PMSE Young Investigator Symposium

The PMSE Young Investigator Symposium features invited oral presentations by honorees selected for their early-career professional accomplishments in the field of polymer science and engineering

Nominations and Award Process

Purpose

The PMSE Young Investigator (YI) 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.  

Rules of Eligibility

PMSE defines a “Young 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.

Nominations

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 encouraged to be nominated for the PMSE Young 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 googleform, which will be provided here closer to opening of the window for nominations.

In addition to contact information for the nominee and nominator, a single PDF containing the following items, in this order, must be uploaded:

1. Nomination letter addressing the nominee’s professional successes and impact (2 page maximum)
2. Nominee’s title and abstract of the tentative presentation for the ACS meeting (~ 300 words)
3. Nominee’s curriculum vitae (CV), including relevant information about publications, service, and mentorship

Questions regarding the nomination process can be sent to yisymposium@pmsenewsservice

The PMSE Young 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 very 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):

• Patents and publications
• Product development
• Advances in scientific knowledge
• 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

Award Selection and Award Nature

Awardees will be notified at least one week before the deadline for submission of the abstracts for the fall ACS meeting. 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.

Awardees will be honored at the PMSE Young Investigator Symposium held once a year during the Fall National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (location changes annually). Invited Future Faculty Scholars are responsible for all costs associated with attending the conference, including travel and registration. Selected scholars must submit their abstracts through the ACS system by the deadline and register for the meeting.

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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.

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2022 Young Investigator Symposium Honorees (Chicago, IL)

• Athina Anastasaki, ETH Zurich
• Mohammad Arjmand, University of British Columbia
• Kelly Burke, University of Connecticut
• Jun Chen, UCLA
• Xi Chelsea Chen, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Lesley Chow, Lehigh University
• Christopher Evans, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Grace Gu, University of California, Berkeley
• Sahika Inal, King Abdullah University
• Katelyn Languell, 3M
• Piran Kidambi, Vanderbilt University
• Daniel King, Hokkaido University
• Quentin Michaudel, Texas A&M University
• Nathaniel Park, IBM
• Zachariah Page, Univesity of Texas, Austin
• Christian Pester, Penn State University
• Maxwell Robb, Caltech
• Kenan Song, Arizona State University
• Ran Tao, NIST
• Muzhou Wang, Northwestern University
• Xueju Sophie Wang, University of Connecticut
• Rong Yang, Cornell University

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Young Investigator Symposia

Universities represent affiliations at the time of the conference

Fall 2021 (Held San Diego 2022)

Organizers
Beth Elacqua (Penn State)
Davita Watkins (University of Mississippi)
Rudy Wojtecki (IBM)

PMSE Young Investigator Symposium Guest Speaker
Melissa Grunlan (Texas A&M University); PMSE Past Chair

Awardee Name	Affiliation
Allie Obermeyer	Columbia University
Lauren Zarzar	Pennsylvania State University
Chenfeng Ke	Dartmouth College
Matthew B. Baker	Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Elizabeth J. Brisbois	University of Georgia
Samanvaya Srivastava	University of California, Los Angeles
Mao Chen	Fudan University, China
Sidi A. Bencherif	Northeastern University
Leila Deravi	Northeastern University
Kun (Kelvin) Fu	Universtiy of Delaware
Nagarjuna Gavvalapalli	Georgetown University
Pengfei Cao	Oak Ridge National Lab
Jia Niu	Boston College
Haritz Sardon	University of Basque Country Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV-EHU), Spain

Fall 2020 (San Francisco / Virtual)

Organizers
Rudy Wojtecki (IBM)
Yan Xia (Stanford)

Keynote Speakers

• Jeff Moore (U Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
• Tim Swager (MIT)
• Paula Hammond (MIT) (not confirmed)

PMSE Young Investigators

• Jonathan Barnes (Washington University St. Louis)
• Blair Brettmann (Georgia Institute of Technology)
• Melanie Chiu (Stony Brook University)
• Hoyong Chung (Florida State)
• Reza Foudazi (New Mexico State)
• Xiaodan Gu (University of Southern Mississippi)
• Zachary Hudson (University of British Columbia)
• Hua Lu (Peking University)
• Jianguo Mei (Purdue University)
• Jian Qin (Stanford)
• Jonathan Rivnay (Northwestern)
• Jennifer Schaefer (Notre Dame)
• Charles Sing (University of Illinois, UC)
• Morgan Stefik (University of South Carolina)
• Matthew Webber (Notre Dame)

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Fall 2019 (San Diego)

Organizers

Aaron Esser-Kahn (U Chicago)
Davita Watkins (U Mississippi)

Keynote Speakers

• Geoffrey Coates (Cornell U)
• Elizabeth Gillies (U Western Ontario)
• Todd Emrick (U Massachusetts Amherst)

Young Investigators

• Eric Appel (Stanford)
• Christopher Bates (UC Santa Barbara)
• Gaurav Giri (U Virginia)
• Damien Guironnet (U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
• Will Gutekunst (Georgia Tech)
• Robert Hickey (Pennsylvania State U)
• Julia Kalow (Northwestern U)
• Nathalie Lavoine (North Carolina State U)
• Frank Leibfarth (U North Carolina)
• Andrew Magenau (Drexel U)
• Adrianne Rosales (U Texas at Austin)
• Ellen Sletten (UCLA)
• Zhiting Tian (Cornell U)
• Mingjiang Zhong (Yale)

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)