Welcome to PMSE

The Polymer Science, Materials, and Engineering (PMSE) Division of the American Chemical Society brings together a worldwide community of scientists and engineers interested in polymeric materials that make millions of products around the world function everyday.

ACS Spring 2025 Meeting & Expo (link)
August 17-21, 2025

News and Updates

If you have content or updates you would like to share with the PMSE community, please contact Bindu Krishnan and Samanvaya Srivastava at pmsecorner@pmsedivision.org with news to share.

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  Meet PMSE’s Spring 2025 Best Poster Winners
  A distinguished group of Judges from industry, academia, and government laboratories had the task of determining the winners of the PMSE Best Poster Competitions at the Spring ACS Meeting in San Diego. Congratulations to our winners, who were also recognized at the POLY/PMSE Awards Reception. Graduate Student Best Poster Award Winners JASON M. KRONENFELDStanford UniversityScalable microparticle fabrication via r2rCLIP: Enabling a… Read More »Meet PMSE’s Spring 2025 Best Poster Winners
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  2025 Future Faculty Honorees Announced
  The 2025 Future Faculty Honorees have been annouced. A symposium highlighting the honorees will be held at the ACS Fall Meeting in Washington DC on August 18-21, 2025. A list of honorees and university affiliations are listed below. PMSE congratulates all winners and looks forward to seeing their presentations in August.
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  2025 Early Investigators Honorees Announced
  The 2025 PMSE Early Investigators Award Committee selected twenty four members, consisting of professors, government researchers, and industry scientists across the field of polymer science. A symposium highlighting their work will be held at the 2025 Fall ACS National Meeting. The full list from all years can be found at the Early Investigator Symposium page.
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  2025 Awardees for the ACS Global Outstanding Graduate Student and Mentor Award
  The purpose of the ACS Global Outstanding Graduate Student and Mentor Award is to disseminate globally the latest knowledge of polymer research and to recognize at the ACS National Meeting not just two winning students, one from the USA and one from anywhere in the world, but also their mentors. Sponsored by Chemical Marketing & Economics, Inc. (CME), the awards,… Read More »2025 Awardees for the ACS Global Outstanding Graduate Student and Mentor Award
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  Chair Message from Cristina Thomas
  Dear Fellow Members of the PMSE Division, It is an honor and privilege to serve as the 2025 PMSE Division Chair, working alongside five other dedicated PMSE officers to fulfill PMSE’s mission: fostering a global community of scientists and engineers advancing polymeric materials through science and engineering. This year marks the beginning of the next century for PMSE, building on… Read More »Chair Message from Cristina Thomas
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  2025 Journal of Polymer Science Innovation Award to Prof. Grace Gu
  Since its inception in 2012, the Journal of Polymer Science Innovation Award recognizes polymer scientists under the age of 40 and celebrates their significant research innovations and achievements in the field. Winners are recognized at a symposium in association with PMSE at the ACS Fall meeting. The editors of the Journal of Polymer Science and the Polymeric Materials: Science and… Read More »2025 Journal of Polymer Science Innovation Award to Prof. Grace Gu
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  PMSE Graduate Student Travel Award for the 2025 Spring ACS Meeting Annouced
  The PMSE Graduate Student Travel Award is given to provide partial travel support to women and/or under-represented (African American, Hispanic, or Native American) graduate students to attend and present their research at ACS national meetings in the Division of Polymeric Materials:  Science & Engineering.  PMSE is proud to announce the winners of this award for the Spring 2025 ACS Meeting… Read More »PMSE Graduate Student Travel Award for the 2025 Spring ACS Meeting Annouced
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  2025 Henkel Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Science and Engineering to Elizabeth Murphy
  Elizabeth Murphy, 2025 Henkel Award WinnerUniversity of California, Santa Barbara The Henkel Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Science and Engineering is given to recognize a graduate student or recent graduate who has completed an outstanding Ph.D. thesis in polymeric research. PMSE is proud to introduce this year’s winner, Elizabeth Murphy. Elizabeth Murphy will receive her Ph.D. in Chemistry… Read More »2025 Henkel Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Science and Engineering to Elizabeth Murphy

Who We Are

The Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) Division helps connect scientists seeking to leverage the unique design, functionality, engineering, and properties of macromolecules in challenging applications.

The Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering, a division of the American Chemical Society, was founded in 1924 as an association of scientists with an interest in understanding how to improve and understand paints and other polymeric coatings. The complex interactions and optimization between the polymeric material, solvents, substrates, and end use required a collaborative effort to understand fundamental property interactions. PMSE build and maintain relationships, arrange polymeric programs at professional meetings, and promotes the teaching of macromolecular chemistry at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Advancing Polymer Research

Focused on scientific discovery and research across macromolecular disciplines and their interaction with other scientific and engineering fields

Developing New Members

Developmental symposium and awards help promote new researchers and expose new ideas to the broader community

Connecting Our Community

Join PMSE and become a member of a supportive professional network of active and diverse members

