News

2017

Dec 2017	Prof. Schniepp joins the editorial board of PLOS ONE, one of the world's largest scientific journals as an Academic Editor.
Dec 2017	Prof. Schniepp speaks at the 7th International Conference on Mechanics of Biomaterials and Tissues about our most recent results on the hierarchical structure of silk.
Dec 2017	Prof. Schniepp presents four papers at the 2017 Fall MRS Meeting in Boston, MA on topics including the brown recluse ribbon silk, thermal interface materials, and interfacial properties of graphene.
Nov 2017	Ph. D. student Qijue Wang receives an International Student Opportunity Award from the Reves Center for International Studies, William and Mary.
Sep 2017	New publication: Polymer (2017) — Hocker, Hudson-Smith, Smith, Komatsu, Dickinson, Schniepp & Kranbuehl: "Graphene oxide reduces the hydrolytic degradation in polyamide-11". A tiny amount of graphene makes plastics more durable.
Mar 2017	The U.S. National Science Foundation produces a video feature of our breakthrough on the loops of the brown recluse spider in their Science Now—Science 360 show (Episode 50).
Feb 2017	Discovery Channel Canada] airs a TV feature of our brown recluse looped silk discovery in their science show Daily Planet (7:00 pm show on February 15).
Feb 2017	BBC radio interview: On Feb. 20, the BBC aired a 5-minute radio interview with Prof. Schniepp on the group's recent breakthough on the looped recluse silk. Now available here (The Naked Scientists).
Feb 2017	ABC Australia radio interview: On Feb. 24, the BBC interview was also aired on the other side of the world. Now available here (The Naked Scientists).
Feb 2017	The Naked Scientists, a British science podcast, features Prof. Schniepp's BBC interview on their web page, including a written story and images: link.
Feb 2017	The Daily Press has a video feature on our silk research.
Feb 2017	The Daily Press interviews Prof. Schniepp as part of their front page story on our paper on the loops in the silk of the recluse spider.
Feb 2017	New publication: Materials Horizons (2017) — Koebley, Vollrath & Schniepp*: "Toughness-enhancing metastructure in the recluse spider's looped ribbon silk". Ribbon silk has the unique ability to enhance toughness and maintain strength via looping.

2016

Dec 2016	New story on the William & Mary web page featuring our team member Sean Koebley as one of the two founding members of William & Mary Journal Club, a weekly gathering of William & Mary graduate students for sharing research.
Nov 2016	We present several papers at the 2016 Fall MRS Meeting in Boston, MA on topics including the brown recluse ribbon silk, optical characterization of 2D materials/graphene, and oil recovery.
Oct 2016	We have two openings for new PhD students in our group. Starting date: Fall 2017. For more information, click here. Application Deadline: February 2017.
Oct 2016	Invited Presentation: Our PhD student Sean Koebley presents the most recent breakthroughs in his investigations of the brown recluse ribbons silk in front of the William & Mary Graduate Studies Advisory Board.
Oct 2016	New publication: Energy & Fuels (2016) — Dickinson, Suijkerbuijk, Berg, Marcelis & Schniepp* "Atomic Force Spectroscopy Using Colloidal Tips Functionalized with Dried Crude Oil: A Versatile Tool to Investigate Oil–Mineral Interactions". Press Release.
Sep 2016	William & Mary features our Lab in a news story about the new ISC building. Our highly sensitive work on atomic force microscopy is highlighted.
Sep 2016	New publication: Surface Innovations (2016) — Dickinson, Kranbuehl & Schniepp* "Assessing Graphene Oxide/Polymer Interfacial Interactions via Peeling Test".
Apr 2016	The physics department at the College of William & Mary has named Prof. Schniepp a Courtesy Associate Professor of Physics.
Apr 2016	New publication: Polymer (2016) — Hocker, Hudson-Smith, Schniepp & Kranbuehl* "Enhancing polyimide's water barrier properties through addition of functionalized graphene oxide".
Apr 2016	New publication: Nanoscale (2016) — Neugirg, Koebley, Schniepp* & Fery* "AFM-based mechanical characterization of single nanofibres".

