Contact Information
Roger Adams Lab 109
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Research Description
The Sing lab uses statistical mechanics, coarse-grained molecular simulation, and field theory to understand the polymer physics of biological macromolecules. Specific areas of interest include the role of electrostatics and sequence on intrinsically disordered proteins and intracellular phase separation, the role of DNA elasticity and binding kinetics in DNA-protein interactions, and the conformation and dynamics of dense polymer solutions.
Education
Postdoctorate, Northwestern University, 2012-2014
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012
M.S., Case Western Reserve University, 2008
B.S.E., Case Western Reserve University, 2008
Awards and Honors
U.S. Frontiers of Engineering, NAE (2018)
School of Chemical Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award (2017-2018)
NSF CAREER Award (2017)
Forbes 30 Under 30 for Science (2015)
College of Engineering Academy of Excellence in Engineering Education, Collins Scholar (2014-2015)
International Institute for Nanotechnology Postdoctoral Fellowship (2012)
National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (2009-2012)
MIT/Dupont Alliance Presidential Fellowship (2008)
Additional Campus Affiliations
James M. and Karen S. Morris Faculty Scholar, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Director of Graduate Studies, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Professor, Materials Research Lab
Recent Publications
Jeong, H., Gu, J., Mwasame, P., Patankar, K., Yu, D., & Sing, C. E. (2025). The effect of selective surface interaction on polymer phase separation with explicit polydispersity during polymerization. Soft Matter, 21(7), 1308-1322. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm01077a
Lin, T. W., Mei, B., Dutta, S., Schweizer, K. S., & Sing, C. E. (2025). Molecular Dynamics Simulation and Theoretical Analysis of Structural Relaxation, Bond Exchange Dynamics, and Glass Transition in Vitrimers. Macromolecules, 58(3), 1481-1497. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.4c02659
Tsao, Y. H., Chen, Y. J., Sing, C. E., & Evans, C. M. (2025). Dynamic Covalent Bond Exchange at Block Copolymer Junctions Impacts Self-Assembly Kinetics. Macromolecules, 58(6), 2947-2957. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.4c02984
Tyagi, N., Walker, D. W., Young, C. D., & Sing, C. E. (2025). Hydrodynamically Enhanced Brownian Motion in Flowing Polymer Solutions. ACS Macro Letters, 14(4), 464-471. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.5c00016
Walker, D. W., Young, C. D., & Sing, C. E. (2025). Effect of Flow on Charge Transport in Semidilute Redox-Active Polymer Solutions. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 129(21), 5322-5334. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.5c01425