Professor Eugene Y-X Chen

Professor Eugene Y-X Chen
Department of Chemistry
Colorado State University
Abstract

Sustainable Mono-Material Product Design with Circular and Biodegradable polymers

The traditional multi-material product design of plastic products, which typically employs multiple, often non- biodegradable or non-recyclable materials of different chemical speciation or composition, significantly complicates both mechanical, chemical, or other emerging recycling processes. In this seminar, I will discuss the emerging mono-material product design based on circular and/ or biodegradable polymers made of a single monomer, delivering tailorable properties characteristic of all common types of polymers via either molecular engineering of monomer structures or macromolecular engineering of polymer topologies and stereomicrostructures, but without changing their chemical makeup or composition.

Eugene Y-X Chen

Professor Eugene Chen received his undergraduate education in China and Ph.D. degree from The University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1995. After a postdoctoral stint at Northwestern University, he joined The Dow Chemical Company, where he was promoted from Sr. Research Chemist to Project Leader. Two and a half years later he moved to Colorado State University in August 2000, where currently he is a University Distinguished Professor, the John K. Stille Endowed Chair Professor in Chemistry, and the Millennial Professor of Polymer Science and Sustainability. His current research is centered on polymer science, sustainable chemistry, and molecular catalysis. Selected honors and awards include: Excellence in Commercialization Award by the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association; the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award in 2015 by the US Government’s Environmental Protection Agency; and the Arthur Cope Mid-Career Scholar Award in 2019 by the American Chemical Society.

Hosted by Maggie Kumler and Violet Haas