Professor Emerita Sandra Greer
About Dr. Greer Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1969
Dr. Greer is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Washington Academy of Sciences; as well as a member of many other professional and academic societies. She was also the recipient of the 2004 American Chemical Society Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal. Visit Dr. Greer's personal page » Current Research Dr. Greer's research centers on the behavior of polymers and biopolymers in solution. She is interested in what conformations the polymers take, how they assemble together into larger structures, how they distribute themselves among coexisting phases, and how all of these behaviors change when we change variables such as temperature and pressure. Recently, Dr. Greer and her research group have discovered that a very important polymer, poly(ethylene glycol), will form itself into a helix in particular solvents. This is surprising and worth noting, since polymers usually form only loose coils. They have also discovered that the helices will only form if a trace of water is present. This is even more surprising, and indicates that the water probably makes a layer on the polymer, which in turn somehow ("We don't know how...yet!" Dr. Greer tells us) causes the helices to form. Dr. Greer's work on poly(ethylene glycol) is supported by the National Science Foundation.
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Q&A with Dr. Greer What impact could your work have on society or consumers? Polymers are present in many consumer products, are indeed "nanoparticles", and thus a part of the currently exciting field of nanotechnology. What’s your favorite class to teach, and why? I like all of my teaching, but my special favorite is "Ethics in Science and Engineering," because I can see the students develop during the course and because graduates report back to me that it was one of the most important courses they took. What would students be surprised to learn about you? Trust me—they already know everything!
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Before coming to the University of Maryland, Dr. Greer was a research chemist for the National Bureau of Standards. She joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry (now the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry) in 1978, and became jointly appointed with the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in 1995. She has served as the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies and as Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, as the Associate Chair for Administration in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and as the Program Director for Structural Chemistry and Thermodynamics at the National Science Foundation (NSF).
