ABOUT
Blair
Brettmann
Associate Professor
Member/Fellow:
AAAS, ACS, APS, RSC, MRS
blair.brettmann@mse.gatech.edu
404-894-2535
MoSE 3100P

Blair Brettmann received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in 2007. She received her Master's in Chemical Engineering Practice from MIT in 2009 following internships at GlaxoSmithKline (Upper Merion, PA) and Mawana Sugar Works (Mawana, India).

Blair received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at MIT in 2012 working with the Novartis-MIT Center for Continuous Manufacturing under Prof. Bernhardt Trout. Her research focuses on linking molecular to micron scale phenomena to processing and multicomponent complex mixtures to enable rapid and science-driven formulation and product development.

Following her Ph.D., Blair worked as a research engineer for Saint-Gobain Ceramics and Plastics for two years. While at Saint-Gobain she worked on polymer-based wet coatings and dispersions for various applications, including window films, glass fiber mats and architectural fabrics. Later, Blair served as a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago with Prof. Matthew Tirrell.

Students:
Haley Bassham
Preksha Prakash Vichare
Shiqi Wei
Harsh Kumar Verma
Laurel Hilger
Selected publications
  1. Amrihesari, M., Murry, A., Brettmann, B. (2023) Towards standardized polymer solubility measurements using a parallel crystallizer. Polymer [Full Text]
  2. Khan, N., Renfroe, A.R., von Grey, P. , Witherow, H., Brettmann, B. (2022) The influence of electrostatic interactions in polyelectrolyte complexes on water retention values of cellulose nanofiber slurries. Cellulose [Full Text]
  3. Marnot, A., Dobbs, A. & Brettmann, B. (2022) Material extrusion additive manufacturing of dense pastes consisting of macroscopic particles. MRS Communications [Full Text]
  4. Ewaldz, E., Randrup, J., Brettmann, B. (2021), Solvent Effects on the Elasticity of Electrospinnable Polymer Solutions. ACS Polymers Au 0, 0. [Full Text]
  5. Haase, D. N., Brettmann, B., Peeters, M. (2021), Leveraging diversity and inclusion in the polymer sciences: the key to meeting the rapidly changing needs of our world. Pure and Applied Chemistry, 93 (10), 1141-1158. [Full Text]
  6. Jang, S., Boddorff, A., Jang, D.J., Lloyd, J., Wagner, K., Thadhani, N., Brettmann, B. (2021), Effect of material extrusion process parameters on filament geometry and inter-filament voids in as-fabricated high solids loaded polymer composites. Additive Manufacturing, 47, 102313. [Full Text]
  7. Campbell, I., Marnot, A., Ketcham, M., Travis, C., Brettmann, B. (2021), Direct ink write 3D printing of high solids loading bimodal distributions of particles. AIChE J. 2021;e17412. [Full Text]
  8. Banerjee, M., Brettmann, B. (2021), Stabilization of Metastable Indomethacin α in Cellulose Nanocrystal Aerogel Scaffolds. Pharmaceutics, 13(4), 441. [Full Text]
  9. Banerjee, M., Brettmann, B. (2020), Combining Surface Templating and Confinement for Controlling Pharmaceutical Crystallization. Pharmaceutics, 12(10), 995. [Full text]
  10. Khan, N., Zaragoza, N. Z., Travis, C. E., Goswami, M., Brettmann, B. K. (2020), Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervate Assembly with Cellulose
    Nanofibers. ACS Omega. [PDF]
  11. Banerjee, M., Saraswatula, S., Williams, A., Brettmann, B. (2020), Effect of Purification Methods on Commercially Available Cellulose Nanocrystal Properties and TEMPO Oxidation. Processes, 8 (6), 698. [Full text]
  12. Faubel, J. F., Patel, R. P., Wei, W., Curtis, J. E., Brettmann, B. K. (2019), Giant Hyaluronan Polymer Brushes Display Polyelectrolyte Brush Polymer Physics Behavior. ACS Macro Lett., 8 (10), 1323-1327. [PDF]
  13. Woods, H., Boddorff, A., Ewaldz, E., Adams, Z., Ketcham, M., Jang, D.J., Sinner, E., Thadhani, N. and Brettmann, B. (2019), Rheological Considerations for Binder Development in Direct Ink Writing of Energetic Materials. Prop., Explos., Pyrotech., 44, 1-11.  [PDF]
  14. Ewaldz, E. and Brettmann, B. (2019). Molecular Interactions in Electrospinning: From Polymer Mixtures to Supramolecular Assemblies. ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 1(3), 298-308. [PDF]
  15. Khan, N., Brettmann, B. (2019). Intermolecular interactions in polyelectrolyte and surfactant complexes in solution. Polymers, 11(51). [PDF]
  16. Banerjee M., Saraswatula S., Willows L., Woods, H., Brettmann B. (2018). Pharmaceutical crystallization in surface-modified nanocellulose organogels. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 6, 7317-7328. [PDF]
  17. Ewaldz E., Patel R., Banerjee M., Brettmann B. (2018). Material Selection in Electrospinning Microparticles. Polymer, 153, 529-537.
  18. Yu, J., Jackson, N. E., Xu, X., Brettmann, B. K., Ruths, M., de Pablo, J. J., & Tirrell, M. (2017). Multivalent ions induce lateral structural inhomogeneities in polyelectrolyte brushes. Science advances, 3(12), eaao1497. [PDF] 
