PMSE Early Investigator Symposium
The PMSE Early Investigator Symposium features invited oral presentations by honorees selected for their early-career professional accomplishments in the field of polymer science and engineering
Submissions will open for the PMSE Early Investigator Symposium from January 1 to February 1. The Google form is available at the link [here]. Please review the nomination guidelines and prepare your information package.
2025 Early Investigators Honorees
The 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.
| First Name | Last Name | University |
|---|---|---|
| Chibueze | Amanchukwu | University of Chicago |
| Herdeline Ann | Ardona | University of California, Irvine |
| Wubin | Bai | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| Luke | Baldwin | Air Force Research Laboratory |
| José Augusto | Berrocal | Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia |
| Tristan | Clemons | University of Southern Mississippi |
| Graham | Collier | University of Southern Mississippi |
| Kailong | Jin | Arizona State University |
| Milad | Kamkar | University of Waterloo |
| Alex | Kosanovich | Dow Chemical Company |
| Jimmy | Lawrence | Louisiana State University |
| Alexandra | Paterson | University of Kentucky |
| Abdon | Pena-Francesch | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |
| Yusen | Qiao | Dow Chemical Company |
| Greg | Su | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
| Caroline | Szczepanski | Michigan State University |
| Rui | Wang | University of California, Berkeley |
| Yichun | Wang | University of Notre Dame |
| David M. | Warsinger | Purdue University |
| Jörg | Werner | Boston University |
| Robert | Woodward | University of Vienna |
| Weinan | Xu | University of Akron |
| Fengyi | Zhang | Dow Chemical Company |
| Jiadeng | Zhu | Brewer Science Inc. |
Award Details
Selected nominees will give an invited technical talk at the Spring ACS National meeting, describing their research advances at a special symposium featuring the other PMSE Early Investigators. This special symposium will be accompanied by a networking reception with the other Early Investigators, keynote speakers, and selected invited guests from the PMSE community.
History
The symposium was established in 2017, and changed to the current title in 2022 to reflect a broader scope of early career options.
Nominations
Nomination packages should follow package submission guidelines detailed below.
Selection will be made by organizers and ad-hoc members based on information provided in the nomination package, including research innovation and productivity as an independent research investigator, along with teaching and service.
Past Recipients
Nominations and Award Process
Purpose
The PMSE Early Investigator (EI) Symposium is a forum to highlight the professional accomplishments of early-career investigators who are emerging leaders in the field of polymer science and engineering, across academia, industry, and national labs.
Awardees will be honored at the PMSE Early Investigator Symposium held once a year during the Fall National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (location changes annually).
Rules of Eligibility
PMSE defines a “Early Investigator” as an early-career scientist or engineer who is no more than 7 years beyond the start of their independent research career (beyond postdoc). PMSE strongly encourages nominations from academic, industrial, government, and other private research organizations, both foreign and domestic, that engage in the research and development of polymeric materials. Nominations of individuals from historically underrepresented groups in STEM are strongly encouraged. Nominees more than 7 years past the beginning of their independent careers will be considered in cases where the candidate has taken professional leave. Nominees are strongly encouraged to be members of the PMSE Division.
Postdocs and PhD graduates in the field of polymer science and engineering who are interested in future careers in academia are encouraged to apply for the “PMSE Future Faculty Scholars” program.
Nomination Process
Nominations are open between January 1 and February 1 of each calendar year. The deadline may be extended if needed.
Early career scientists and engineers from academia, industry, government, or private research organizations are encouraged to be nominated for the PMSE Early Investigator Symposium. The candidate’s research should align within the themes of ACS and the PMSE Division. Nominations are to be made by a mentor (e.g., postdoc advisor, PhD advisor, manager, or senior colleague). Self-nominations are not permitted. The nomination package must be uploaded via Google Forms, which will have a link available during the nomination window.
