Plastics Engineering Professor Lands $360K Grant from U.S. Army Research Office

A woman in sunglasses and a hat smiles for a photo while sitting in a kayak on a dock. Several other people are behind her in kayaks. Image by courtesy
Plastics Engineering Assoc. Prof. Wan-Ting (Grace) Chen, left, seen here participating in a Merrimack River cleanup with her research team last fall, was awarded a $360,000 Early Career Proposal grant from the U.S. Army Research Office to study how freshwater biofilms affect the breakdown of plastics.

03/10/2025
By Ed Brennen

While there is an ocean of research on the environmental impacts of marine plastic pollution, less is known about plastics that accumulate in freshwater rivers and lakes.

Wan-Ting (Grace) Chen, an associate professor of plastics engineering, and her research team in the Francis College of Engineering are helping to fill that knowledge gap.

Chen was recently awarded a $360,000 Early Career Proposal grant from the U.S. Army Research Office to investigate how biofilms 鈥� the slimy layers of bacteria and microorganisms that grow on surfaces under water 鈥� affect the breakdown of plastic in freshwater environments.

The three-year study could help curb the formation of microplastics, which are fragments of plastic less than 5 millimeters in diameter that are becoming a for humans.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important to know how microplastics affect the ecosystem and human health, but if we can prevent them in the first place, that would be awesome,鈥� says Chen, who directs the at UML, a top research institution with an R1 classification.

A woman with dark hair and glasses and wearing a blazer poses for a photo in a science lab. Image by Ed Brennen
"If we can prevent (microplastics) in the first place, that would be awesome," says Wan-Ting (Grace) Chen, an associate professor of plastics engineering.
Chen鈥檚 team, which includes plastics engineering Ph.D. student Kerry Candlen 鈥�20, 鈥�22 and senior plastics engineering major Olivia Hosterman, will explore how environmental factors such as sunlight exposure and water temperature change the surface properties of polypropylene, accelerating its breakdown.

The researchers will immerse plastic films in freshwater samples (taken from a canal in Lowell) and expose them to ultraviolet light in the lab to simulate environmental degradation. Using advanced microscopy and surface analysis techniques, they will track changes in the material鈥檚 properties over time.聽

The findings could lead to designs of new biofilm-resistant plastics or, conversely, they could help identify bacteria that can accelerate the degradation of plastic waste.

The project builds on the preliminary findings of work that was in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 鈥� and that was supported by seed grant funding from UML and the Massachusetts Water Resources Research Center.聽

Hosterman is president of UML鈥檚 chapter of the Society of Plastics Engineers. The Atkinson, New Hampshire, native says it鈥檚 鈥渃rucial鈥� for students in her major to understand the environmental impact of plastics.

A young man wearing safety goggles and a lab coat uses a machine in a lab. Image by Katharine Webster
Plastics engineering alum Greg Reimonn '21 says working with Assoc. Prof. Wan-Ting (Grace) Chen on the microplastics research is "probably the main reason that I decided to pursue a career in science."
鈥淧lastic will never go away, but as a society, we will have to learn more sustainable solutions to deal with pollution and plastic waste,鈥� says Hosterman, who 鈥渘ever imagined鈥� she would have the opportunity as an undergraduate student to work on a published paper.

One of the co-authors on the paper, plastics engineering alum Greg Reimonn 鈥�21, credits the project with setting him on a path to graduate school at the University of Michigan, where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in macromolecular science and engineering.

鈥淭his project was my first self-led experience as a researcher and is probably the main reason that I decided to pursue a career in science,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 had the opportunity to grow and develop technical skills in research. I also got to experience the positive culture in Prof. Chen鈥檚 lab and learn the soft skills that help research groups run smoothly.鈥�

And, ultimately, he and his fellow researchers may help keep microplastics out of our rivers, canals, lakes and oceans.


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