This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Materials Research (DMR), under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program, supports a collaborative research project to accelerate the discovery of sustainable bioplastics. The $114,000 award to the University of Washington aims to combine high-throughput data capture, multiscale modeling, and machine learning to understand the molecular and chemical mechanisms controlling the transformation of biomatter, such as the photosynthetic microorganism spirulina, into thermoformable bioplastics. This research seeks to develop design pathways to tailor the processing and composition of the initial biomatter structure to control the macroscopic properties and biodegradability of the resulting bioplastics, with the goal of creating a new class of entirely biodegradable plastics comparable to commercial counterparts but manufactured more sustainably. The project will also support the training of the next generation of materials scientists and engineers through student mentorship and outreach activities.
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