In addition to contact information for the nominee and nominator, a single PDF containing the following items, in this order, must be uploaded:
- Nomination letter addressing the nominee’s professional successes and impact (2 page maximum)
- Nominee’s title and abstract of the tentative presentation for the ACS meeting (~ 300 words)
- Nominee’s curriculum vitae (CV), including relevant information about publications, service, and mentorship
The PMSE Early Investigator Symposium seeks to recognize early career scientists who have had a significant impact on the field of polymer science and engineering. The nomination letter should explain researcher’s accomplishment and provide the context for understanding its impact. PMSE recognizes that impact can look quite different depending on whether the nominee is from academia, industry, or a national laboratory. The nomination letter should describe the importance of the nominee’s accomplishments relative to the environment they come from. Evidence to support this impact could include (but is not limited to):
- Advances in scientific knowledge
- Patents and publications
- Product development
- New measurements and materials
- Engagement with and service to the nominee’s department or institution, national organization(s), or community
- Mentorship and STEM workforce development
Questions regarding the nomination process can be sent to yisymposium@pmsedivision.org
Award Selection
Awardees will be selected based on accomplishments, the importance of these accomplishments to the nominee’s profession, and the overall impact on the field of polymer science and engineering. Nominations will be reviewed by organizers & ad hoc members of the selection committee based on information provided.
Award Announcement and Nature
Awardees will be notified at least one week before the deadline for submission of the abstracts for the Fall ACS National Meeting.
Selected nominees will give an invited technical talk describing their research advances at a special symposium featuring the other PMSE Early Investigators and keynote speakers from industry, national labs, and academia. This special symposium will be accompanied by a networking reception with the other Early Investigators, keynote speakers, and selected invited guests from the PMSE community. The PMSE Young Polymer Scientists and Engineering Committee provides oversight to the coordination of the symposium. The organizers for the 2024 program are Christian Pester (Penn State) and Chris Stafford (NIST).
Prior Year Announcements for Young Investigator Honorees
The inaugural symposium was held at the Fall 2017 National ACS Meeting in San Francisco and featured 22 Future Faculty Scholars, as well as keynote talks delivered by established leaders in the field of polymer science and engineering applying for and starting jobs in academia. Many former honorees are currently independent faculty at academic institutions across the globe. This program is run annually, with nominations due early in the calendar year and the symposium held at the fall national meeting.
A full searchable table is provided for all 181 honorees to date.
| First Name | Last Name | University | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chibueze | Amanchukwu | University of Chicago | 2025 |
| Herdeline Ann | Ardona | University of California, Irvine | 2025 |
| Wubin | Bai | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 2025 |
| Luke | Baldwin | Air Force Research Laboratory | 2025 |
| José Augusto | Berrocal | Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia | 2025 |
| Tristan | Clemons | University of Southern Mississippi | 2025 |
| Graham | Collier | University of Southern Mississippi | 2025 |
| Kailong | Jin | Arizona State University | 2025 |
| Milad | Kamkar | University of Waterloo | 2025 |
| Alex | Kosanovich | Dow Chemical Company | 2025 |
| Jimmy | Lawrence | Louisiana State University | 2025 |
