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A team of interdisciplinary investigators from the University of California, Berkeley, proposes to conduct exploratory research on informal STEM learning among older adults through an 18-month pilot study, Investigating the Measurement of STEM Engagement and Advocacy in Older Adults. The researchers include faculty and staff from three campus units: the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute @UC Berkeley (OLLI); the Fung Fellowship for Wellness and Technology (the Fellowship), part of the The Coleman Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership in the College of Engineering; and the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS), the university’s public science center. This project focuses on understanding older adult participation and engagement in informal STEM learning environments and develops new methods for measuring participation, engagement, and advocacy in this population. This project aims to: (a) develop and apply methods for measuring engagement in informal STEM learning (ISL) and STEM advocacy in older adults (50+ years of age); and (b) explore factors that lead to the engagement of this population in ISL and that moderate the outcome of enhanced STEM advocacy. 

ABSTRACT The introduction of degradable units into the backbone of commodity vinyl polymers represents a major opportunity to address the societal challenge of plastic waste and polymer recycling. Previously, we reported the facile copolymerization ofα‐lipoic acid derivatives containing 1,2‐dithiolane rings with vinyl monomers leading to the incorporation of degradable S–S disulfide bonds along the backbone at relatively high dithiolane monomer feed ratios. To further enhance the recyclability of these systems, here we describe a facile and user‐friendly strategy for backbone degradation at significantly lower dithiolane loading levels through cleavage of both SS and SC backbone units. Copolymers ofn‐butyl acrylate (nBA) or styrene (St) with small amounts of eitherα‐lipoic acid (LA) or ethyl lipoate (ELp) dissolved in DMF were observed to undergo efficient degradation when heated at 100°C under air. For example, at only 5 mol% ELp, a high molecular weight poly(ELp‐co‐nBA) (M_n = 62 kg mol⁻¹) degraded to low molecular weight oligomers (M_n = 3.2 kg mol⁻¹) by simple heating in DMF. In contrast, extended heating of either poly(nBA) or poly(St) homopolymers under the same conditions did not lead to any change in molecular weight or cleavage of the C–C backbone. This novel approach allows for the effective degradation of vinyl‐based polymers with negligible impact on properties and performance due to the low levels of dithiolane incorporation.