Dr Andrew Foster
Andrew Foster was born in Armagh, Northern Ireland in 1975. He studied at Queen's University, Belfast gaining a B.Sc. in Chemistry in 1996. He remained there to complete a postgraduate research studentship (doctorate), funded by Du Pont Dow Elastomers LLC, investigating polychloroprene popcorn, under the supervision of Dr. Allan Fawcett (completed in 2000).
In 2001, he moved to Sheffield University to take up a postdoctoral project funded by ICI Paints working under the supervision of Prof. John Ebdon and Dr. Steve Rimmer. This project involved the characterization and use of ozonates, generated from the ozonolysis of alkenes, as initiators of solution and emulsion polymerizations. The main findings from this work were featured on the front cover of the Journal of Organic Chemistry in 2004. He then remained in Sheffield for a further postdoctoral project (2003-2004) working with Dr. Patrick Fairclough on a project, funded by Dstl (Ministry of Defence), investigating gas permeation through barrier films.
His most recent research work with Prof. Pete Lovell and Dr. Michael Rabjohns in the School of Materials, Manchester, was part of a larger EU consortium of academics and industrial companies funded under the Sixth Framework Programme (2004-2007). The aim of the project was to design nanoscale heterogeneities for controlling water-borne pressure-sensitive adhesive performance. This was achieved with semi-batch continuous emulsion polymerizations producing controlled monodisperse structured particles. In 2009, he completed a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) at Manchester University.
In November 2010, Andrew took up his role as a project scientist within the research group of Prof. Michael Turner. He is working on several projects in collaboration with companies as part of the Knowledge Centre for Materials Chemistry (KCMC). Current projects relate to the synthesis and characterization of hyperbranched hydrophilic polymeric materials.
Selected publications
1. "Deformation and adhesion of a periodic soft-soft nanocomposite designed with structured polymer colloid particles" F. Deplace, M. A. Rabjohns, T. Yamaguchi, A. B. Foster, C. Carelli, C. Lei, K. Ouzineb, J. L. Keddie, P. A. Lovell, C. Creton, Soft Matter (2009) 5, 1440-1447.
2. "Control of adhesive properties through structured particle design of water-borne pressure-sensitive adhesives" A. B. Foster, P. A. Lovell, M. A. Rabjohns, Polymer (2009) 50(7), 1654-1670.
3. "Controlled sparse and percolating crosslinking in waterborne soft adhesives" F. Deplace, C. Carelli, A. Langenfeld, M. A. Rabjohns, A. B. Foster, P. A. Lovell, C. Creton, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces (2009) 1(9), 2021-2029.
4. "Complete Ozonolysis of Allyl Substituted Ethenes at -60oC: Distributions of Ozonide and Oligomeric Products" M. Barton, J. R. Ebdon, A. B. Foster, S. Rimmer, Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry (2005), 3(7) 1323-1329.
5. "Ozonolysis of Tetramethylethylene: Characterization of Cyclic and Open-Chain Oligoperoxidic Products" M. Barton, J. R. Ebdon, A. B. Foster, S. Rimmer, Journal of Organic Chemistry (2004), 69(21) 6967-6973 (front cover article).
6. "Silicone graft copolymers with acrylonitrile, chloroprene, styrene, methyl methacrylate, and an olefin" A. H. Fawcett, A. B. Foster, M. Hania, M. Hohn, J. L. Mazebedi, G. O. McCaffery, E. Mullen, D. Toner, ACS Symposium Series (2003), 838(Synthesis and Properties of Silicones and Silicone-Modified Materials), 318-328.
