Polymer Physics and Molecular Assemblies, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. B.A. with High Distinction, Chemical Engineering, 1967, University of Minnesota; M.S., Chemical Engineering, 1969, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, 1972, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL.  

Frank is the 1990 Winner of the C.M.A. Stine Award of the Division of Materials Science and Engineering of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; 1993 Chairman of Division of Polymer Chemistry of the American Chemical Society; other positions in A.C.S. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He is on the Editorial Boards of Polymer and Polymers for Advanced Technologies.

Frank explores the molecular structure of high polymers and small amphiphilic molecules capable of self-organization through photostationary and transient fluorescence, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, surface plasmon spectroscopy, and optical and atomic force microscopy. He studies polymers, fatty acids, surface coupling agents, dendrimers and liquid crystals at the air/water interface and in constrained geometries on solid substrates; organic/inorganic nanocomposites; and applications of polymers in microelectronics. He is the Principal Investigator of the National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center on Polymer Interfaces and Macromolecular Assemblies (CPIMA).

Our research concerns the dynamics and structure of complex, fluid-fluid interfaces subjected to flow. This experimental effort considers the use of optical probes such as polarimetry, Brewster angle microscopy, and fluorescence microscopy to probe the response of the microstructure of Langmuir monolayers to hydrodynamic forces. These optical methods are complemented by measurements of the mechanical properties of these films using a newly developed “needle” surface viscometer. The aim of this research is to establish the relationship between structure and the interfacial rheology of surfaces containing complex, amphiphilic species, such as polymers, lipids, and liquid crystals.

Pande’s background has centered around molecular biophysics, including his PhD at MIT, where he was an NSF fellow in biophysics, and during his tenure as a Miller Fellow at UC Berkeley.

Pande is interested in understanding the theory of the self-assembly phenomena of biopolymers and applying this understanding to non-biological systems. For example, he works on understanding how proteins and RNA fold and then use the lessons learned to design and characterize synthetic ” foldamers,” such as poly-phenyl acetylene. In order to study these systems, he also develops new computer simulation techniques for studying the kinetics and thermodynamics of proteins, including new algorithms for massively parallel supercomputers and new techniques to greatly speed molecular dynamics calculations, allowing him to reach the microsecond timescale with atomic-resolution models.

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