2015

Dec 2015	Prof. Schniepp delivers an invited Keynote Speech at the 6th International Conference on Mechanics of Biomaterials and Tissues.
Dec 2015	Sean Koebley's poster on the toughness of the brown recluse spider was nominated for Best Poster Award at the 2015 MRS Fall National Meeting in Boston, MA.
Nov 2015	We present several papers at the 2015 Fall MRS Meeting in Boston, MA on topics including the brown recluse ribbon silk, self-assembly of silk molecules, graphene/polyimide coatings, and graphene-enhanced nylon with extended lifetime.
Oct 2015	Our research on the silk of the brown recluse spider is highlighted by the ideation magazine article: "Unraveling the secret of silk that's more alive than dead".
Sep 2015	Cover Story in the Daily Press featuring our recently published research on shear-induced self-assembly of molecularly thin silk fibrils. There is also a corresponding Video Interview.
Sep 2015	Hannes Schniepp is named a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Nanoscience with Advanced Technology (Verizona Publisher).
Aug 2015	Ph. D. student Qijue Wang receives the 2015 Fall Graduate Studies Advisory Board Recruitment Fellowship.
Aug 2015	The National Science Foundation (NSF) has made a 4-year, $324,000 award from the DMREF program (Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future) to Prof. Schniepp, starting Oct. 2015.
Aug 2015	New publication: "Silk Reconstitution Disrupts Fibroin Self-Assembly" by authors Koebley, Greving, Vollrath & Schniepp*, just appeared in Biomacromolecules. More information in our Press Release.
Feb 2015	For the term 2015–2018, The College of William & Mary has designated Prof. Schniepp the Adina Allen Term Distinguished Associate Professor of Applied Science in recognition for his contributions in teaching and research.

2014

Dec 2014	"Highly Cited" Status for 5th Paper: Our 2012 paper “Methods of Graphite Exfoliation” has now reached “highly cited” status, as it is in the top 1% of all papers in Materials Science. This is Prof. Schniepp's 5th “highly cited” paper.
Aug 2014	Ph. D. student Qijue Wang receives the 2014 Fall Graduate Studies Advisory Board Recruitment Fellowship.
Aug 2014	Ph. D. student Sean Koebley receives a 2014–2015 Graduate STEM Research Fellowship, Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC).
Aug 2014	Prof. Schniepp joins the Department of Materials Science (D-MATL) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland, for one year as a guest professor, hosted by Prof. André Studart.
May 2014	Prof. Schniepp is the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award from the U. S. National Science Foundation (award # DMR-1352542). The award will provide a total of $450,000 over 5 years to investigate the ribbon silk of the loxosceles spider.
Mar 2014	Discovery Channel Canada airs a TV feature of our brown recluse silk project in their science show Daily Planet (7:00 pm show on March 10).
Mar 2014	William & Mary produces the 4-minute video story "In the lab: 'Milking' brown recluse spiders for silk" about our work on brown recluse spider silk.
Feb 2014	Our work reporting the first large-scale exfoliation of hexagonal Boron Nitride nanosheets is published in Small.
Feb 2014	Hannes Schniepp is awarded Tenure at the College of William & Mary and promoted to the rank of Associate Professor.

2013

Dec 2013	Advanced Materials features our brown recluse silk paper out of all communications of the Dec 23 issue with a full-page frontispiece.
Nov 2013	We present several papers at the 2013 Fall MRS Meeting in Boston, MA on topics including self-organization of silk protein and the loxosceles ribbon silk.
Oct 2013	The Daily Press, Hampton Roads' big newspaper, prominently features our research on the recluse spider silk with a long online article, accompanied with pictures and a video interview. In the print edition, our story had a large title page feature in the Oct 15 issue.
Oct 2013	Chemical & Engineering News feature: C & E News features our paper on the recluse spider silk in their October 28 issue.
Oct 2013	Virginia Gazette brown recluse feature: Our research on the silk of the brown recluse spider is featured with a story and photos in their October 19 issue.
Oct 2013	Daily Press Video Interview: Interview with Prof. Schniepp about our research on the recluse spider silk. This is goes along with their long article, accompanied with pictures.
Oct 2013	Our research on the silk of the brown recluse spider is highlighted by the ideation magazine article: "Unraveling the secret of silk that's more alive than dead".
Oct 2013	The WIRED magazine highlights our research on the silk of the brown recluse spider with an exciting article.
Sep 2013	The prestigious journal Advanced Materials accepts our landmark article on the silk of the recluse spider. We are the first to study the mechanical properties of this exciting material. See our Press Release for more information.
Jul 2013	Hannes Schniepp will serve as the new Director of Graduate Studies for the Applied Science Department, starting September 01, 2013.
Jun 2013	Hannes Schniepp is named a member of the editorial board of the new journal Advances in Chemistry (Hindawi).
May 2013	Prof. Schniepp gives an invited talk at NASA's Langley Research Center on 2D-High-Performance Materials.
May 2013	Pei Pang joins our team as a research undergraduate student. Pei is currently a sophomore in William & Mary's chemistry department.
Jan 2013	Hannes Schniepp is named a member of the editorial board of the journal Graphene (American Scientific Publishers).
Jan 2013	Prof. Schniepp gives an invited lecture on in the Soft Matter Seminar in the Physics Department of Georgetown University.

