Dr. Derek Patton
Professor
Bio
Derek L. Patton earned his B.S. in Chemistry (2000) from Jacksonville State University and his Ph.D. in Chemistry (2006) at the University of Houston. In 2006, he moved to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, Gaithersburg, MD) as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow in the Polymers Division, and in 2008, he joined the faculty in the School of Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Southern Mississippi. In 2014, Derek was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. His research group focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of advanced polymeric materials, including functional polymer surfaces for anti-wetting and anti-fouling applications and degradable polymers for sustainable and bioactive applications. He was awarded the NSF CAREER Award and the USM Junior Faculty Research Award in 2011, and the College of Science and Technology Faculty Research Award in 2015.
- Polymer Chemistry (PHD) - University of Houston (2006)
- MS - University of Alabama at Birmingham (2002)
- BS - Jacksonville State University (2000)
- Epoxy–Amine Route to Tough and Degradable Aromatic Polyester Thermosets, ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 2025, 10.1021/acsapm.5c03377
- Microscopic-to-macroscopic finite element analysis for predicting polymer-graphene nanocomposite laminate mechanical strength, Polymer Composites, 2025, 10.1002/pc.29764
- Ellipsometric Characterization of Network Topology Transition in Vitrimers, ACS Macro Letters, 2025, 10.1021/acsmacrolett.5c00640
- Transformative 3D Printing of Carbon-metal Nanocomposites as Catalytic Joule Heaters for Enhanced Ammonia Decomposition, Advanced Science, 2025, 10.1002/advs.202413149
- Enhanced thermal conductivity of photopolymerizable rubbery and glassy thiol-ene composites filled with hexagonal boron nitride, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2025, 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2024.126431
- Deuteration Effects on Physical and Optoelectronic Properties of Donor-Acceptor Conjugated Polymers, Macromolecules, 2025, 10.1021/acs.macromol.4c02778
- Impact of Sequential Chemical Doping on the Thin Film Mechanical Properties of Conjugated Polymers, Chemistry of Materials, 2025, 10.1021/acs.chemmater.4c03120
- Aqueous Photoiniferter Polymerization of Acrylonitrile, ACS Macro Letters, 2024, 10.1021/acsmacrolett.4c00642
- Harnessing the power of thermoplastic elastomer-derived ordered mesoporous carbons through functionalization, JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A, 2024, 10.1039/d4ta02629b
- Cyclic ketal bridged bisepoxides: Enabling the design of degradable epoxy-amine thermosets for carbon fiber composite applications, RSC Applied Polymers, 2023, 10.1039/D3LP00095H
- American Chemical Society
- ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry
- ACS Division of Polymeric Materials, Science and Engineering