The editors of the Journal of Polymer Science and the Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) are delighted to present the 2022 Journal of Polymer Science Innovation Award to Dr. Frank A. Leibfarth.
Frank currently works as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with Professor Craig J. Hawker, followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the guidance of Professor Timothy F. Jamison.
The research interests of the Leibfarth group include developing methods to control stereochemistry in ionic polymerizations, uncovering enhanced function in commodity polymers through selective C–H functionalization, and creating automated approaches for the synthesis of unique polymer architectures with novel functions.
For Frank’s significant achievements, he has been recognized by numerous awards in only five years as an independent investigator, including the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, Sloan Research Fellowship, NSF CAREER award, 3M Non-tenured faculty award, and was named to the Popular Science Brilliant 10, 2020 Hermann F. Mark Young Scholar, and the Chemical & Engineering News Talented 12 lists.