  19. Brettmann, B., Pincus, P., & Tirrell, M. (2017). Lateral structure formation in polyelectrolyte brushes induced by multivalent ions. Macromolecules, 50(3), 1225-1235. [PDF]
  20. Jackson, N. E., Brettmann, B. K., Vishwanath, V., Tirrell, M., & de Pablo, J. J. (2017). Comparing solvophobic and multivalent induced collapse in polyelectrolyte brushes. ACS Macro Letters, 6(2), 155-160. [PDF]
  21. Marciel, A. B., Chung, E. J., Brettmann, B. K., & Leon, L. (2017). Bulk and nanoscale polypeptide based polyelectrolyte complexes. Advances in colloid and interface science, 239, 187-198. [PDF]
  22. Brettmann, B. K., Laugel, N., Hoffmann, N., Pincus, P., & Tirrell, M. (2016). Bridging contributions to polyelectrolyte brush collapse in multivalent salt solutions. Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, 54(2), 284-291. [PDF]
  23. Quon, J. L., Chadwick, K., Wood, G. P., Sheu, I., Brettmann, B. K., Myerson, A. S., & Trout, B. L. (2013). Templated nucleation of acetaminophen on spherical excipient agglomerates. Langmuir, 29(10), 3292-3300. [PDF]
  24. Brettmann, B. K., Cheng, K., Myerson, A. S., & Trout, B. L. (2013). Electrospun formulations containing crystalline active pharmaceutical ingredients. Pharmaceutical research, 30(1), 238-246. [PDF]
  25. Brettmann, B. K., Tsang, S., Forward, K. M., Rutledge, G. C., Myerson, A. S., & Trout, B. L. (2012). Free surface electrospinning of fibers containing microparticles. Langmuir, 28(25), 9714-9721. [PDF]
  26. Brettmann, B. K., Myerson, A. S., & Trout, B. L. (2012). Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance study of the physical stability of electrospun drug and polymer solid solutions. Journal of pharmaceutical sciences, 101(6), 2185-2193. [PDF]
  27. Brettmann, B., Bell, E., Myerson, A., & Trout, B. (2012). Solid-state NMR characterization of high-loading solid solutions of API and excipients formed by electrospinning. Journal of pharmaceutical sciences, 101(4), 1538-1545. [PDF]
  28. He, X., Brettmann, B., & Jung, H. (2009). Effects of test methods on crevice corrosion repassivation potential measurements of alloy 22. Corrosion, 65(7), 449-460. [PDF]
  29. Matteucci, M. E., Brettmann, B. K., Rogers, T. L., Elder, E. J., Williams Iii, R. O., & Johnston, K. P. (2007). Design of potent amorphous drug nanoparticles for rapid generation of highly supersaturated media. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 4(5), 782-793. [PDF]
Patents
  1. "Composite bearing having a polyimide matrix," Mekhilef, N., Czarnecka, B., Peet, J., Malefant, E., Brettmann, B. K., Teng, H. (2018). U.S. Patent No. 9,890,298. 
  2. "Layer processing for pharmaceuticals," B.L. Trout, T.A. Hatton, E. Chang, J.M. Evans, S. Mascia, W. Kim, R.R. Slaughter, Y. Du, H.H. Dhamankar, K.M. Forward, G.C. Rutledge, M. Wang, A.S. Myerson, B.K. Brettmann, N. Padhye, J-H. Chun, U.S. Patent , 9.205,089 (2015).
Education
  • PhD in Chemical Engineering at MIT - 2012
  • Master's in Chemical Engineering Practice from MIT - 2009
  • B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin - 2007.
Awards
  1. Faculty Honors Junior Faculty Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award (2023)
  2. MRS Communications Lecture at the Spring MRS Meeting (2023)
  3. Selected for China-America Frontiers of Engineering Symposium hosted by the National Academy of Engineering (2022)
  4. Early Career Materials Researcher for MRS Communications (2022)
  5. NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) (2021)
  6. ACS Polymers Au Rising Star (2021)
  7. AIChE Journal Futures Issue Honoree (2021)
  8. American Chemical Society Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering Young Investigator (2020)
  9. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellow (2019)
  10. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Young Observer (2019)
  11. Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award (2018)
Research Interests

Dr. Brettmann’s current research interests focus on developing technologies that enable multicomponent, rapidly customizable product design, with a specific focus on polymer systems. Mass customization of manufactured material goods presents significant technical challenges, but could yield significant rewards, similar to advances in “just in time” logistics and on-demand consumer services. Substantial challenges in engineering and design, extending from the complexity of multicomponent functional materials and the difficulty in applying scientific principles to these complex systems, slow material product development.

Her research group designs and studies new processing and characterization technologies using both experiments and theory, focusing on linking molecular to micron scale phenomena in complex systems to product performance.