2012

Dec 2012	We congratulate our team member Minzhen Cai for graduating with a Ph.D. from the Applied Science Department at William & Mary.
Nov 2012	We present four papers at the 2012 Fall MRS Meeting in Boston, MA on topics including self-organization of silk protein, graphene-based nanocomposites, molecular surfactant self-assembly on graphene, and graphene oxide as a band gap material.
Oct 2012	Our paper on Graphite Exfoliation was the third-most read article in the entire Journal of Materials Chemistry in September 2012 — within days after online publication (September 12, 2012).
Sep 2012	Our paper on improved titanium surface treatments for implants gets published in The International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Implants "Effects of Coating a Titanium Alloy with Fibronectin on the Expression of Osteoblast Gene Markers in the MC3T3 Osteoprogenitor Cell Line" Int. J. Oral Maxillofac. Implants 27, 1081–1090 (2012).
Aug 2012	We publish a new paper on graphene exfoliation in The Journal of Materials Chemistry: "Methods of Graphite Exfoliation" J. Mater. Chem. 22, 24992—25002 (2012).
Aug 2012	Ph. D. student Sean Koebley receives a 2012–2013 Graduate STEM Research Fellowship, Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC).
Aug 2012	We present three papers at the 244th ACS National Fall Meeting in Philadelphia, PA on the topics of polymer nanocomposites, oil–mineral interactions, and molecular self-organization on graphene.
Jul 2012	Our paper on molecular self-organization on graphene gets published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C: "Charge-Driven Selective Adsorption of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate on Graphene Oxide Visualized by Atomic Force Microscopy" J. Phys. Chem. C 116, 20080–20085 (2012).
May 2012	We congratulate our team member Daniel Thorpe for graduating with a B.S. from the Biology Department at William & Mary. Daniel will continue his studies at the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Harvard University.
May 2012	We congratulate our team member James Nebeker for graduating with a B.S. from the Physics Department at William & Mary. James will move on to the Graduate Program of Georgetown University.
May 2012	Prof. Schniepp gives an invited presentation at the E-MRS Spring Meeting in Strasbourg/France ("Biomaterials" Symposium).
May 2012	"Lighter, Stronger, Better" — our research on graphene-based high-performance polymer nanocomposites is featured in the ideation magazine.
Apr 2012	Our paper on orientational order of surfactant micelles on gold gets published in Nano LIFE: "Phonon-Induced Anisotropic Dispersion Forces On A Metallic Substrate" Nano LIFE 02, 1240001 (2012).
Mar 2012	We have a new publication on a novel solvent system for graphene (J. Am. Chem. Soc.): "Stabilization of Graphene Sheets by a Structured Benzene/Hexafluorobenzene Mixed Solvent". J. Am. Chem. Soc., 134, 5018–5021 (2012).
Mar 2012	"Making spider-sense" — our ground breaking discoveries on the silk protein are featured in the ideation magazine.
Feb 2012	Our paper on the silk worm protein gets published in Biomacromolecules: "Shear-Induced Self-Assembly of Native Silk Proteins into Fibrils Studied by Atomic Force Microscopy". Biomacromolecules, 13, 676–682 (2012).

