About Us
Welcome to PUNC, the Primarily Undergraduate Nanomaterials Cooperative (PUNC), an organization established to bring together faculty who work with undergraduates to research nanomaterials. The goal of PUNC is straightforward: to help faculty at these institutions continue to do cutting edge research at the highest levels by building a network of collaborative researchers.
What We're Doing
PUNC brings together faculty in order to share our individual expertise and develop collaborations that can benefit everyone involved. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of nanomaterials research, a project may require expertise in chemistry, physics, materials science, and computational modeling. Unfortunately, pulling together this much expertise at an undergraduate institution is often not possible, and identifying faculty doing research in common areas at small colleges and universities is extremely challenging. PUNC will help break down these barriers by allowing faculty to quickly identify potential collaborators who share common goals and complementary skills.
Our Potential
By creating a cooperative network of research faculty and pooling our knowledge and resources, such as specialized skills and instrumentation, we can create a national research group capable of tackling any scientific challenge.
Becoming a Member
Fill out the form below to request membership. It will be submitted to the organization managers and you will be notified when a decision is made.
Request MembershipCome join the conversation online! PUNC now has its own Discord server: https://discord.gg/eXfKJW4rPK
***Before you click the link above, please go through the process of creating a Discord account.***
You will only see a couple of channels at first. Please read the Welcome & Rules to learn how to gain access to the more interesting channels on the server.
Faculty members of PUNC and their students are all welcome to join. See you there!
Hi Everyone,
Believe it or not, it's already time to register for ACS's Spring 2023 National Meeting! PUNC will once again be hosting a symposium in the Colloids section, and everyone is encouraged to apply. This session is for faculty only, and while presenters do not need to be a member of PUNC, they are strongly encouraged to check out the group (so if you have a colleague you think would be a good fit, share our information). We had a great symposium last year, both with engaging research presented, and with wonderful audience attendance and participation.
Additionally, are you bringing students with posters? Colloids' is a very friendly group for undergrads to present, and if you submit the poster to our session in particular, they will be grouped with other PUNC members and their students at the poster session. I think I saw some of the best faculty engagement with students at our poster session last year than I've ever seen at ACS.
The sessions you are looking for are: "PUNC: Nanomaterials Research at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions" Please submit your student posters to our poster session, and faculty are strongly encouraged to submit abstracts for talks. Abstract deadline is October 17th.
I look forward to seeing folks' abstracts, and can't wait to see many of you at ACS!
Steve