What’s New in ACS Journals

ACS Applied Polymer Materials

• [ASAP] Rapid Self-Healing, Reprocessable, and Degradable Epoxy Resins via Imine-Disulfide Dynamic Bonds for Electrical Insulation
• [ASAP] Origins of Electromechanical Behavior in Surface-Localized Nanocomposites: Insights into Crack Network Dynamics and Particle Network Rearrangements
• [ASAP] Moisture-Triggered Carboxylic Polyurethane Antibacterial Film for Food Preservation
• [ASAP] Advances in Selenium-Containing High Refractive Index Polymers
• [ASAP] Synthesis and Characterization of Fully Biobased Nonisocyanate Polyurethane with Excellent Mechanical Properties, Recyclability, and Clusteroluminescence

ACS Macro Letters

• [ASAP] High Performance, Reprocessable, and Degradable Biobased Polyhydroxyurethane Vitrimers from an Imine-Containing Vanillin Dicyclocarbonate
• [ASAP] Commodity Polymer Functionalization by a Combination of Hydrogen Atom Transfer Reversible Addition–Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization and Pentafluorophenyl-Ester-Ligation Chemistry
• [ASAP] Nanoparticle Percolation Improves the Mechanical Properties of Polymer Nanocomposite Films
• [ASAP] Highly Branched Poly[dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate-co-bis(2-acryloyloxy) ethyl disulfide] for Efficient Intracellular Protein Delivery
• [ASAP] Tough Hydrogels Designed for a Stretch-Induced Decrease in Electrical Resistance Using Tandem Host–Guest and Ionic Cross-Linking

ACS Polymers Au

• [ASAP] Introducing the Tutorial Manuscript Type at the ACS Au Community Journals
• [ASAP] PVDF Nanofiber Membranes for Dissolved Methane Recovery from Water Prepared by Combining Electrospinning and Hot-Pressing Methods
• [ASAP] Nanoscale Structure–Property Relationships of Cyanate Ester as a Function of Extent of Cure
• [ASAP] Water Absorption Capacity and Agricultural Utility of Biopolymer-Based Hydrogels: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
• [ASAP] Unlocking the Potential of N,N,N′,N′-Tetraphenylbenzidine Based on Conjugated Microporous Polymers for Rhodamine B Adsorption: A Synergistic Experimental and Density Functional Theory Perspective

Biomacromolecules

• [ASAP] Multifunctional Bioglues with Excellent Antibacterial Properties for Infectious Wound Healing
• [ASAP] Injectable Hybrid Hydrogel Loaded with circFADS1 Microspheres for the Differentiation of Nucleus Pulposus Tissue-Derived Stem Cells and Intervertebral Disc Repair
• [ASAP] Spatiotemporal-Controlled Nanoagonists Triggered STING Activation for Cascade-Amplified Photothermal Metalloimmunotherapy
• [ASAP] Unraveling the Structure–Antioxidant Property Relationship of Lignin: Insights from Botanical Sources and pH-Controlled Fractionation
• [ASAP] Human Milk Oligosaccharides Multivalently Presented on Defined Synthetic Neo-Glycoproteins Are Nanomolar Ligands of Tandem-Repeat Galectins
• [ASAP] Controlling the Sulfation Density of Glycosaminoglycan Glycopolymer Mimetics Enables High Antiviral Activity against SARS-CoV-2 and Reduces Anticoagulant Activity

Bioconjugate Chemistry

• [ASAP] Synthetic Redox-Responsive Nanocomplexes Facilitate Spatially Controlled mRNA Release and Tumor-Selective Expression
• [ASAP] Clickable and Degradable Polycarbonate Vehicles for mRNA Delivery
• [ASAP] Simple and High-Throughput Fluorescence Assay Method for DNA Damage Analysis in Single-Stranded DNA-Encoded Library Synthesis
• [ASAP] Targeting GPX4-Dependent Ferroptosis via a Dihydroartemisinin-Conjugated Cross-Linked Lipoic Acid Nanodrug for Endometrial Carcinoma Therapy
• [ASAP] Multicheckpoint Cellular Targeting of siRNAs Using Antibody-Directed Lipid-Polymer Hybrid Nanoparticles
• [ASAP] Antibody-Free Immunopeptide Nanoconjugates for Brain-Targeted Drug Delivery in Glioblastoma Multiforme

Macromolecules

• [ASAP] A Lamella Chirality-Induced Heterostructure Crystal in Biodegradable Poly(lactic Acid) Reminiscent of a Morphotropic Phase Boundary
• [ASAP] Grain-Size Engineering Unlocks Curie Transition Dynamics in P(VDF-TrFE)
• [ASAP] Synthesis of Functional Metallocene Polyethylene through Masking Free Copolymerization of Polar Monomer with Ethylene
• [ASAP] Synthesis and Molecular Characterization of Pyrene-Containing Copolymers as Potential MALDI-TOF MS Matrices
• [ASAP] Phase Behavior of Frustrated ABC Bottlebrush Block Terpolymers
• [ASAP] Mechanoluminescent Polymers Based on Dithiomaleimide Dimer Mechanophores