2011

Dec 2011	We present our latest results about showing giant stress transfer between single graphene sheets and polymers at the 2011 Fall MRS Meeting in Boston, MA.
Nov 2011	Our publication on graphene oxide nanocomposites gets published in Macromolecules, the #1 polymer journal: "In Situ Reduction of Graphene Oxide in Polymers". Macromolecules 44, 9821–9829 (2011).
Oct 2011	Prof. Schniepp gives an invited talk on graphene-based polymer nanocomposites at the 2011 SERMACS meeting in Richmond, VA.
Aug 2011	Our paper on graphene–polymer interactions gets published: "Measurement of the interfacial attraction between graphene oxide sheets and the polymer in a nanocomposite". J. Appl. Polym. Sci.122, 3739–3743 (2011).
Jun 2011	Prof. Schniepp is the recipient of an NSF EAEER Award from the U. S. National Science Foundation (award # DMR-1111030). The award will provide $46,000 over 12 months to investigate Graphene Oxide as a next-generation photoelectronic material with an adjustable band gap.
May 2011	Dr. A. Jaeton Glover joins our team as a postdoctoral researcher.
Apr 2011	Congratulations to our team member Eric Yang, who was selected to receive a Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) Undergraduate Research Scholarship for the 2011–2012 academic year.
Mar 2011	Our work on thermal processing of GO polymer nanocomposites is presented at the ACS Spring Meeting of Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering.
Feb 2011	Laura Rickard from our research group was selected to present our on work implant materials to members of the VA General Assembly and government representatives.
Jan 2011	Our paper on Titanium-based implant materials gets published: "Surface oxide net charge of a titanium alloy: Comparison between effects of treatment with heat or radiofrequency plasma glow discharge". Coll. Surf. B82, 173–181 (2011).

2010

Dec 2010	The Schniepp group receives a research grant from the Thomas F. Jeffress and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust. The funds will greatly enhance our silk project.
Nov 2010	Outreach activity: Prof. Schniepp gives science classes for 120 middle school students at Berkeley Middle School in Williamsburg, VA, teaching about touching atoms with a sharp AFM tip. This activity is part of W&M's 2010 Laserfest.
Nov 2010	We present our latest results about directly measuring interactions between single graphene sheets and polymers at the 2010 Fall MRS Meeting in Boston, MA.
Nov 2010	Prof. Schniepp to give public presentations during W&M's 2010 Laserfest Title: “Atomic Force Microscopy: Sub-Nanometer Precision Guided by Laser Light”
Oct 2010	Publication appears in Applied Optics: "Tuning of structural color using a dielectric actuator and multifunctional compliant electrodes". Appl. Opt.49, 6689–6696 (2010).
Sep 2010	We have an opening for a new PhD student in our group. Starting date: Fall 2011. For more information, click here
Aug 2010	Laura Rickard joins our research group as a new PhD student. Laura investigates the interfacial forces in the vicinity of mineral surfaces using atomic force microscopy.
Jul 2010	We welcome Di Zhang as a new graduate student to our team. Di studies surface adsorption of amphiphilic polymer molecules at the solid–liquid interface.
Jun 2010	Our conference paper gets published: "Direct Measurement of the Interfacial Attractions between Functionalized Graphene and Polymers in Nanocomposites". AIP conf. proc.1255, 95–97 (2010).
Jun 2010	Eric Yang (physics) joins our research group as an undergraduate researcher. He is currently in his freshman year. He will investigate optical properties of nanomaterials.
Jun 2010	Our work on nanocomposites is presented at the Times of Polymers (TOP) conference in Italy.
Mai 2010	Congratulations to our team member Yangwei Liu for successfully graduating from the Applied Science graduate program!
Mai 2010	We received our new Olympus IX-71 inverted light microscope, performing many contrasting techniques, including dark field and DIC. This instrument also integrates with our atomic force microscope (AFM), for simultaneous optical/AFM measurements.
Mai 2010	We congratulate TJ Wallin for successfully completing his senior thesis project in our lab and for graduating from William & Mary with a physics/chemistry double major.
Apr 2010	Chemistry junior Joe Christesen joins our research team for a research summer stay and to perform an “Honors” senior thesis in our research group.
Apr 2010	We present our latest results at the 2010 Graphene Week at University of Maryland University College in College Park, Maryland.
Feb 2010	We start a new research thrust exploring the fascinating the properties of silkworm silks and spider silks.

