Joe Patterson
Assistant Professor, Chemistry
| Location: | 321 Rowland Hall | |
| Email: | patters3@uci.edu | |
| Phone: | (949) 529-6854 | |
| Address: | Chemistry University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-2575 |
Profile
Joe is a materials chemist and electron microscopy expert focusing on the liquid phase and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy, and molecular and colloidal self-assembly. Joe was born in Nottingham, England. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the University of York, UK, and conducted his master’s research project with Cytec Engineered Materials at the Wilton Centre. He completed his Ph.D. in radical polymer chemistry and self-assembly at the University of Warwick, UK, in 2013, working under the supervision of Professor Rachel O’Reilly. As a postdoctoral scholar, he worked for Professor Nathan C. Gianneschi and Professor Kimberly Prather at the University of California San Diego, USA, and the Centre for Aerosol Impacts on Climate and Environment (CAICE). In 2016 he joined the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, working in the Laboratory of Materials and Interface Chemistry led by Professor Nico Sommerdijk. In July 2018 Joe joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. He has been awarded several prizes including the Domino/MacroGroupUK Young Polymer Scientist of the Year in 2011, the 2013 Jon Weaver Ph.D. prize, and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual fellowship in 2017.
Education
PhD, University of Warwick, UK, 2013
Research
Joe’s current research focuses on developing a holistic understanding of the mechanisms that govern molecular and colloidal self-assembly. His group’s goal is the development of new materials through a deep understanding of their structure and dynamics. He is particularly interested in how phenomena such as liquid-liquid phase separation, crystallization driven self-assembly, non-equilibrium self-assembly, and non-classical nucleation govern the formation of polymeric materials and metal-organic frameworks. These materials find application in a wide range of areas including medicine, catalysis, and separation science. His group uses a wide range of analytical tools but places a strong emphasis on the direction visualization and quantification of self-assembly processes using liquid phase and cryogenic electron microscopy.