Professor Karen L. WOOLEY

Karen L. Wooley is the W. T. Doherty-Welch Chair in Chemistry, University Distinguished Professor and recently named Presidential Impact Fellow - a Lifetime Entitlement at Texas A&M University, where she holds appointments in the Departments of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering.  She also serves as Director of the Laboratory for Synthetic-Biologic Interactions.  Research interests include the synthesis and characterization of degradable polymers derived from natural products, unique macromolecular architectures and complex polymer assemblies, and the design and development of well-defined nanostructured materials.  The development of novel synthetic strategies, fundamental study of physicochemical and mechanical properties, and investigation of the functional performance of her materials in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, as non-toxic anti-biofouling or anti-icing coatings, as materials for microelectronics device applications, and as environmental remediation systems are particular foci of her research activities.  Her academic training included undergraduate study at Oregon State University (B.S., 1988) and graduate study under the direction of Professor Jean M. J. Fréchet at Cornell University (Ph.D., 1993).  She began an academic career as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, was promoted in 1999 to Full Professor with tenure, was installed in 2006 as a James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, in 2007 received an appointment in the School of Medicine, Department of Radiology and in July 2009, Karen relocated to Texas A&M University.  Recent awards include the American Chemical Society Award in Polymer Chemistry (2014), Royal Society of Chemistry Centenary Prize (2014), Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2014), Honorary Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society (2014), Oesper Award (2015), Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2015), and both Distinguished Research and Teaching Achievement Awards from the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students (2016).  Karen currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Chemical Society, among many other advisory roles within the broader scientific community.