Blog
2021–Present
28 Apr 2023 | Triple Ph.D. DefenseBy Ben Skopic We had three Ph.D. candidates successfully defense their dissertations within 8 days! Samantha Applin and Avishi Abeywickama worked with force spectroscopy and interfacial forces while Ben Skopic's research focused on recluse silk inspired tape-based metamaterials. |
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30 Mar 2023 | Two Presentations at GHRS 2023By Ben Skopic The Nano & Bio Materials lab had two graduate students present their work at William & Mary's Graduate & Honors Research Symposium. |
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18 Nov 2022 | Ph.D. Dissertation Defense: Dinidu PereraBy Ben Skopic Congratulations to Dr. Dinidu Perera for successfully defending his Pd.D. dissertation titled, “Structure, Formation, and Mechanics of Nanofibrillar Spider Silk.” |
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29 Jul 2022 | Outreach: Schniepp Lab Hosts Fieldtrip for Local Homeschooled StudentsBy Ben Skopic We have a fun day teaching a big group of homeschooled K-6 students what materials science is and how to use microscopes to see things invisible to the naked eye! |
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29 Jul 2022 | Press Release: Super Strong Spider Silk Inspired Tape JunctionsBy Ben Skopic Using inspiration from recluse spider webs, we describe how make an amazingly strong junction using any tape! |
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15 Jul 2022 | Channel 3 WTKR Video FeatureBy Ben Skopic Dinidu Perera, Ben Skopic, and Hannes Schniepp were interviewed by the channel 3 WTKR news team to learn more about our silk research. |
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10 Jul 2022 | Press Release: Nanofibrillar Structure of Recluse SilkBy Ben Skopic We developed a new method to determine the mechanical anisotropy of thin films. Using this technique we are able to determine the transverse modulus of recluse silk and the adhesive energy between adjacent nanofibrils for the first time. |
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24 Mar 2022 | Two Students Travel to APS 2022By Ben Skopic Dinidu Perera and Avishi Abeywickrama traveled to Chicago, Il to attend the 2022 APS meeting to give two talks. One on long-range hydrophobic forces and the other on the preparation of natural spider silk nanofibrils. |
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04 Mar 2022 | Three Presentations at TMS 2022By Ben Skopic Ben Skopic and Hannes Schniepp traveled to Anaheim, CA to give three talks at the TMS 2022 meeting. Two talks on spider silk and one on diatoms. |
2017–2020
05 Dec 2019 | Best Poster Nominee at MRS Fall MeetingBy Qijue Wang Our recent Ph. D. graduate Qijue Wang presented his poster in Materials Research Society (MRS) 2019 Fall Meeting in Boston, MA during Dec. 2nd – 5th, 2019. |
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11 Oct 2019 | Press Release: Purification Method Reveals Next-Gen Cooling for ElectronicsBy Mahmoud Amin We developed a method of purifying BNNTs at low temperatures with higher than 90% yield. In electronics, BNNTs are excellent electrical insulators with high thermal conductivity. |
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4 May 2018 | Press Release: Measuring the Thickness of the Thinnest By Will Dickinson We developed a simple method to measure the thickness of many graphene sheets with atomic precision. |
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25 Apr 2018 | Chloe Walsh Defends Her Applied Science Honors Thesis By Qijue Wang Undergraduate student Chloe Walsh successfully defended her honors thesis, “Self-Assembly of Native Spider Silk Protein” on April 25. |
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21 Apr 2018 | Silk as a Sustainable Performnce Polymer for the 21st Century By Dinidu Perera We highlighted the ability of silk to replace current-day plastics and importance of our research to achieve this goal. |
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3 Mar 2018 | Qijue Wang Presents at the 2018 APS March Meeting By Qijue Wang The latest and greatest about our work on the structure and properties of spider silk. |
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18 Sep 2017 | New Paper: Graphene Oxide Reduces Aging of Polyamide By Hannes Schniepp We show that graphene helps to make plastics more durable. |
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9 Mar 2017 | NSF Now – Science 360 Video Feature By Hannes Schniepp The U.S. National Science Foundation features our breakthrough on the loops of the brown recluse spider in their Science Now—Science 360 show (Episode 50). |
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16 Feb 2017 | Press Release: Looped Ribbon Silk By Hannes Schniepp 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). |
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15 Feb 2017 | Daily Press video feature of our Looped Ribbon Silk By Hannes Schniepp The Daily Press has a video feature on our silk research. |
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14 Feb 2017 | Press Release: Looped Ribbon Silk By Hannes Schniepp In a new landmark publication we show that microloops in the ribbons silk of the recluse spider feature tremendous and unexpected toughness enhancing capabilities. Worldwide news coverage on TV, radio, print and online media. |
2014–2016
30 Nov 2016 | Will Dickinson Presents at the 2016 MRS Fall Meeting By Will Dickinson Will delivered both an oral presentation (on his work on high-pressure/high-temperature atomic force microscopy) and a poster presentation (on a new optical method of analyzing thickness and diameter of 2D-nanomaterials). |
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28 Nov 2016 | Qijue Wang Presents at the 2016 MRS Fall Meeting By Qijue Wang The latest and greatest about our work on the structure and properties of spider silk. |
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27 Oct 2016 | Release: Tapping into Energy Reserves By Laura Rickard In our new paper we use tailor made atomic force microscopy probes to measure the stickiness of crude oil on rocks under different conditions. |
