ACS Global Outstanding Student and Mentor Awards in Polymer Science and Engineering
The ACS Global Outstanding Student and Mentor Awards in Polymer Science and Engineering recognizes the latest knowledge of polymer research of students and their mentors, one from United States and one from anywhere in the world.
2024 Award Winners
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, which are co-organized by CME and the Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) Division of the American Chemical Society, recognize graduate students within one year of graduation or a recent graduate who has completed an outstanding thesis in polymer research accepted by a university during the three-year period prior to January 1 of the award year. PMSE and CME are proud to announce this year’s winners:
ACS Global Outstanding Graduate Student
Dr. Laura Rijns
University of Eindhoven
Dr. Laura Rijns was born in the Netherlands (1996) and obtained her Ph.D. (2023) in Biomedical Engineering “cum laude” from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) with Prof. Patricia Dankers and Prof. E.W. (Bert) Meijer. Supramolecular hydrogels as mimics of the extracellular matrix were developed for cell and organoid culture. She was awarded the Materials-Driven Regeneration Young Talent Award 2021. Currently, Laura is pursuing her postdoc as a Niels Stensen Fellow at Stanford University with Prof. Zhenan Bao, focused on improving the interaction between electronic materials and living tissue.
Prior to graduate school, she received her B.Sc. (2017) and M.Sc. (2019) in Biomedical Engineering at TU/e, in the lab of Prof. E.W. (Bert) Meijer. During her undergraduate studies, she was the Lab Captain of the iGEM TU/e 2016 team. In 2017, she worked at UC Santa Barbara in the group of Prof. Songi Han, studying liquid-liquid phase separated coacervate polymers. In 2019 and 2023, she worked at EPFL (Switzerland) with Prof. Maartje Bastings, studying multivalent interactions using DNA origami.
ACS Global Outstanding Mentor
Professor Patricia Dankers
University of Eindhoven
Patricia Dankers is Professor in Biomedical Materials & Chemistry at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). She studied chemistry in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Her Ph.D. studies were performed at TU/e in the group of Prof. E.W. (Bert) Meijer, on supramolecular biomaterials (2006). She worked for SupraPolix, and the University Medical Center, Groningen. Her second Ph.D. thesis work was performed in medical sciences on kidney regenerative medicine, in Groningen (2013). She worked at Northwestern University, Chicago, USA (2010). She climbed every step on the academic ladder, starting in 2008, ending in 2017 as full Professor. She received Veni, Vidi & Vici (2008, 2017, 2023) and ERC starting & ERC PoC (2012, 2017) grants. She has been awarded the KNCV Gold Medal (2020) and the Ammodo Award for Fundamental Science (2021). She is a co-founder of the spin-off companies UPyTher (2020) and VivArt-X (2022). She is one of the founders of the Research Center for Interactive Polymer Materials (IPM) in Eindhoven, funded by a Gravitation Grant (2022).
ACS Global Outstanding Graduate Student
Dr. Pamela Cai
Stanford University
Pamela Cai received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 2016. She obtained her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University in 2023 under the mentorship of Prof. Andrew Spakowitz and Prof. Sarah Heilshorn. Her work included development of a polymer physics theory connecting molecular design of dynamically associating polymers to its bulk rheological behavior, refinement of a microrheology technique, and synthesis of a biopolymer-based material that has applications in drug delivery, 3D bioprinting, and recyclable plastics. In 2019, she was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the Stanford Bio-X Interdisciplinary Fellowship. More recently, she received the Frank J. Padden Jr. Award for graduate excellence in polymer physics research by the American Physical Society Division of Polymer Physics.
ACS Global Outstanding Mentor
Professor Andrew Spakowitz
Stanford University
Andrew Spakowitz received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 1999, and he defended his Ph.D. thesis in Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology in 2004. He was a postdoctoral scholar in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley from 2004 to 2006. Andrew Spakowitz joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford as an Assistant Professor in August 2006. He was promoted to Associate Professor in April 2014 and full Professor of Chemical Engineering and of Materials Science and Engineering in 2020. Professor Spakowitz currently serves as the Tang Family Foundation Chair of Chemical Engineering.
The Spakowitz lab is engaged in projects that address fundamental chemical and physical phenomena underlying a range of biological processes and soft-material applications. Current research in the lab focuses on four main research themes: chromosomal organization and dynamics, protein self-assembly, polymer membranes, and charge transport in conducting polymers. These broad research areas offer complementary perspectives on chemical and physical processes, and they leverage this complementarity throughout their research. Their approach draws from a diverse range of theoretical and computational methods, including analytical theory of semiflexible polymers, polymer field theory, continuum elastic mechanics, Brownian dynamics simulation, equilibrium and dynamic Monte Carlo simulations, analytical theory and numerical simulations of reaction-diffusion phenomena, and machine-learning and data-science approaches. A common thread in their work is the need to capture phenomena over many length and time scales, and flexibility in research methodologies provides them with the critical tools to address these complex multidisciplinary problems.
