Directory

Christopher Evans's directory photo.

Christopher Evans

Associate Professor

Primary Affiliation

Artificial Intelligence for Materials

Affiliations

Status Part-time Faculty

Home Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Phone 300-9949

Email cme365@illinois.edu

Address 3261 Beckman Institute, 405 North Mathews Avenue

  • Biography

    Education

    • B.S., Chemistry, University of Minnesota, 2008

    • BChE, University of Minnesota, 2008

    • PhD, Northwestern University, 2013

  • Honors
    • 2022: ACS PMSE Young Investigator Award

    • 2020: 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award

    • 2018: NSF CAREER Award

    • 2017: American Chemical Society: Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator

    • 2012: AkzoNobel Award Winner

    • 2010: 3M Fellowship

    • 2010: Ryan Fellowship

  • Research

    Research Interests

    • Polymer Physics, Diffusion, Energy Materials, Nanoscale and Interfacial Physics

    Research Areas

    • Polymers

    The Evans group is interested in probing the physics of polymer networks with the incorporation of dynamic covalent bonds and added salts. We are pursuing a fundamental understanding of polymer properties such as energy dissipation, self-healing, crystallization, and transport of small molecules through the network. The group combines molecular design of precise polymers with advanced characterization approaches to determine structure-property relationships in dynamic, ionic networks. Application of networks in the group include supercapacitors, actuators, membranes, batteries, and shockwave dissipating polymers which are informed by our fundamental investigations.