| Alexandra | Paterson | University of Kentucky | 2025 |
| Abdon | Pena-Francesch | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor | 2025 |
| Yusen | Qiao | Dow Chemical Company | 2025 |
| Greg | Su | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory | 2025 |
| Caroline | Szczepanski | Michigan State University | 2025 |
| Rui | Wang | University of California, Berkeley | 2025 |
| Yichun | Wang | University of Notre Dame | 2025 |
| David M. | Warsinger | Purdue University | 2025 |
| Jörg | Werner | Boston University | 2025 |
| Robert | Woodward | University of Vienna | 2025 |
| Weinan | Xu | University of Akron | 2025 |
| Fengyi | Zhang | Dow Chemical Company | 2025 |
| Jiadeng | Zhu | Brewer Science Inc. | 2025 |
| Stephanie | Barbon | Dow Chemical Company | 2024 |
| Johannes C. | Brendel | University of Bayreuth | 2024 |
| Liheng | Cai | University of Virginia | 2024 |
| Wan-Ting | Chen | University of Massachusetts Lowell | 2024 |
| Kaitlyn | Crawford | University of Central Florida | 2024 |
| Yifan | Dong | Dow Chemical Company | 2024 |
| Matthew | Golder | University of Washington | 2024 |
| Miao | Hong | Chinese Academy of Sciences | 2024 |
| Jovan | Kamcev | University of Michigan | 2024 |
| Laure | Kayser | University of Delaware | 2024 |
| Yoonseob | Kim | Hong Kong University of Science and Technology | 2024 |
| Abigail | Knight | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 2024 |
| Svetlana | Morozova | Case Western Reserve University | 2024 |
| P. | Padmanabhan | Rochester Institute of Technology | 2024 |
| Jihye | Park | University of Colorado | 2024 |
| Luqing | Qi | Dow Chemical Company | 2024 |
| Eleftheria | Roumeli | University of Washington | 2024 |
| Michael | Schulz | Virginia Technological University | 2024 |
| Amir | Sheikhi | Pennsylvania State University | 2024 |
| Junpeng | Wang | University of Akron | 2024 |
| Xiaoguang | Wang | Ohio State University | 2024 |
| Mostafa | Yourdkhani | Colorado State University | 2024 |
| Cheng | Zhang | University of Quennsland | 2024 |
| A. | Zhukhovitskiy | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 2024 |
| Jinhye | Bae | University of California, San Diego | 2023 |
| Rhett | Baillie | Dow Chemical Company | 2023 |
| Michelle | Calabrese | University of Minnesota | 2023 |
| Matthew | Carter | Dow Chemical Company | 2023 |
| Shiwang | Cheng | Michigan State University | 2023 |
| Shudipto | Dishari | University of Nebraska at Lincoln | 2023 |
| Elizabeth | Elacqua | Pennsylvania State University | 2023 |
| Michele | Galizia | University of Oklahoma | 2023 |
| Lihua | Jin | University of California, Los Angeles | 2023 |
| Reika | Katsumata | University of Massachusetts Amherst | 2023 |
| Anthony | Kotula | NIST | 2023 |
| Jennifer | Laaser | University of Pittsburgh | 2023 |
| Tian | Lan | Dow Chemical Company | 2023 |
| Ying | Li | University of Wisconsin, Madison | 2023 |
| Robert | Macfarlane | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 2023 |
| Lutz | Nuhn | University of Würzburg | 2023 |
| Shrayesh N. | Patel | University of Chicago | 2023 |
| Stacy | Pesek | Dow Chemical Company | 2023 |
| Louis | Pitet | Hasselt University | 2023 |
| Zhe | Qiang | University of Southern Mississippi | 2023 |
| Jerome | Robinson | Brown University | 2023 |
| Sihong | Wang | University of Chicago | 2023 |
| Dong | Woog Lee | UNIST | 2023 |
| Wenjie | Xia | North Dakota State University | 2023 |
| Jie | Xu | Argonne National Laboratory | 2023 |
| Athina | Anastasaki | ETH Zurich | 2022 |
| Mohammad | Arjmand | University of British Columbia | 2022 |
| Kelly | Burke | University of Connecticut | 2022 |
| Jun | Chen | University of California, Los Angeles | 2022 |
| Xi (Chelsea) | Chen | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | 2022 |
| Lesley | Chow | Lehigh University | 2022 |
| Christopher | Evans | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign | 2022 |
