University of Massachusetts Amherst mechanical engineering major Brendan Scott has received a NASA undergraduate fellowship to study how insulative polymers could be turned into high thermal conductivity polymers. These polymers are desirable for a wide variety of applications ranging from space exploration to electronics that need to dissipate heat quickly and efficiently.

Such high-performance technology doesn’t exist yet in a large-scale way, but Scott is excited about the possible application of this work both among the stars as well as back here on Earth. “These designs would impact everything from heat sinks in small electronics to wirings, coatings, motors and more on space missions, having a huge impact across all disciplines of engineering.”

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Image & Author Credit: Julia Westbrook