Phillip Taylor
About
The Taylor Lab is a computational soft materials research group in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia. Soft materials comprise all aspects of our daily lives, including the biopolymers in our bodies’ tissues such as proteins and DNA, and many of the foods, cosmetics, and plastic packaging that we use daily. To that end, The Taylor Lab uses molecular dynamics simulations and machine learning to study the structure and dynamics of polymeric materials for target applications as tissue-mimetic and recyclable soft materials. Specific systems of interest to the Taylor Lab include sustainable and bio-inspired polymer networks and nanoparticles such as dynamic covalent polymer networks, double network hydrogels, bottlebrush polymer networks, and peptide-based polyelectrolyte coacervates.
Phillip A. Taylor is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. After obtaining his B.S.E. and M.S.E. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, he completed a Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware under the direction of Professors Arthi Jayaraman and April M. Kloxin. He then conducted his postdoctoral research at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) at Sandia National Laboratories, where he worked with Drs. Gary Grest and Mark Stevens. Prof. Taylor’s research interests include computational materials science, polymer physics, biomaterials, and peptide self-assembly.
Education
B.S.E., Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 2016
M.S.E., Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 2017
Ph.D., Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, 2022
Post-Doc, Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT), Sandia National Laboratories, 2022-2024
We use molecular simulations and machine learning to design polymers and dynamic, soft materials.