Leslie R. Sigmon, Ph.D.

As a patent examiner at the USPTO in the Chemical Engineering Division, Leslie focused on petroleum products, building materials, dyes and inks, and coatings. She reviewed patent applications to ensure conformity with legal requirements, searched prior art to determine novelty and non-obviousness, and drafted office actions in response to patent applicants.

During her doctoral studies at Johns Hopkins University, Leslie investigated fundamental properties and applications of nanoscale materials. Her research provided insight into the molecular processes that drive photochemical transformations in carbon dots, an environmentally sustainable alternative to quantum dots. Leslie also synthesized biodegradable polymer-nanocomposites for the microbially-mediated delivery of plant nutrients and agricultural chemicals.

As an undergraduate researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, Leslie doped titanium dioxide nanorods with a series of early transition metals to increase efficiency in water-splitting reactions used in hydrogen fuel cell technology. At the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig, Germany, she studied biogas emissions from constructed wetlands during bioremediation of phenolic wastes from brown coal mining. While at University of North Carolina, Asheville, Leslie investigated how variations in the crystalline phase of nanoscale titanium dioxide improved reactivity in catalytic water purification.