Jessica Schiffman

Associate Professor and Acting Department Head

Pronouns: she/her

Mailing Address:
Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Massachusetts Amherst
N533 Life Sciences Laboratories
240 Thatcher Rd

Amherst MA 01003-9364

Schiffman Research Group

schiffman@ecs.umass.edu

413.545.6143 (office)

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Education

Post-Doc, Yale University, Chemical & Environmental Engineering
Ph.D., Drexel University, Materials Science & Engineering, 2009
M.Eng., Cornell University, Materials Science & Engineering, 2004
B.S., Rutgers University, Ceramic & Materials Engineering, 2003

Research

Engineered-materials that improve human health
Materials science and engineering
Green chemistry and renewable polymers
Synthesis and characterization of polymer-based materials
Microbiology and microbial assays

The Schiffman lab is an interdisciplinary and imaginative research group that engineers bioinspired materials that address grand challenges in human health. We have two synergistic research thrusts. (1) In our first thrust, we focus on synthesizing materials using green chemistry and bioinspiration. Here, we look to nature to unveil creative ways to reduce our dependence on petroleum-derived polymers, organic solvents, volatile organic compounds, and/or commercial antibiotics. (2) In our second thrust, we are establishing, understanding, and controlling microbial interactions with materials. Here, we bring an excellent understanding of materials science and mechanics to the world of microbiology and for the first time, merged it with genome engineering. Taken together, our foci have enabled us to pioneer new multifunctional biomedical scaffolds that kill microbes without encouraging the development of resistance genes. Using mussel-inspired adhesives, we developed a universal contamination-free platform that can be applied to materials ranging from water purification membranes to medically relevant hydrogels. We have also reduced the use of organic solvents by developing all-aqueous manufacturing techniques. Currently, we are developing “living materials” that feature viable microorganisms and wearable electronic textiles; stay tuned for more!

Publications

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=V2923usAAAAJ

Rathore, P. & Schiffman, J.D. (2021) "Beyond the single nozzle: Coaxial electrospinning enables innovative nanofiber chemistries, geometries, and applications" ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 13, 1, 48–66.
Huang, M., Liu, Y., Klier, J., Schiffman, J.D. (2020) “High-performance, UV-curable crosslinked films via grafting of hydroxyethyl methacrylate methylene malonate” Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. 59(10), 4542-4548.
Eggensperger, C.G., Giagnorio, M., Holland, M.D., Dobosz, K.M., Schiffman, J.D., Tiraferri, A., Zodrow, K.R. (2020) “Sustainable living filtration membranes” Environmental Science & Technology Letters. 7(3), 213-218.
Heckmann, T.S. & Schiffman, J.D. (2020) “Spatially organized nanopillar arrays dissimilarly affect the antifouling and antibacterial activities of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus” ACS Applied Nano Materials. 3(2), 977-984.
Sun, J., Perry, S.L., Schiffman, J.D. (2019) “Electrospinning nanofibers from chitosan-hyaluronic acid complex coacervates” Biomacromolecules. 20(11), 4191-4198.
Kurtz, I.S., Shuo, S., Hao, X., UG, Huang, M., Perry, S.L., Schiffman, J.D. (2019) “Bacteria-resistant, transparent, free-standing films prepared from complex coacervates” ACS Applied Bio Materials. 2 (9), 3926-3933.
Kolewe K.W., Kalesin S., Shave, M., Schiffman J.D. Santore M.M. (2019) “Mechanical properties and concentrations of poly(ethylene glycol) in hydrogels and brushes direct the surface transport of Staphylococcus aureus” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 11(1), 320–330.
Dobosz, K.M., Kuo-LeBlac, C.A., Emrick, T., Schiffman, J.D. (2019) “Antifouling ultrafiltration membranes with retained pore size by controlled deposition of zwitterionic polymers and poly(ethylene glycol)” Langmuir. 35(5), 1872–1881.
Kolewe, K.W., Dobosz, K.M., Emrick, T., Nonnenmann, S.S., Schiffman, J.D. (2018) “Fouling-resistant hydrogels prepared by the swelling-assisted infusion and polymerization of dopamine” ACS Applied Bio Materials 1(1), 33–41.
Kolewe, K.W., Xhu, J., Mako N., Nonnenmann, S.S., Schiffman, J.D. (2018) “Bacterial adhesion Is affected by the thickness and stiffness of poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 10(3), 2275–2281.
Meng, X., Perry, S.L., Schiffman, J.D. (2017) “Complex coacervation: Chemically stable fibers electrospun from aqueous polyelectrolyte solutions” ACS Macro Letters 6, 505–511.
Dobosz, K.M., Kuo-LeBlac, C.A., Martin, T.J., Schiffman, J.D. (2017) “Ultrafiltration membranes enhanced with electrospun nanofibers exhibit improved flux and fouling resistance” Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 56(19), 5724–5733.

Honors

College of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award, 2020
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces Young Investigator Award, 2019
UMass ADVANCE Collaboration & Equity Faculty Fellow, 2019-2021
Barbara H. and Joseph I. Goldstein Outstanding Junior Faculty Award, 2017
Professor James M. Douglas Career Development Faculty Fellow, 2014
Doctoral Award, Drexel University, 2009
Koerner Family Fellow, 2008
NSF Lindau Fellow, 2008
Best of the MatPac, Best graduate research in Materials Science in Pennsylvania, 2007
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award (Drexel University), 2007
Graduate Assistantship in Areas of National Need (GAANN) Fellow, 2006-2009
NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Fellow, 2005

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