| Grace | Gu | University of California, Berkeley | 2022 |
| Sahika | Inal | King Abdullah University | 2022 |
| Piran | Kidambi | Vanderbilt University | 2022 |
| Daniel | King | Hokkaido University | 2022 |
| Katelyn | Languell | 3M | 2022 |
| Quentin | Michaudel | Texas A&M University | 2022 |
| Zachariah | Page | Univesity of Texas, Austin | 2022 |
| Nathaniel | Park | IBM | 2022 |
| Christian | Pester | Pennsylvania State University | 2022 |
| Maxwell | Robb | California Institute of Technology | 2022 |
| Kenan | Song | Arizona State University | 2022 |
| Ran | Tao | NIST | 2022 |
| Muzhou | Wang | Northwestern University | 2022 |
| Xueju (Sophie) | Wang | University of Connecticut | 2022 |
| Rong | Yang | Cornell University | 2022 |
| Matthew B. | Baker | Maastricht University, The Netherlands | 2021 |
| Sidi A. | Bencherif | Northeastern University | 2021 |
| Elizabeth J. | Brisbois | University of Georgia | 2021 |
| Pengfei | Cao | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | 2021 |
| Mao | Chen | Fudan University, China | 2021 |
| Leila | Deravi | Northeastern University | 2021 |
| Kun (Kelvin) | Fu | Universtiy of Delaware | 2021 |
| Nagarjuna | Gavvalapalli | Georgetown University | 2021 |
| Chenfeng | Ke | Dartmouth College | 2021 |
| Jia | Niu | Boston College | 2021 |
| Allie | Obermeyer | Columbia University | 2021 |
| Haritz | Sardon | University of Basque Country / Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV-EHU), Spain | 2021 |
| Samanvaya | Srivastava | University of California, Los Angeles | 2021 |
| Lauren | Zarzar | Pennsylvania State University | 2021 |
| Jonathan | Barnes | Washington University at St. Louis | 2020 |
| Blair | Brettmann | Georgia Institute of Technology | 2020 |
| Melanie | Chiu | Stony Brook University | 2020 |
| Hoyong | Chung | Florida State University | 2020 |
| Reza | Foudazi | New Mexico State | 2020 |
| Xiaodan | Gu | University of Southern Mississippi | 2020 |
| Zachary | Hudson | University of British Columbia | 2020 |
| Hua | Lu | Peking University | 2020 |
| Jianguo | Mei | Purdue University | 2020 |
| Jian | Qin | Stanford University | 2020 |
| Jonathan | Rivnay | Northwestern University | 2020 |
| Jennifer | Schaefer | University of Notre Dame | 2020 |
| Charles | Sing | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign | 2020 |
| Morgan | Stefik | University of South Carolina | 2020 |
| Matthew | Webber | University of Notre Dame | 2020 |
| Eric | Appel | Stanford University | 2019 |
| Christopher | Bates | University of California, Santa Barbara | 2019 |
| Gaurav | Giri | University of Virginia | 2019 |
| Damien | Guironnet | U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | 2019 |
| Will | Gutekunst | Georgia Institute of Technology | 2019 |
| Robert | Hickey | Pennsylvania State University | 2019 |
| Julia | Kalow | Northwestern University | 2019 |
| Nathalie | Lavoine | North Carolina State University | 2019 |
| Frank | Leibfarth | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 2019 |
| Andrew | Magenau | Drexel University | 2019 |
| Adrianne | Rosales | University of Texas at Austin | 2019 |
| Ellen | Sletten | University of California, Los Angeles | 2019 |
| Zhiting | Tian | Cornell University | 2019 |
| Mingjiang | Zhong | Yale University | 2019 |
| Chris | Alabi | Cornell University | 2018 |
| Matthias | Barz | Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz | 2018 |
| Guosong | Chen | Fudan University, China | 2018 |
| Kai | Chen | Carbon 3D | 2018 |
| Eliaf | Egap | Rice University | 2018 |
| Adam | Ekenseair | Northeastern University | 2018 |
| Mike | Hore | Case Western Reserve University | 2018 |
| Justin | Kennemur | Florida State University | 2018 |
| Chris | Kloxin | University of Delaware | 2018 |
| Dominik | Konkolewicz | Miami University Ohio | 2018 |
| Guoliang (Greg) | Liu | Virginia Technological University | 2018 |
