Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Charlotte Wentz (Fed)
Postdoctoral Research Chemist
Current Research Goals:
Charlotte Wentz (she/they) is a postdoctoral research in the Circular Economy (CE) of Textiles group with a background in organic synthesis, materials chemistry, and polymer characterization. Charlotte looks to continue a synergistic (chemistry, materials, and characterization) outlook/effort toward solving a select four obstacles in facilitating a CE of textiles. First, is to advance standards and facilitate data sharing. This entails working with stakeholders on identifying key obstacles in CE of textile from production, manufacturing, to design, all the way to end-of-life avenues. Second, is highlighting that end-of-life avenue from a research and development perspective synthesizing 'designer' molecules with reversible linkages to create a middle ground between chemical and mechanical recycling. Third, is improving chemical & mechanical recycling of polycotton blends which takes a hard look at chemical recycling pathways specific towards mixed blends of textiles. Forth, is enabling rapid and efficient textile sorting through creating a data repository of Near-IR of a wide range of textiles with known qualities such as, blend percentages, dyes, and finishes.
Educational Background:
Charlotte received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, under the advisement of Prof. Lawrence R. Sita, were they conducted a blend of organic synthesis and polymer material characterization with a wide range of materials such as precise polyolefins, end-group functionalized polyolefins, block copolymers, sugar polyolefin conjugates, and perylene bisimide polyolefin conjugates all with the goal of studying the self-assembly or bulk properties of these types of materials. Charlotte received her Bachelor's degree from Lycoming College, in Williamsport PA, were she double majored in Chemistry and Education and has a Secondary Education Certification to teach in the states of PA, NJ, and MD. Charlotte's career path has always followed pursuing both science and education, and she looks forward to the day were she is a professor where she can tie her cross disciplinary experiences into her pedagogy.
Research Interests:
- Polymer materials (such as plastics and textiles)
- Sustainable & Green Chemistry
- Stimuli Responsive Materials
- Self-Assembly
Recent Conference Presentations:
- Wentz, C.M. “Facilitating a Circular Economy for Textiles Through Designer Molecules” Fiber Society Conference Oct 25-27, 2023, Philadelphia, PA.
- Wentz, C.M. “Facilitation of a Circular Economy through Designing Next-Generation Polyester Textiles” AATCC Textile Discovery Summit Sept 12-14, 2023, Greenville, SC.
- Wentz, C.M. “Designing Polyester Textiles for End-of-Life Avenues to Facilitate a Circular Economy” ACS Fall 2023 Meeting, Aug 13-17, 2023, San Francisco, CA.
Publications:
ORCID: 0000-0001-7172-0054
- Wentz, C. M.; Tsinas, Z.; Forster, A. L. A Synthetic Methodology for Preparing Impregnated and Grafted Amine-Based Silica Composites for Carbon Capture. J. Vis. Exp. 2023 (199), e65845, doi:10.3791/65845.
- Wentz, C. M.; Lachmayr, K. K.; Sita, L. R. Rapid Phase Transitions of Thermotropic Glycolipid Quasicrystal and Frank-Kasper Mesophases: A Mechanistic Rosetta Stone, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202302739.
- Wentz, C. M.; Burgenson, W. R.; Sita, L. R., Tailoring Glass Transition Temperature in a Series of Poly(methylene-1,3-cyclopentene-stat-cyclohexane) Statistical Copolymers. Macro. Lett. 2023, 12, 101-106.
- Wentz, C. M.; Fischbach D. M.; Sita, L.R., Stereomodulation of Poly(4-methyl-1-pentene): Adoption of a Neglected and Misunderstood Commercial Polyolefin. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, e202211992.
- Lachmayr, K. K.; Wentz, C. M.; Sita, L. R. An Exceptionally Stable and Scalable Sugar-Polyolefin Frank-Kasper A15 Phase, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 1521-526.
- Burkey, A. A.; Fischbach, D. M.; Wentz, C. M.; Beers, K. L.; Sita, L. R., Highly Versatile Strategy for the Production of Telechelic Polyolefins. ACS Macro Lett. 2022, 11, 402-409.
- Wallace, M. A.; Wentz, C. M.; Sita, L. R. Optical Purity as a Programmable Variable for Controlling Polyolefin Tacticity in Living Coordinative Chain Transfer Polymerization: Application to the Stereomodulated LCCTP of α,ω-Nonconjugated Dienes. ACS Catal. 2021, 11, 4583−4592.
- Grosvenor, E. C.; Hughes J. C.; Stanfield, C. W.; Blanchard, R. L.; Fox, A. C.; Mihok, O.L.; Lee, K.; Brodsky, J. R.; Hoy, A.; Uniyal, A.; Whitaker, S. M.; Acha, C.; Gibson, K.; Ding, L.; Lewis, C. A.; Lopez, L. G.; Wentz, C.M.; Sita, L. R.; Al-Sheikly, M. On the Mechanism of Pulsed Electron Beam Radiation-Induced Modification of Poly(lactic Acid) for Applications in Biodegradable Food Packaging. 2021, 12, 1819.
Awards
- Dr. Richard D. Capozza Award - UMD - 2020-2021 - Outstanding research award
- Millard & Lee Alexander Fellowship - UMD - 2021-2022 - Remarkable graduate student award
- Dean Teaching Assistant Award - UMD - 2021-2022 - Exceptional teaching
- Summer Fellowship for Research - UMD - 2019 & 2021 - Outstanding summer research