Description:

Inks, paints, soaps, and cosmetics are excellent examples of products developed by scientists and engineers with expertise in soft materials (e.g. surfactants, polymers, nanoparticles). The Innovation Track on Liquid-Based Consumer Products helps students cultivate ideas for new products with commercialization potential. Product specifications and usage is validated using user-centered design and consumer behavior methodologies (in other words, satisfying the real needs of people).

The track offers the participants the following experiences:

(1) Technical Skills: Student develop knowledge on the chemical and physical properties of a variety of soft materials, such as micelles, surfactants, polymers, and colloids.

(2) Ideation: During the ideation process, participants find a solution to an existing problem with market potential identified through interviews and research.

(3) Product Design & Prototyping: Product Design & Prototyping: Once a solution to a real problem is identified, various laboratories provide technical support to design the product.Developing prototypes and testing them in a controlled environment finalize the process.

(4) Marketing & Entrepreneurship: Teams are encouraged to make startups based on of their products. To achieve this, the students will be exposed to other programs of the UPRM E-ship Network to help them with marketing and business strategies.

During product design and prototyping stages, participants are invited to use the Soft Matter Synthesis and Preparation Laboratory and the Soft Matter Characterization Laboratory located in the Chemical Engineering Building. Other facilities are available, however, their access depends on the necessities of the product and the team.

Students taking courses in soft matter (e.g. fluid mechanics, polymers, colloids, rheology) are encouraged to complete the track and apply their skills solving real problems. For more information, visit softmatter.uprm.edu.

To obtain the Liquid Based Consumer Products Track certificate, you must take 6 credits (or two courses) from the suggested technical courses in addition to the core courses in entrepreneurship (see About for more details).

Suggested Technical Courses:

Course Codification Course Name Course Description Pre-Requirements Co-Requirements
INQU 5085 Soft Materials Introduction to the fundamental physical and chemical properties of soft condensed matter and how they are used to engineer technologically relevant materials. Relevant systems include colloids, emulsion, lipids, polymers, hydrogels, foams, liquid crystal, and granular materials, amongst others. INQU 4010 or INGE 4010 or INGE 4015 or Department Chair Authorization None
INQU 6009 Colloids and Interfaces Study of the principles of colloid science and interphases and their applications. Development of the fundamental understanding of how various properties of colloids and their interactions at a microstructural level lead to the observed bulk behavior of the material under study. None None
INQU 5075 Polymer Engineering Application of the principles of fluid mechanics, and heat and mass transfer describe the production and processing of polymeric materials. Application of engineering principles to the analysis of polymer processes such as extrusion, molding and other industrial relevant unit operations. Emphasis on the effects of processing on structure and physical properties of polymers, and vice versa. (QUIM 3042 or QUIM 3132) & (INQU 4010 or INGE 4010 or INGE 4015) None
INQU 5076 Polymer Science Introduction to the fundamental physical and chemical properties of polymers and their relevance in the synthesis, production, and characterization of polymer-based materials, Discussion of polymerization and reaction kinetics of polymers and copolymers, structure and morphology in solution, melt, and solid phases, thermodynamics of solutions and blends, molecular weight characterization, and mechanical and rheological properties. QUIM 3042 or QUIM 3132 None
INQU 6020 Structure and Rheology of Complex Fluids Study of the mechanical and flow properties of complex fluids, and the relationship with their microstructure. Discussion of fundamentals of rheological measurements, including flow kinematics, material functions, rheometry, and structural probes. Overview of rheological properties of colloids, liquid crystals, and polymer solutions and melts, amongst others. None None