This National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) Project Grant award for $450,000 will support research on the rheology, or flow behavior, of polymer melts containing designed "hairy" nanoparticles. The project aims to: (1) experimentally investigate the rheology of polymer nanocomposites with different nanoparticle shapes, (2) develop and validate computational models to simulate these suspensions, and (3) identify reasons for the deviation of experimental results from existing theoretical models. The research will prepare polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) matrix nanocomposites with varied 0D, 1D, and 2D nanoparticle shapes, graft densities, and chain lengths, then use particle-resolved simulations to correlate the geometric parameters to the observed rheological behavior. This work seeks to enable improved theoretical and simplified models for advanced polymer manufacturing processes. The project will also include educational and outreach efforts such as undergraduate research opportunities and open-source software releases.