Education
- Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2016
- M.S., Eastern Michigan University, 2009
- B.S., Adrian College, 1998
Work Experience
- Senior Research Engineer, National Institute of Aerospace, 2016-present
- Visiting Technologist, NASA Glenn Research Center, Fall 2014 & Summer 2015
- Visiting Technologist, NASA Langley Research Center, Summers of 2013 and 2014
- NASA Space Technology Research Fellow, 2012-2016
- Graduate Student Researcher, University of Michigan. 2011-2016
- Senior Research Chemist, Precision Coatings, Inc., 1998-2011
Research Areas/Expertise
- Self-healing materials
- Stimuli-responsive polymers
- Electrical insulators for high-voltage/high-frequency electrical components
- Thiol–ene polymerization
- Ring-opening metathesis polymerization
- Composite recycling
- Rapid, in situ polymerization
Current Research
Self-healing Electrical Insulators for High Voltage/High Frequency Applications
Electrical propulsion systems to enable electric aircraft is a growing area of interest for aviation concepts of the future. Such systems will require electrical insulation capable of surviving electrical, thermal, and mechanical stresses that may irreversibly damage components, leading to sudden catastrophic failure. One strategy to extend the useful lifetime of electrical insulation is to utilize materials capable of undergoing self-repair in response to damage, thus eliminating the need to replace a component. Therefore, the objective of this work was to develop an electrical insulator designed with mechanisms to enable self-repair when subjected to damaging conditions encountered while in use.
Publications
Ahn, D., Zavada, S.R., Scott, T.F., Rapid, photo-mediated healing of hexaarylbiimidazole-based covalently cross-linked gels, Chemistry of Materials, 2017, 29 (16) 7023-7031
Zavada, S.R., Furgal, J.C., Wood, N.D., Scott, T.F., Oxygen-mediated Polymerization Initiated by Oltipraz-derived Thiones. Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, 2017, 55 (8), 1373-1382
Zavada, S.R., Battsengel T., Scott, T.F., Radical-mediated Enzymatic Polymerizations.International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2016, 17 (2), 195
Zavada, S.R., McHardy, N.R., Gordon, K.L. & Scott, T.F. Rapid, Puncture-Initiated Healing via Oxygen-Mediated Polymerization. ACS Macro Letters, 2015, 4, 819-824. (Selected as ACS Editors’ Choice.)
Zavada, S.R., McHardy, N.R., Scott, T.F., Oxygen-mediated Enzymatic Polymerization of Thiol-ene Hydrogels. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2014, 2 (17), 2598-2605.
Zavada, S.R. & Mannari, V., Novel Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Nano-Composite Coatings by UV-Initiated Sol-Gel Process. Radtech Report, 2012, 27 (4), 7-14