Sponsored By
Award Details
Each of the two student award winners will receive a $7,500 cash prize and a commemorative plaque to be presented at the CME Symposium, and when possible in the PMSE Division Awards Reception, in the selected ACS National Meeting of the Award year.
History
The award was originally established in 2019 and is funded by Chemical Marketing & Economics, Inc. (CME).
Nominations
Nominees should have contributed significant advances to polymer science and engineering research. Nomination packages should follow package submission guidelines.
Past Recipients
Nominations and Award Process
Purpose
The ACS Global Outstanding Student and Mentor Awards in Polymer Science and Engineering recognizes the latest knowledge of polymer research of students and their mentors, one from United States and one from anywhere in the world.
Rules of Eligibility
Nominees should be recent graduates who have completed an outstanding thesis in polymer research accepted by a university during the three-year period prior to January 1 of the award year.
Present members of the Board of Directors of CME and PMSE, or the award selection committee members, and their respective staff and contractors, are ineligible for this award.
Nominations Package
The deadline is February 15 for nomination packages. The students and mentors to be recognized must have made significant contributions to polymer science and engineering. There are no fees to make a nomination.
Nominations must be made by the university thesis supervisor or by others familiar with the nominee’s work. Nominating documents must be in English and include the nominee’s biography (full CV), a synopsis of the work, a letter of recommendation from the thesis advisor, up to two supporting documents (e.g. additional letters of recommendation from collaborators or thesis-relevant publications), and a passport valid for two years and eligibility for USA entry visa. Nominees will be judged by a selection committee for the quality and the impact of the research. A PDF file of the nomination package should be sent via Prof. LaShanda Korley and Prof. Mike Hore (acsglobalaward@pmsedivision.org) with the title “GOSM Award Nomination package for (Nominee Name)”. For more information, please contact Prof. LaShanda Korley (full contact info) or Prof. Mike Hore (full contact info).
Award Selection Process
The selected winners will be selected by a committee as appointed by the nomination chair. The committee is managed by PMSE for each award year and consists of members in good standing withe PMSE Division.
Award Announcement and Nature
Awardees will be notified before the deadline for submission of the abstracts for the fall ACS meeting.
Each of the two student award winners will receive a $7,500 cash prize and a commemorative plaque to be presented at the CME Symposium. Presentations, when possible, will occur in the PMSE Division Awards Reception in the selected ACS National Meeting of the Award year. The mentor of the student will receive a plaque and be recognized in the promotional materials. The Award does not cover any expenses for the student or mentor who attend the meeting. An eligible mentor is the thesis advisor, the department chair, the university president, or an officer of the country’s chemical society.
About CME
Chemical Marketing & Economics, Inc. (CME) was established in 1954 by an industry steering committee to address the challenges of humanity.
We at CME are a forward-looking nonprofit dedicated to accelerating diverse STEM talent and leadership for sustainable innovation in energy, materials and life sciences. The group focus over time has expanded from technology and business to investments and policy in order to develop a holistic approach to advancing the transformational power of chemistry, the central science, together with other fields of knowledge in the sciences and the arts for the benefit of humanity.
Full List of Award Winners
2020 – Present
2024
Dr. Pamela Cai
Professor Andrew Spakowitz
Stanford University
Dr. Laura Rijns
Professor Patricia Dankers
University of Eindhoven
2023
Dr. Alexandra Easley
Professor Jodie Lutkenhaus
Texas A&M University
Dr. Timur Ashirov
Professor Ali Coskun
University of Fribourg
2022
Dr. Vivian Feig
Professor Zhenan Bao
Stanford University
Dr. Spyridon Varlas
Professor Rachel O’Reilly
University of Birmingham, U.K.
2021
Austin Evans
Professor William Ditchel (Advisor)
Northwestern University
Qi Zhang
Professor He Tian (Advisor, Graduate)
East China University of Science and Technology
Professor Ben Feringa (Advisor, Post Graduate)
University of Groningen
2019
2019
Dr. Seunghyun Sim
Prof. Takuzo Aida (Advisor)
University of Tokyo
Bas van Genabeek
Prof. E.W. (Bert) Meijer (Advisor)
Eindhoven University of Technology