| John | Matson | Virginia Technological University | 2018 |
| Psaras | McGrier | Ohio State Unviersity | 2018 |
| Katherine | Mirica | Dartmouth College | 2018 |
| Ed | Palermo | Rennsealear Polytenchic Institute (RPI) | 2018 |
| Victoria | Piunova | IBM | 2018 |
| Jon | Pokorski | University of California, San Diego | 2018 |
| Tim | Scott | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor | 2018 |
| Stefanie | Sydlik | Carnegie Mellon University | 2018 |
| Davita | Watkins | University of Mississippi | 2018 |
| Ke | Zhang | Northeastern University | 2018 |
| Roey | Amir | Tel Aviv University | 2017 |
| Jeffrey | Byers | Boston College | 2017 |
| Cole | DeForest | University of Washington | 2017 |
| Aaron | Esser-Kahn | University of California, Irvine | 2017 |
| Lei | Fang | Texas A&M University | 2017 |
| Brett | Fors | Cornell University | 2017 |
| Kamil | Godula | University of California, San Diego | 2017 |
| Matthew | Kiesewetter | University of Rhode Island | 2017 |
| Rebekka | Klaussen | Johns Hopkins University | 2017 |
| April | Kloxin | University of Delaware | 2017 |
| Yi | Liu | Molecular Foundry | 2017 |
| Laetitia | Mespouille | University of Mons, Belgium | 2017 |
| Cecile | Monteaux | CNRS ESPCI, France | 2017 |
| Deidre | O’Carrol | Rutgers, The State University of New Jerse | 2017 |
| Grace | O’Connell | University of California, Berkeley | 2017 |
| Michelle | O’Malley | University of California, Santa Barbara | 2017 |
| Emily | Pentzer | Case Western Reserve University | 2017 |
| Javier | Read de Alaniz | University of California, Santa Barbara | 2017 |
| Megan | Robertson | University of Houston | 2017 |
| Dwight | Seferos | University of Toronto | 2017 |
| Rudy | Wojtecki | IBM | 2017 |
| Yan | Xia | Stanford University | 2017 |
Prior Year Announcments
2023 Early Investigator Symposium Honorees
2022 Young Investigator Symposium Honorees (Chicago, IL)
Young Investigator Honorees – Fall 2021
Young Investigator Honorees – Fall 2020
Young Investigator Honorees – Fall 2019
Fall 2018 (Boston)
Organizers
Emily Pentzer (Case Western Reserve University)
Cole DeForest (University of Washington)
Keynote Speakers
- Marc Hillmyer (University of Minnesota)
- Matthew Becker (University of Akron)
- Zhenan Bao (Stanford)
- Stuart Rowan (University of Chicago)
PMSE Young Investigators
- Chris Alabi (Cornell)
- Matthias Barz (Mainz)
- Guosong Chen (Fudan)
- Kai Chen (Carbon 3D)
- Eliaf Egap (Rice)
- Adam Ekenseair (Northeastern)
- Mike Hore (Case Western Reserve)
- Justin Kennemur (Florida State)
- Chris Kloxin (Delaware)
- Dominik Konkolewicz (Miami University Ohio)
- Guoliang (Greg) Liu (Virginia Tech)
- John Matson (Virginia Tech)
- Psaras McGrier (Ohio State)
- Katherine Mirica (Dartmouth)
- Ed Palermo (RPI)
- Victoria Piunova (IBM)
- Jon Pokorski (UC San Diego)
- Tim Scott (Michigan)
- Stefanie Sydlik (Carnegie Mellon)
- Davita Watkins (Mississippi)
- Ke Zhang (Northeastern)
Fall 2017 (San Francisco)
Organizers
Jeannette M. Garcia (IBM Research)
Luis Campos (Columbia University)
Keynote Speakers
- Karen Wooley (Texas A&M)
- Craig Hawker (UC Santa Barbara)
- Joe DeSimone (Carbon)
- Carolyn Bertozzi (Stanford)
PMSE Young Investigators
- Roey Amir (Tel Aviv U)
- Jeffrey Byers (Boston College)
- Cole DeForest (Washington)
- Aaron Esser-Kahn (UC Irvine)
- Lei Fang (Texas A&M)
- Brett Fors (Cornell)
- Kamil Godula (UC San Diego)
- Matthew Kiesewetter (U Rhode Island)
- Rebekka Klaussen (Johns Hopkins)
- April Kloxin (Delaware)
- Yi Liu (Molecular Foundry)
- Laetitia Mespouille (U Mons, Belgium)
- Cecile Monteaux (CNRS ESPCI, France)
- Deidre O’Carrol (Rutgers)
- Grace O’Connell (UC Berkeley)
- Michelle O’Malley (UC Santa Barbara)
- Emily Pentzer (Case Western Reserve)
- Javier Read de Alaniz (UC Santa Barbara)
- Megan Robertson (U Houston)
- Dwight Seferos (U Toronto)
- Rudy Wojtecki (IBM)
- Yan Xia (Stanford)