Sindee Lou Simon is an American chemical engineer and polymer physicist who studies the glass transition, thermosetting polymers, and nanoconfinement. [1] [2] Her research has included studies of ancient amber, showing that unlike liquids glass does not flow. [3] She is the head of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. [2]
Simon grew up in Wichita, Kansas, the daughter of a schoolteacher and a technical salesman for the aircraft industry; she was directed towards chemical engineering by a high school mathematics teacher. She became an undergraduate at Yale University, where she competed in the Yale swimming team, serving as captain of the team for two years, [1] and was named an All-American for 1982 by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America for the backstroke in NCAA Division I. [4]
After graduating, she worked for four years at the Beech Aircraft Corporation, on the materials science behind their first composite aircraft. [1] She went to Princeton University for graduate study, completing her Ph.D. in 1992. [5]
She joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh as an assistant professor of chemical and petroleum engineering in 1992, [5] before moving to Texas Tech University in 1999. The move solved a two-body problem for her and her husband, chemical engineer Gregory B. McKenna, who moved from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to Texas Tech at the same time. [1] At Texas Tech, she was department chair for chemical engineering from 2012 to 2019. [5] She moved again, to North Carolina State University, in 2021. [2]
Simon was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) in 2010, after a nomination from the APS Division of Polymer Physics, "for pioneering contributions to the understanding of the thermal and mechanical properties of bulk and nanostructured polymeric glasses". [6] She also became a fellow of the North American Thermal Analysis Society in 2003, of the Society of Plastics Engineers in 2005, and of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2015. [5]
She was named P. W. Horn Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech in 2010. [7]
She was the 2014 winner of the Mettler Toledo Outstanding Achievement of the North American Thermal Analysis Society, [5] and the 2019 winner of the International Award of the Society of Plastics Engineers, the first woman to win the society's highest award. [8]
Robert Byron Bird was an American chemical engineer and professor emeritus in the department of chemical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was known for his research in transport phenomena of non-Newtonian fluids, including fluid dynamics of polymers, polymer kinetic theory, and rheology. He, along with Warren E. Stewart and Edwin N. Lightfoot, was an author of the classic textbook Transport Phenomena. Bird was a recipient of the National Medal of Science in 1987.
Stephen Z. D. Cheng is a Chinese-American polymer scientist and chemical engineer. Cheng is the R.C.Musson & Trustees Professor of Polymer Science, and was the former Dean of the College of Polymer Science & Polymer Engineering at the University of Akron.
Sharon C. Glotzer is an American scientist and "digital alchemist", the Anthony C. Lembke Department Chair of Chemical Engineering, the John Werner Cahn Distinguished University Professor of Engineering and the Stuart W. Churchill Collegiate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, where she is also professor of materials science and engineering, professor of physics, professor of macromolecular science and engineering, and professor of applied physics. She is recognized for her contributions to the fields of soft matter and computational science, most notably on problems in assembly science and engineering, nanoscience, and the glass transition, for which the elucidation of the nature of dynamical heterogeneity in glassy liquids is of particular significance. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Chinedum Osuji is the Eduardo D. Glandt Presidential Professor and the departmental chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering (CBE) at University of Pennsylvania. He is also a former Taekwondo Olympian and represented Trinidad and Tobago. His laboratory works on polymers and soft materials for functional application including liquid filtration. He is the associate editor of the journal Macromolecules.
Timothy P. Lodge is an American polymer scientist.
Mikhail Alexeevich Anisimov is a Russian and American interdisciplinary scientist.
Alamgir Karim, from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, was awarded the status of Fellow in the American Physical Society, after they were nominated by their Division of Polymer Physics in 2004, for pioneering research on polymer thin films and interfaces, polymer brushes, blend film phase separation, thin film dewetting, pattern formation in block copolymer films, and the application of combinatoric measurement methods to complex polymer physics.
Peggy Cebe is a professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Tufts University.