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8 Apr 2016 | New Paper: Nanofiber Analysis By Sean Koebley Our new review article addresses nanoscale characterization using atomic force microscopy. |
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6 Apr 2016 | New Graphene-Based Coatings By Hannes Schniepp Our new paper shows that putting atomically thin graphene nano-sheets into plastics can make paints and coatings much better. |
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4 Sep 2015 | Daily Press Video Interview By Hannes Schniepp The Daily Press talks to Prof. Schniepp on the group's latest research on silkworm silk. |
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3 Sep 2015 | Daily Press: Silk Cover Story By Hannes Schniepp The Daily Press has a cover story featuring our research on shear-induced self-assembly of molecularly thin silk fibrils. |
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1 Sep 2015 | Press Release: Processed Silk By Hannes Schniepp Our recent paper in Biomacromolesules revealed for first time that there are Flaws of Processed Silk Revealed at the Molecular Scale. |
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28 Jul 2015 | Outreach: Camp Launch Nanoscience By Sean Koebley Middle school students enrolled in Camp Launch Nanoscience stopped by the Schniepp lab for a hands-on look at our research. |
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4 Dec 2014 | "Highly Cited" Status for 5th PaperBy Hannes Schniepp 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. |
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10 Mar 2014 | TV feature of recluse silk project By Hannes Schniepp 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). |
2010–2013
23 Dec 2013 | Advanced Materials Frontispiece By Hannes Schniepp Advanced Materials features our brown recluse silk paper out of all communications of the Dec 23 issue with a full-page frontispiece. |
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28 Oct 2013 | Chemical & Engineering News feature By Hannes Schniepp C & E News features our paper on the recluse spider silk in their October 28 issue. |
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19 Oct 2013 | Virginia Gazette brown recluse feature By Hannes Schniepp Virginia Gazette features our research on the silk of the brown recluse spider with a story and photos in their October 19 issue. |
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15 Oct 2013 | Daily Press brown recluse feature By Hannes Schniepp 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 12 issue. |
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12 Oct 2013 | Daily Press Video Interview By Hannes Schniepp The Daily Press interviewed Prof. Schniepp about our research on the recluse spider silk. This is goes along with their long article, accompanied with pictures. |
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8 Oct 2013 | Release: Recluse Spider’s Thin and Strong Silk RibbonsBy Hannes Schniepp We were the first team to extract silk fibers from the recluse spider and tested its properties. |
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25 Apr 2010 | Undergraduate Joe Christesen joins our team By Hannes Schniepp Chemistry junior Joe Christesen joins our research team for his “Honors” senior thesis in our research group. |
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1 Feb 2010 | New Research Project on Silkworm and Spider Silk By Hannes Schniepp We set out to investigate the molecular-scale origin for the amazing properties of silk. |
2006–2009
17 Dec 2009 | Group Excursion to Yorktown By Hannes Schniepp Our field trip leads us over the famous historic battlefields in the Historic Triangle of Virginia. |
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12 Aug 2009 | Feature of Our Work on Surfactant Micelles By Hannes Schniepp NT-MDT issues a feature showcasing our recent work on surfactant micelles in aqueous solutions. |
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1 Jul 2009 | Molecular Surfactant Self-Assembly By Hannes Schniepp We visualized the dynamic self-assembly of surfactant molecules with high resolution. |
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15 Jun 2009 | SPM moved to Ultra-Low Noise Laboratory By Hannes Schniepp In the new environment the microscope provides superior performance and even better images. |
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3 Mar 2009 | Graphene AFM work featured in C&EN By Hannes Schniepp Hannes Schniepp's AFM work on graphene is featured in a cover story of ACS's Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN). |
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16 Feb 2009 | High-Resolution Imaging of Single-Layer Graphene By Hannes Schniepp We have beautiful images from our newly made, large, single-atomic layer functionalized graphene sheets. |
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23 Jan 2009 | Atomic-Resolution Lattice Images of Graphite By Hannes Schniepp We can now study nanomaterials across the length scales, down to atomic dimensions. |
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5 Jan 2009 | Production of Single-Layer Functionalized Graphene Sheets By Hannes Schniepp We now have functionalized graphene in gram quantities. |
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23 Dec 2008 | Group Excursion To Norfolk, VA by Hannes Schniepp The Nanomaterials and Imaging Lab visits the USS Wisconsin and the Navy Museum |
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18 Dec 2008 | Installation of Scanning Probe Laboratory By Hannes Schniepp Our new system becomes fully operational. |
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5 Oct 2006 | Nature Materials Feature: Self-Healing By Hannes Schniepp Hannes Schniepp's AFM work studying the molecular-scale self-assembly of detergent molecules at millisecond time scales got prominently highlighted. This work was carried out in the group of Ilhan Aksay. |