Expertise
Nano-composites, Coatings, Transparent conductive electrodes, Organic photo-voltaic, Collaborative research between faculty members, Industry and Government partners.
Research Interests
Development of Collaborative Research Ecosystem, Technology Transfer from Academia, Entrepreneurship in Academic environment, Market research, Materials Sciences, Wearable Technologies, High performance textile (active and passive technologies), power harvesting textile, high performance coating technologies.Biosketch
Claire Lepont is a Senior Technical Program Manager and a Materials Scientist with professional experience in both industry and academia. She forges an innovation ecosystem for HEROES (Harnessing Emerging Research Opportunities to Empower Soldiers) and the Fabric Discovery Center (FDC) by establishing collaborative research and development activity involving academia and industry partners to address technological challenges for the government and the industry. By building a strong network, her contributions at UMass Lowell contributed to securing millions of dollars in research funding resulting in long-term academic and industry engagement. Claire has a research chemist background with M.S. in Analytical Chemistry, she holds 3 patents and has expertise in a variety of advanced materials. She has authored comprehensive market research reports. She is also currently pursuing a Ph.D. at UMass Lowell Manning School of Business with a focus on entrepreneurship.Selected Publications
E. Hajisaeid, S. Deshmukh, S. J. Burbine, E. E. Keaney, C. Lepont, M. Herndon, C. Barry, J. Mead, A. Akyurtlu, “Printed planar tunable composite right/left-handed leaky-wave antenna based on a tunable polymer-BST substrate” Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, Vol. 63 (2), p. 626-637
C. Lepont, EGY014J: Global Markets and Technologies for Photovoltaic Systems, BCC Research publication, March 2015
C. Lepont, AVM105A: Transparent Conductive Coatings: Technologies and Global Markets, BCC Research publication, June 2014
C. Lepont, A. D. Gunatillaka and C. F. Poole, Retention characteristics of porous graphitic carbon in reversed-phase liquid chromatography with methanol-water mobile phases, Analyst, 2001, 126, 1318-1325
C. Lepont and C. F. Poole, Retention characteristics of an immobilized artificial membrane column in reversed-phase liquid chromatography, J. of Chromatography A, 2002, 946, 107-124
Selected Presentations
C. Lepont, M. Reed, S. Iyer, N. Govinna, Z. Xia, L. Li, R. Mosurkal, J. Kumar, R. Nagarajan, “Nanostructured Organic Photovoltaic based Energy Harvesting Textiles and Their Applications”, Nature Inspires Creativity Engineers (NICE) Conference, October 12th to 14th, 2020
C. Lepont is a panelist in the Opportunities for Collaboration & Funding session, The Internet of Things (IoT): Enabling Technologies & Emerging Trends, UMass Lowell, March 15, 2018
J. Mead, R. Nagarajan, J. Chen, and C. Lepont, “Game Changers: How multifunctional substrate and fibers enable NextFlex and AFFOA,” 2018 Flex /MEMS & Sensors Technical Congress, Hyatt Regency, Monterey, CA, Feb 12-15, 2018.
C. Lepont, J. Mead, C. Barry, Durable Icephobic and Superhydrophobic Coating Systems, Techconnect World Innovation Spotlight, May 14th to 17th, 2017
Selected Intellectual Property
R. Gaudiana, D. Waller, M. Lee, E. Lindholm and C. Lepont, Hole Carrier Layer for Organic Photovoltaic Devices, U.S. Publication Number 2013/0263925 A1
R. Gaudiana, C. Lepont, M. Lee, E. Lindholm and D. Estes, Novel Electrode, International Publication Number WO 2011/127131
C. Lepont, L. Ha and C. Ha, Radiation-Curable Flame Retardant Optical Coatings, U.S. Publication Number 2004/0037527
Selected Contracts, Fellowships, Grants and Sponsored Research
3D Textile-based integrated energy harvesting and storage system (MN-29); PI: Jayant Kumar, Co-PI(s): R. Nagarajan, C. Lepont, L. Li, E. Agar, M. Ciuchta; Funding agency: US Army Natick; Amount: $546,760 (2021)
Development of a flexible power storage device for wearable electronics (MN-25); PI: Jayant Kumar, Co-PI(s): Prof. Ramaswamy Nagarajan, Ms. Claire Lepont; Funding agency: US Army Natick; Amount: $300,039 (2020)
Photovoltaic (PV) Energy Harvesting Textiles for Homeland Security Ensembles; PI: R. Nagarajan, Co-PI: C. Lepont; Funding Agency: Protect the Force and the Department of Homeland Security; Amount: $136,316 (2019)
Optimizing performance of Organic Photovoltaic Fibers (MN-9 Phase 2); PI: Jayant Kumar, Co-PI: Dr. Lian Li, Ms. Claire Lepont; Funding agency: US Army Natick; Amount: $299,693 (2019)
Photovoltaic (PV) Energy Harvesting Textiles for Homeland Security Ensembles; PI- R. Nagarajan, Co-PI: Claire Lepont; Funding Agency: Protect the Force and the Department of Homeland Security; Amount: $118,591 (2018)
Optimizing reliability, performance and conformability of Organic Photovoltaic Fibers (MN-9); PI: Jayant Kumar, Co-PI: Ramaswamy Nagarajan, Claire Lepont; Funding agency: US Army Natick; Amount: $266,433 (2018)