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2023 PMSE Fellows Announced

The American Chemical Society Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) have selected a new class of PMSE Fellows for 2023.  The following distinguished PMSE members have been chosen:

Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez, Thomas Epps III, Chuanbin Mao, and Michael Rubinstein

Professor Elizabeth M. Cosgriff-Hernández
University of Texas at Austin

Citation: “For outstanding contributions to polymeric biomaterial and tissue engineering research in the areas of biodegradation characterization, biomaterial development, and advanced manufacturing of polymeric scaffolds.”

Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and holder of the Cullen Trust for Higher Education Endowed Professorship in Engineering. Her laboratory specializes in the development of polymeric biomaterials to improve clinical outcomes of medical devices and regeneration strategies. She also serves on the scientific advisory board of ECM Biosurgery and Rhythio Medical as well as a consultant to several companies on biostability evaluation of medical devices. Dr. Cosgriff-Hernandez is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Materials Chemistry B and Fellow of the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. She has previously served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Part B and chair of the NIH study section on Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering.

Professor Thomas H. Epps III
University of Delaware

Thomas Epps – Chemical Engineering

Citation: “For outstanding contributions toward sustainable polymers from biomass and plastics waste, and nanomaterials for ion-conduction, drug delivery, and templating applications.”

Thomas is the Allan & Myra Ferguson Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware (UD) with a joint appointment in Materials Science & Engineering. He is Director of the Center for Research in Soft matter & Polymers (CRiSP), Director of the new NSF MRSEC at UD called CHARM (Center for Hybrid, Active, and Responsive Materials) and Deputy Director of the new DOE EFRC at UD called CPI (Center for Plastics Innovation). His research interests include nanostructured assemblies for targeted drug delivery and gene therapy, polymeric materials for bio-separation and ion-conduction membranes, nanostructured soft materials from biobased and plastics waste feedstocks, and polymer films for nanotemplating. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2017, Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 2018, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2021, Polymers Division of the American Chemical Society in 2021, the American Chemical Society in 2021, and the National Academy of Inventors in 2022. Thomas is also co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Lignolix, Inc. – a start-up focused on valorization of biomass waste.

Professor Chuanbin Mao
University of Oklahoma

Citation: “For seminal contributions to developing phages and other biopolymers into biomaterials, nanobiotechnology, nanomedicine, and regenerative medicine.”

Dr. Chuanbin Mao received both bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. at Northeastern University (China). He completed postdoctoral studies at Tsinghua University and the University of Texas at Austin. He took a tenure-track assistant professor position at the University of Oklahoma (OU) in 2005. He was early tenured and promoted to associate professor in 2010 and then early promoted to full professor in 2011. His research is focused on the biomedical and bionanotechnological applications of phages and other biopolymers. The phages are human-compatible bacteria-specific viruses assembled from proteins and DNA. His group genetically engineered the phages for seeking cancer/stem cell-targeting and tumor-homing peptides, detecting cancer biomarkers for cancer diagnosis, inducing stem cell differentiation into functional cells, promoting stem cell-based tissue regeneration and gene transfer, and developing nano-theranostic agents and drug delivery carriers for targeted cancer imaging and therapy. He is a fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), American Chemical Society (ACS), American Academy of Microbiology (AAM), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). He has won multiple awards, such as the CAREER Award from National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Presidential Professorship for outstanding performance in both research and teaching from OU.

Professor Michael Rubinstein
Duke University

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Citation: “For leadership in theoretical modeling of polymeric liquids and networks, including association and entanglement effects.”

Michael Rubinstein received B.S. from Caltech in 1979 and Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 1983. After two years as a post-doc at AT&T Bell Laboratories, he joined Research Laboratories of Eastman Kodak Company where he worked for 10 years. In 1995 Michael Rubinstein started his academic career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and in 2018 he moved to Duke University where he is currently Aleksander S. Vesic Distinguished Professor of Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Biomedical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry.  In 2016 Rubinstein became a Distinguished Professor at Hokkaido University. In 2003 he published a textbook “Polymer Physics” with R. H. Colby. In 2010 he received the Polymer Physics Prize of the American Physical Society. In 2018 he received the Bingham Medal of the Society of Rheology and in 2019 the Soft Matter and Biophysical Chemistry Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Rubinstein is currently serving as the Chair of the IUPAP Working Group on Soft Matter.