My name is John Kapitan and I am from Northwest Indiana. I received my bachelors degree in chemistry from Purdue Calumet (now Purdue Northwest) in 2017. After that I joined the Morin group in the fall of 2017 and worked on getting my Master’s degree in chemistry in the spring of 2021. My Bachelor’s degree focused primarily on organic and polymer chemistry and my Master’s focused on surface chemistry for selective crystal growth and directional adhesion.
My dissertation work focuses primarily on covalent attachment of hydrogel polymers to elastomeric surfaces. These hydrogels can easily be derivatized, either by incorporating functional fillers or crosslinkers, to afford different functionalities such as microreactors or synthetic extra cellular matrices.