Carol Klein Hall is an American chemical engineer, the Camille Dreyfus Distinguished University Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. Her research involves biomolecule simulation, self-assembly of soft materials, and the design of synthetic peptides.
LaShanda Teresa James Korley is a Distinguished Professor of Materials Science at the University of Delaware and an expert in soft matter, polymers, and nature-inspired materials. On a larger scale, Korley is also working on developing strategies and technologies to prevent plastic waste in landfills and oceans by upcycling plastic waste to more valuable products. She leads such efforts through the Center for Plastics Innovation, the Center for Research in Soft Matter and Polymers, and also the Center for Hybrid, Active, and Responsive Materials (CHARM). Korley was awarded the 2019 National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers Lloyd N. Ferguson Young Scientist Award for Excellence in Research.
Lynden A. Archer is a chemical engineer, Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering, David Croll Director of the Energy Systems Institute, and professor of chemical engineering at Cornell University. He became a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2007 and was elected into the National Academy of Engineering in 2018. Archer's research covers polymer and hybrid materials and finds applications in energy storage technologies. His h-index is 92 by Google Scholar.
Thomas H. Epps, III is an American chemist and the Thomas & Kipp Gutshall Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware. He has a joint appointment in Materials Science & Engineering, and an affiliated appointment in Biomedical Engineering. He serves as the director of the Center for Research in Soft Matter & Polymers, the director of the Center for Hybrid, Active, and Responsive Materials, and the co-director of the Center for Plastics Innovations. His research considers the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of nanostructure-containing polymers related to biobased materials, drug delivery, alternative energy (batteries), nanotemplating, and composite-based personal-protective equipment. He is also the co-founder of Lignolix, which is focused on the valorization of biomass waste.
Rodney Dewayne Priestley is an American chemical engineer and professor at Princeton University. His research considers the phase transitions of polymers and their application in electronic devices and healthcare. In 2020 he was made the Princeton University Vice Dean of Innovation. He was named dean of The Graduate School effective June 1, 2022.
Ronald G. Larson is George G. Brown Professor of Chemical Engineering and Alfred H. White Distinguished University Professor at the University of Michigan, where he holds joint appointments in macromolecular science and engineering, biomedical engineering, and mechanical engineering. He is internationally recognized for his research contributions to the fields of polymer physics and complex fluid rheology, especially in the development of theory and computational simulations. Notably, Larson and collaborators discovered new types of viscoelastic instabilities for polymer molecules and developed predictive theories for their flow behavior. He has written numerous scientific papers and two books on these subjects, including a 1998 textbook, “The Structure and Rheology of Complex Fluids”.
Arthi Jayaraman is an Indian-American scientist who is the Centennial Term Professor for Excellence in Research and Education at the University of Delaware. Her research considers the development of computational models to better understand polymer nanocomposites and biomaterials. Jayaraman was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2020.
Christine Sharon Grant is an American chemical engineer who is the Associate Dean of Faculty Advancement at North Carolina State University. Her research considers surface and environmental science. She is the 2022 President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Rachel A. Segalman is the Edward Noble Kramer Professor and Department Chair of Chemical Engineering at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Her laboratory works on semiconducting block polymers, polymeric ionic liquids, and hybrid thermoelectric materials. She is the associated director of the Center for Materials for Water Energy System, an associate editor of ACS Macro Letters, and co-editor of the Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
Linda Jean Broadbelt is an American chemical engineer who is the Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor and associate dean for research of the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University. Her research considers kinetics modeling, polymerization and catalysis.
Rufina G. Álamo Matesanz is a Spanish-American polymer scientist known particularly for her research on polyethylene and polypropylene and on sustainable polymers such as polyoxymethylene made from biomass. She is Simon Ostrach Professor of Engineering and distinguished research professor of chemical and biomedical engineering in the Florida A&M University – Florida State University College of Engineering.
For the Australian former rowing coxswain, see Megan Robertson.