Jessica Schiffman

Associate Professor and Interim Associate Department Head, James M. Douglas Career Development Faculty Fellow

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

Materials science and engineering
Renewable biopolymers and bioactive natural products
Nanostructure synthesis
Antibacterial surfaces
Water and wastewater treatment

The Schiffman Lab aims to elucidate and employ the materials properties of renewable biopolymers and bioactive products for the sustainable synthesis of novel nanostructures. Polymers derived from natural sources have inherent qualities that make them superior to synthetic polymers. They are antibacterial, biodegradable, biocompatible, chelate ions, and have coagulation capabilities. Natural products, like plant derivatives exhibit wide-spectrum antimicrobial activity. By analyzing the chemistry, processability, and biological functionality of these agents we are able to engineer and characterize devices that address public health concerns in biomedical and environmental fields. Currently, applications of interest include antibiofilm coatings, nanofiber scaffolds for wound healing, as well as membranes that selectively remove contaminants. Our research is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing influences from chemical engineering, materials science engineering, environmental engineering, and microbiology.

Publications

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

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.
Sae-ung, P., Kolewe, K.W., Bai, Y., Rice, E.W., Schiffman, J.D., Emrick, T., Hoven, V.P. (2017) “Antifouling stripes prepared from clickable zwitterionic copolymers” Langmuir 33(28), 7028–7035.
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.
Kolewe, K.W., Dobosz, K.M., Rieger, K.A., Chang, C-C., Emrick, T., Schiffman, J.D. (2016) “Antifouling electrospun nanofiber mats functionalized with polymer zwitterions” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 8(41) 27585–27593.
Rieger, K.A., Thyagarajan, R., Hoen M., Ford, D., Schiffman, J.D. (2016) “Transport of microorganisms into cellulose nanofiber mats” RSC Advances 6, 24438-24445.
Rieger, K.A., Cho, H.J., Yeung, H., Fan, W., Schiffman, J.D. (2016) “Antimicrobial activity of silver ion exchanged zeolites immobilized on cellulose nanofibers” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 8(5), 3032–3040.
Chang, C-C., Kolewe, K.W., Li, Y., Kosif, I., Freeman, B.D., Carter, K., Schiffman, J.D., Emrick, T. (2016) “Simultaneous deposition of zwitterionic polymer and polydopamine for hydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic surfaces” Advanced Materials Interfaces 1500521, 1-9.
Rieger, K.A., Birch, N.P., Schiffman, J.D. (2016) “Electrospinning chitosan/poly(ethylene oxide) solutions with immiscible oils: Correlating solution rheology to nanofiber formation” Carbohydrate Polymers 139, 131–138.

Honors

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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