Email: neyla-urdaneta@utulsa.edu

            neyla_urdaneta@cantv.net

 Neyla Urdaneta received her B.S in Materials Engineering, Majoring in polymer from Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela (1997). She was ranked the first student of her promotion that year (GPA: 4.04/5.00). She also received honorary distinction for the innovating aspects and the outstanding dissertation of her undergraduate research project, which she carried out at INTEVEP (PDVSA’s Research Institute). This project allowed her to become familiar with testing and characterization of diverse elastomers in harsh atmospheres of CO₂ and H₂S. After such enriching experience, she received a job offer from INTEVEP and jointed the Materials Research Group (1997-1998 and 2001-2002).

Most of her work in INTEVEP was related to the study of elastomeric materials. Just to mention a few examples, she was in charge of performing failure tests on elastomeric materials used in progressive cavity pump (PCP), seals, hoses, and pipes with applications in oil industry. She participated in the characterization of crudes of different API degrees. She was also involved in projects dealing with bioremediation of mineral oils in soils, where she excelled in finding promising applications for state-of-the-art smart materials and nanomaterials in this particular area.

Also, from January to September of 2001, she joined the Polymer Research Group in Simon Bolivar University, where she studied the “Kinetics of crystallization of the central block of PE in triblock copolymers SEC (styrene-b-ethylene-b-caprolactone), by means of DSC and microscopy.  This work has been recently published in the European Polymer Journal, and constitutes her first publication as co-author.

Neyla has strong skills in design and perform of experiments such as: swelling test in various fluids; functional test in autoclave with pressure and temperature; oil characterization, preparation of blends of polymer and films in solution or melt. Handling of advanced characterization techniques such as: Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC); Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA); Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), melt flow index test, tensile test, compression test, fatigue test, and hardness test. Proven ability to compile data, compute and analyze results.