Michael Ford

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  • Title
    Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Email
    ford40@llnl.gov
  • Phone
    (925) 424-4185
  • Organization
    Not Available

Professional Background

Michael is a Deputy Group Leader and Staff Scientist in the High Performance Materials Group within the Materials Science Division. His research focuses on intelligent soft materials—liquid-metal/polymer composites, 4-D-printable elastomers, 3-D printed silicones, and plastic scintillators— all for non-proliferation, energy, and soft-robotics applications. Prior to LLNL, he was a postdoctoral researcher in Carnegie Mellon University’s Soft Machines Lab, where he studied active polymesr including self-healing and shape-morphing elastomers. He earned his Ph.D. in Materials (2018) from UC Santa Barbara, investigating polymer semiconductors, and a B.S. in Chemistry (2012) from UC Davis. Michael is a technical expert in soft-matter synthesis, additive-manufacturing formulations, actuators with low modulus, and polymer characterization, and he leads multi-disciplinary teams developing next-generation functional materials. 

Research Interests

  • Soft matter synthesis and processing
  • Additive manufacturing formulations
  • Plastic scintillators

PhD, Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2018

Data Science Certificate Program, Data Science, Naval Postgraduate Academy, 2022

BS, Chemistry, University of California, Davis, 2012

  1. Roca, C., Bowden, N. S., Carman, L., Dazeley, S. A., Durham, S. R., Falana O. M., Ford, M. J., Glenn, A. M., Hurlbut, C., Li, V. A., Mendenhall, M. P., Shipp, K., Sutanto, F., Zaitseva, N. P. Performance of large-scale 6Li-doped pulse-shape discriminating plastic scintillators. NIMA. (2024) 

  1. Ford, M. J., Porcincula, D. H., Telles, R., Mancini, J. A., Wang, Y., Rizvi, M. H., Loeb, C. K., Moran, B. D., Tracy, J. B., Lewis, J. A., Yang, S., Lee, E., Krikorian, C. C. Movement with light: photoresponsive shape morphing of printed liquid crystal elastomers. Matter. (2024). 

  1. Armas, J. A., Ford, M. J., Foster, K. P., Hall, T., Loeb, C. K., Schmidt, S., Williams, S. F., Baron, K. L., Pérez Pérez, L. X., Xie, F., Bryson, T. M., Lenhardt, J. M. Electrostatic Dissipation in 3D-Printable Silicone. ACS Appl. Mater. Int. (2024).  

  1. Zaitseva, N., Carman, L., Glenn, A., Kim, Y., Ford, M. J., Eccleston, G., Hurlbut, C., Shipp, K. Performance stability of plastics for neutron-gamma pulse shape discrimination. NIMA. (2024).    

  1. Kim, Y., Zaitseva, N., Ford, M. J., Carman, L., Glenn, A., Febbraro, M., Hausladen, M. J., 3D printable polyvinyltoluene-based plastic scintillators with pulse shape discrimination. NIMA. (2023). 

  1. Chandler, C., Porcincula, D. H., Ford, M. J., Kolibab, T. J., Fein-Ashley, B., Brodsky, J., Killgore, J. P., Sellinger, A. Influence of fluorescent dopants on the vat photopolymerization of acrylate-based plastic scintillators for application in neutron/gamma pulse shape discrimination. Add. Manuf. (2023).  

  1. Zaitseva, N. P., Carman, M. L., Ford, M. J., Glenn, A. M., Roca, Ch., Durham, S., Sutanto, F., Dazeley, S. A., Bowden, N. S., 6Li-loaded liquid scintillators produced by direct dissolution of compounds in diisopropylnaphthalene (DIPN). NIMA. (2023). 

  1. Ford, M. J., Aigeldinger, E., Sutanto, F., Zaitseva, N. P., Li, V. A., Carman, M. L., Glenn, A., Catala, C. R., Dazeley, S. A., Bowden, N. Synthesis and processing of lithium-loaded plastic scintillators on the kilogram scale. NIMA. (2023). 

  1. Ohm, Y., Liao, J., Luo, Y., Ford, M. J., Majidi, C., Reconfigurable electrical networks within a conductive hydrogel network. Adv. Mater. (2023).  

  1. Ford, M. J., Zaitseva, N. P., Carman, M. L., Dazeley, S., Bernstein, A., Glenn, A., Akindele, O., Pulse-shape discrimination in water-based scintillators. NIMA. (2022).  

For a full list, see: Google Scholar 

 Patents 

  1. Ford, M. J., Lenhardt, J. M. Controlling Curing Kinetics and Network Structure of Polysiloxanes Using Curing Accelerators and Inhibitors. US Patent App. 18/197,603. (2024).  

  1. Ford, M. J., Zaitseva, N. P., Carman, M. L. Lipophilic lithium salts for direct dissolution in organic scintillators. US Patent App. 18/229,038. (2024).  

  1. Brodsky, J., Ford, M. J., Golobic, A., Hook, C., Lee, E., Porcincula, D. H., Zhang, X., Chandler, C., Sellinger, A., Polyvinyl toluene scintillators produced using cationic photoinitiators for additively manufactured radiation detectors. US Patent App. 18086379. (2023). 

  1. Ford, M. J., Majidi, C. Multifunctional Shape Morphing Elastomer With Liquid Metal Inclusions. US Patent App. 17/486,713. (2022). 

  1. Bridges, C. R., Ford, M. J., Bazan, G. C., Segalman, R. A. Formation and Structure of Lyotropic Liquid Crystalline Mesophases in Donor-Acceptor Semiconducting Polymers. US Patent App. 10/249,821 (2019).  

  1. Ford, M. J., Bazan, G. C. Stable organic field-effect transistors by incorporating an electron-accepting molecule, US Patent 10,367,144 (2019).  

  1. Bridges, C. R., Ford, M. J., Thomas, E. M., Gomez, C., Bazan, G. C., Segalman, R. A. Branch point effect on structure and electronic properties of conjugated polymers. US Patent App. 16/144,512 (2019).  

  1. Ford, M. J., Wang, H., Bazan, G. C., Organic semiconductor blends for switching ambipolar transport to n-type transport, US Patent App. 15/599,816 (2017).  

  • Department of Energy I-Corps Program  

  • Academic Collaboration Team 

  • Interlaboratory LDRD 

  • Department of Energy I-Corps Program 

  • Global Security Silver Award  

  • LLNL Internship Award 

  • PLS Directorate Scientific & Technical Award  

  • BioPACIFIC MIP Associates Program Award  

  • MRSEC Rising Stars in Soft and Biological Matter Honorarium  

  • Graduate Opportunity Mentor Fellowship  

  • APS Ovshinsky/DMP Travel Award Honorable Mention 

  • MRL-Dow Travel Fellowship 

  • International Center for Materials Research Fellowship