2009

Dec 2009	Our 2009 group excursion leads us to Yorktown.
Dec 2009	Prof. Schniepp gives an invited presentation on the application of AFM with nanomaterials at NT-MDT's event at the 2009 MRS Fall Meeting.
Nov 2009	We present our latest results on graphene–polymer nanocomposites at the 2009 Fall MRS Meeting in Boston, MA.
Oct 2009	TJ Wallin, a senior undergraduate student, joins our group. For his senior thesis (physics) he will work on graphene-reinforced nanocomposites in our laboratory.
Oct 2009	The Schniepp research group receives a multi-year NIH sub-award to investigate implant surfaces and molecular organization of protein on surfaces. The work is carried out in collaboration with Dr. Daniel MacDonald, Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
Oct 2009	H. Schniepp gives an invited talk in the Physics Colloquium at Virginia Commonwealth University
Sep 2009	We have an opening for a new PhD student in our group. Starting date: Fall 2010. For more information, click here
Sep 2009	H. Schniepp gives an invited talk in the Materials Science & Engineering Department Seminar at The University of Virginia
Aug 2009	Our work on surfactant micelles is featured by NT-MDT.
Jul 2009	We visualized the dynamic self-assembly of surfactant molecules with high resolution.
Jul 2009	We present our work at the 2009 nanoSTAR Commonwealth Nanoscience Meeting at The University of Virginia
Jun 2009	Our 2006 paper on Production of Single-Layer Functionalized Graphene is currently one of the 5 most-read articles of The Journal of Physical Chemistry B.
Jun 2009	We moved our Scanning Probe Microscope into our new ultra-low-noise laboratory.
Jun 2009	We present our work on graphene–polymer nanocomposites at the NASA Langley Research Center.
May 2009	Our first graphene patent is on its way!
Mar 2009	Hannes Schniepp's AFM work on graphene is featured in a cover story of ACS's Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN News).
Feb 2009	We made large single-layer functionalized graphene sheets in our laboratory and produced new high-resolution AFM images
Feb 2009	Our papers have now been cited more than 200 times!
Jan 2009	We are getting beautiful atomic-resolution STM images of graphite on our new microscope.
Jan 2009	We have produced macroscopic amounts of Single-Layer Functionalized Graphene Sheets in our new laboratory for the first time.

2008

Dec 2008	Excursion of the Nanomaterials & Imaging Lab to Norfolk, VA, visiting the USS Wisconsin and the Navy Museum.
Dec 2008	Our new "NTEGRA Prima" scanning probe laboratory was delivered and installed! The new research lab at The College of William & Mary is now fully operational.
Dec 2008	Publication appears in ACS Nano: "Bending Properties of Single Functionalized Graphene Sheets Probed by Atomic Force Microscopy". ACS Nano 2, 2577–2584 (2008). This article is another cover story.
Dec 2008	The capacity of the Imaging class (Spring 2009), has been increased to 20, in order to allow more students to take the class.
Nov 2008	Publication appears in Langmuir: "Inhibition and Promotion of Copper Corrosion by CTAB in a Microreactor System". Langmuir 24, 14269–14275 (2008).
Oct 2008	The new web page of the Department of Applied Science at The College of William & Mary — managed, designed and coded by Prof. Schniepp — was launched.
Oct 2008	Prof. Schniepp will offer a Class on Optical and Scanning Probe Microscopy in Spring 2009. For more information click here.
Sep 2008	We have an opening for a new PhD student in our group. Starting date: Fall 2009. For more information, click here
Aug 2008	We welcome incoming PhD student Yangwei Liu to our team! Yangwei will study molecular interactions at the solid–liquid interface.
Aug 2008	We welcome incoming PhD student Minzhen Cai to our team! Minzhen will develop new graphene-based nanocomposites.
Aug 2008	Start of the nanomaterials & imaging lab. The facilities are being set up.
Jul 2008	Publication appears in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C: "Orientational Order of Molecular Assemblies on Rough Surfaces", J. Phys. Chem. C 112, 14902–14906
Jun 2008	Publication appears in nature nanotechnology: "Functionalized graphene sheets for polymer nanocomposites", Nature Nanotechnol. 3, 327–331 (2008).
May 2008	Prof. Schniepp's publications get cited for the 100th time!
Apr 2008	Hannes Schniepp accepts assistant professor position at  The College of William & Mary,  in the Department of Applied Science, starting Fall 2008
Jan 2008	Publication appears in Langmuir: "Tip-Induced Orientational Order of Surfactant Micelles on Gold", Langmuir 24, 626–631 (2008).
Jan 2008	Publication appears in Nano Letters: "Raman Spectra of Graphite Oxide and Functionalized Graphene Sheets" Nano Letters 8, 36–41 (2008).

2007

Dec 2007	Hannes Schniepp gives an invited talk at Rutgers University, "Graphene-Based Building Blocks for Nanomaterials"
Dec 2007	Manuscript accepted by Langmuir: "Tip-Induced Orientational Order of Surfactant Micelles on Gold."
Sep 2007	Cover story appears in Chemistry of Materials: "Single Sheet Functionalized Graphene by Oxidation and Thermal Expansion of Graphite", Chemistry of Materials 19, 4396–4404 (2007).