSI), and report the first experimental study of the nanostructures of charge-neutral polymer blends using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Despite the macroscopic miscibility indicated by a single glass-transition temperature, SANS and SAXS results reveal disordered, charge-correlated nanostructures that are strongly influenced by blend composition and temperature. At low concentrations of charge polymer, the scattering is dominated by concentration fluctuations, and the random phase approximation is applied to extract values of the Flory–Huggins interaction parameter, χSC. At higher charged polymer content, concentration fluctuations are suppressed, and a correlation model is used to characterize the nanostructures of the charge correlations. We find that the structures of the charge correlations are highly dependent on blend composition─consistent with predictions from Sing’s self-consistent field theory-liquid state models. Understanding these features is essential for uncovering the ion transport mechanism that leads to improved electrochemical performance previously reported in SICPB systems.

pubs.acs.org

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Mikhail Zinshteyn @mzinshteyn.bsky.social · Aug 1

If you're a UCLA researcher (PI, grad student, etc) with an NSF, NIH or other suddenly suspended grant, please email or DM me.

I'm trying to confirm what the suspension letters say and how extensive the NIH suspensions are.

Email: Mikhail at calmatters dot org

Mikhail Zinshteyn @mzinshteyn.bsky.social · Aug 1

I chased this all day:

UCLA research grants suspended after Trump administration faulted campus for antisemitism

calmatters.org/education/hi...

UCLA research grants suspended after Trump administration faulted campus for antisemitism

The Justice Department issued UCLA a notice of violation for not responding “adequately” to complaints about antisemitism.

calmatters.org

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whitney loo @whitneysloo.bsky.social · Jul 30

my group is looking to hire a postdoc to work on a variety of polymer-related projects of their choosing! If you know of any outstanding candidates that are looking for postdoctoral positions, please send them my way

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Jul 23

“More than 140 employees of the National Science Foundation have signed a letter denouncing what they described as efforts to undermine one of the country’s main science funding agencies.”

Amid Fear of Retaliation, N.S.F. Workers Sign Letter of Dissent

www.nytimes.com

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skelly @iid.bsky.social · Jul 20

do you ever stare at the ceiling and think about how the worldwide scientific establishment did the impossible and created a COVID vaccine in under a year and the response of the general public has been to go on an unstoppable rampage to destroy science and scientists

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Paul Voosen @voosen.me · Jul 10

Senate appropriators showed today they are *not* down with Trump's proposed budget cuts for NASA and NSF. (Likely NOAA too, but can't say for 100% yet.)

Long way to go to a law. But this is rare good news for scientists this year.

www.science.org/content/arti...

www.science.org

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Walker Bragman @walkerbragman.bsky.social · Jul 10

SCOOP

www.importantcontext.news/p/national-s...

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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · Jul 2

When history marks the point where we lost the future to China, this will be it.

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whitney loo @whitneysloo.bsky.social · Jun 24

check out this interview with one of our amazing undergrad researchers, Aidiel! Aidiel will graduate from UW-Madison in August and start his PhD in ChemE at University of Minnesota this fall. We are so proud of Aidiel in the Loo Lab!

engineering.wisc.edu/blog/curiosi...

Curiosity to contribution: Aidiel's journey from research to recognition - College of Engineering - University of Wisconsin-Madison

Chemical engineering senior Aidiel shares how undergraduate research in the Loo Lab—and a Hilldale Fellowship—shaped his path from UW–Madison to graduate school and a future in energy storage.

engineering.wisc.edu

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whitney loo @whitneysloo.bsky.social · Jun 16

first Loo Lab paper is out now in @pubs.acs.org! here we show how polymer blends can tune Li ion solvation site and enhance ion transport

read it here: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

pubs.acs.org

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Doug Lucas @douglaslucas.bsky.social · Jun 4

New @rollingstone.com by me: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Judges have told Trump, if he wants #DOGE -style austerity, he must get statutory reorg. authority from Congress. The GOP's Reorganizing Govt. Act of 2025 would give him exactly that.

Extra material: douglaslucas.com/blog/2025/06...

GOP Bill Would Legalize DOGE and Let Trump Dismantle Everything

Donald Trump’s DOGE team is on dubious legal footing. Republicans have an efficiency bill to let him tear apart the federal government.

www.rollingstone.com

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Reposted by whitney loo

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · May 20

Baldwin to RFK Jr: "Is funding for Alzheimer's research centers DEI? Because you're holding up $65m for 14 of those centers in 9 states, including UW Madison. Is funding for cancer centers DEI? Because you're holding up $47m in cancer center support grants at 9 cancer centers in 8 states."

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whitney loo @whitneysloo.bsky.social · May 20

yay!!! we are so excited for you to join us in madison! On Wisconsin!

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whitney loo @whitneysloo.bsky.social · May 7

we finally got around to updating the group website! read about all of the group's accomplishments this semester here: loolab.che.wisc.edu/news/

News

Polymers for a Sustainable Future

loolab.che.wisc.edu

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · May 6

🚨🚨 Deranged letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon to Harvard’s president, cutting off federal funding for any new grants.

Worth reading in full. It is NUTS.

THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION
WASHINGTON, DC 20202
May 5, 2025
Dr. Alan Garber
Office of the President
Harvard University
Massachusetts Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138
Dr. Garber,
The Federal Government has a sacred responsibility to be a wise and important steward of American taxpayer dollars. Harvard University, despite amassing a largely tax-free $53.2 billion dollar endowment (larger than the GDP of 100 countries), receives billions of dollars of taxpayer largess each year. Receiving such taxpayer funds is a privilege, not a right. Yet instead of using these funds to advance the education of its students, Harvard is engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law. Where do many of these "students" come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country—and why is there so much HATE? These are questions that must be answered, among many more, but the biggest question of all is, why will Harvard not give straightforward answers to the American public?
Harvard University has made a mockery of this country's higher education system. It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus. In every way, Harvard has failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities, and any semblance of academic rigor. It had scrapped standardized testing requirements and a normalized grading system. This year Harvard was forced to adopt an embarrassing "remedial math" program for undergraduates.
Why is it, we ask, that Harvard has to teach simple and basic mathematics, when it is supposedly so hard to get into this "acclaimed university"? Who is getting in under such a low standard when others, with fabulous grades and a great understanding of the highest levels of mathematics, are being rejected?
Harvard has even been embroiled in humiliating plagiarism scandals, exposed clearly and plainly in the media, with respect to your then…

$running the institution in a totally chaotic way. Harvard alumnus and highly successful hedge fund manager Bill Ackman noted that, under her leadership, Harvard has become "a political advocacy organization for one party." Ackman has called for the resignation of Pritzker, concluding that the "[t)he mismanagement here is Penny Pritzker" and noting that any serious corporation would have removed her after a litany of recent failings and the fact that, incredibly, "Harvard is not in a good financial position." According to Ackman, one of the world's foremost finance experts, Harvard's so-called S53 billion endowment is "massively overstated as far as what it's really worth," and Harvard has irresponsibly taken out $8 billion in debt. If this is true, it is concerning evidence of Harvard's disastrous mismanagement, indicating an urgent need for massive reform-not continued taxpayer investment. If Harvard prefers not to change, then Harvard should have no problem using its overflowing endowment to fund its bloated bureaucracy. At its best, a university should fulfill the highest ideals of our Nation, and enlighten the thousands of hopeful students who walk through its magnificent gates. But Harvard has betrayed this ideal. Perhaps most alarmingly, Harvard has failed to abide by the United States Supreme Court's ruling demanding that it end its racial preferencing, and continues to engage in ugly racism in its undergraduate and graduate schools, and even within the Harvard Law Review itself. Our universities should be bastions of merit that reward and celebrate excellence and achievement. They should not be incubators of discrimination that encourage resentment and instill grievance and racism into our wonderful young Americans. The above concerns are only a fraction of the long list of Harvard's consistent violations of its own legal duties. Given these and other concerning allegations, this letter is to inform you that Harvard should no longer seek GRANTS from the fede…$

Federal Agencies. The Administration's priorities have not changed and today's letter marks the end of new grants for the University.
These requests will advance the best interests of Harvard University, so it can reclaim its status as a respected educational institution for the future leaders of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Sincerely,
Linda E. McMahon
Secretary of Education

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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · Apr 30

The cuts to science funding *alone* will generate a Great Recession-sized hole in the economy.

"It’s less a 'self-inflicted wound' and more 'jumping head-first into a wood chipper.'”

Study: Cuts to Science Funding Will Yield Great Recession-Level Economic Hit

Splinter is your home for news and opinions that challenge power in our political and economic system that's becoming more unhinged each and every day.

www.splinter.com

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Wyoming Wormboy @wyomingwormboy.bsky.social · Apr 30

BTW. If you’re a scientist and are feeling hollowed out, depressed, fried, frustrated, confused, and simply exhausted by everything, I understand you. You are perfectly sane and you are not alone.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Apr 30

A 50% cut to science funding (which is close to what Trump is proposing for NIH) would result in huge negative long-term economic outcomes:
*7.6% cut in GDP
*8.6% cut in federal revenues
*equivalents of making the average American $10,000 poorer

Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · Apr 30

"If you look at a long period of time, a lot of our increase in living standards seems to be coming from public investment in scientific research."

The devastating cuts to science funding aren't just academic, they threaten our livelihoods and wellbeing. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/b...

Trump’s Cuts to Science Funding Could Hurt U.S. Economy, Study Shows (Gift Article)

Reducing federal support for research and development could cause long-run economic damage and reduce government revenue.

www.nytimes.com

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whitney loo @whitneysloo.bsky.social · Apr 22

Happy Earth Day!

check out some of the research the CBE department at UW-Madison is conducting to address current sustainability challenges: engineering.wisc.edu/blog/how-che...

How chemical engineers are tackling earth's sustainability challenges - College of Engineering - University of Wisconsin-Madison

Often overlooked, chemical engineering is one of the most important factors in addressing our planet's complex challenges.

engineering.wisc.edu

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Alex Albaugh @alexalbaugh.com · Apr 18

I created and taught a machine learning course for chemical engineers this semester. In my last lecture I cover ethical issues and I told a story about the connection between chemical physics, large language models, and copyright law. Read on if you want to know more!

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whitney loo @whitneysloo.bsky.social · Apr 16

go dubs

Ben Ross @benross.bsky.social · Apr 16

Steve Kerr wore a Harvard basketball shirt after the Warriors’ win tonight: “Yes, this is me supporting Harvard. Way to go. Way to stand up to the bully.”

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