Position
Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Office Phone
609-258-5416

Email
edavidson@princeton.edu

Assistant
Mini Thomas

Office
A407 Engineering Quad

Website
https://davidson.princeton.edu/

Degrees
S.B. Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 2016

Advisee(s):
Kirstin Bode
Alice Fergerson
Zachary Schmidt




Bio/Description

Honors and Awards

DOE Early Career Award, 2022
Young Professional Winner, Scientista ‘Born Seekers’ Fellowship, 2019
International Research Fellowship Award, UCSB International Center for Materials Research, 2015

Research Interests

Our group is passionate about addressing pressing needs in both human health and the health of the planet, and inspired by the integrated, hierarchical materials ubiquitously leveraged by the natural world. We aim to address these needs via synthetic systems that use a combination of molecular level polymer design, controlled local self-assembly, and structural integration and alignment via additive manufacturing to achieve functional, hierarchical materials featuring structural control from the molecular to the macroscopic. We achieve this by working at the intersection of polymer synthesis, polymer characterization, polymer physics and self-assembly, and additive manufacturing.
Our specific research interests include: (1) investigating fundamental science linking polymer structure and function in new classes of stimuli-responsive and actuating elastomers and gels, (2) programming alignment and integration of functional polymers via additive manufacturing, linking local structure-directing processes with emergent properties and new applications, and (3) developing sustainable and degradable polymers and block copolymers.

Selected Publications
E.C. Davidson, A. Kotikian, S. Li, J. Aizenberg, J.A. Lewis, “3D Printable and Reconfigurable Liquid Crystal Elastomers with Light-Induced Shape Memory via Dynamic Bond Exchange,” Advanced Materials, 2019, DOI: 10.1002/adma.201905682
M. Barry,* E.C. Davidson,* C. Zhang, A.L. Patterson, B. Yu, A.K. Leonardi, N. Duzen, K. Malaviya, J.L. Clarke, J.A. Finlay, A.S. Clare, Z. Chen, C.K. Ober, R.A. Segalman, “The Role of Hydrogen Bonding in Peptoid-based Marine Antifouling Coatings,” Macromolecules, 2019, DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.8b02390
E.C. Davidson,* A.M. Rosales,* A.L. Patterson, B. Russ, B.Yu, R.N. Zuckermann, R.A. Segalman, “Impact of Chain Shape in Sequence-Defined Polymers on Polypeptoid Block Copolymer Self-Assembly,” Macromolecules, 2018, 51(5), 2089-2098. DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.8b00055
E.C. Davidson, B.S. Beckingham, V. Ho, R.A. Segalman, “Confined Crystallization in Lamellae Forming Poly(3-(2′-ethyl)hexylthiophene) (P3EHT) Block Copolymers,” J. of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, 2015, 54(2) 205-215. DOI: 10.1002/polb.23904

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Princeton faculty lead DOE effort to reduce plastic waste
Davidson joins CBE faculty, bringing expertise in biologically inspired materials

Research Areas
Complex Materials and Processing
Energy and Environment