KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Prof. LaShanda Korley

Distinguished Professor

Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering

University of Delaware

Tackling the plastics waste challenge via catalytic

innovations, macromolecular chemistry, and sustainable feedstocks

Abstract: Polymers are ubiquitous in the modern world, and the demand for and production of plastic products continues to rise. Alternative approaches are critical in the transition from a dependence on petroleum feedstocks to the utilization of biomass building blocks towards the development of robust polymeric materials with exceptional mechanical function and thermal properties. I will share innovations designed to establish a life cycle management framework for polymer design, focusing on biomass building blocks derivable from lignin sources. Examples of performance-advantaged polymer materials, including thermoplastics and thermosets, will be described, with the potential to address health impacts of petroleum-derived analogs, to promote sustainable manufacturing, and to serve as functional matrices for composite design. To tackle the global problem of plastics pollution, I also will overview deconstruction and upgrading strategies to tackle plastics waste complexity, including architectural variations and additives/contaminants.

 Biosketch: Prof. LaShanda T. J. Korley is a Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Materials Science & Engineering and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware (UD). Previously, she held the Climo Associate Professorship of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, where she started her independent career in 2007. Prof. Korley is the Director of an Energy Frontier Research Center – Center for Plastics Innovation (CPI) funded by the Department of Energy and also the Co-Director of a Materials Research Science and Center – UD Center for Hybrid, Active, and Responsive Materials (UD CHARM). She is also the Principal Investigator for the National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE): Bio-inspired Materials and Systems and the co-director of the Center for Research in Soft matter & Polymers (CRiSP) at the University of Delaware.

She received a B.S. in both Chemistry & Engineering from Clark Atlanta University as well as a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1999. Prof. Korley completed her doctoral studies at MIT in Chemical Engineering and the Program in Polymer Science and Technology in 2005, and she was the recipient of the Provost’s Academic Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship at Cornell University in 2005. She was named a DuPont Young Professor in 2011, received a 3M Nontenured Faculty Grant in 2010, and was selected for the National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering symposium. She is a Kavli Fellow as part of the Japanese/American Frontiers of Science Symposium. Prof. Korley is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), American Physical Society (APS), and the American Chemical Society (ACS) Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) Division. She also was awarded the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) Lloyd N. Ferguson Young Scientist Award for Excellence in Research and the American Institute for Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Minority Affairs Committee Gerry Lessells Award. Most recently, Prof. Korley was appointed a U.S. Science Envoy by the U.S. State Department. Her research focuses on bio-inspired polymeric materials, film and fiber manufacturing, plastics recycling and upcycling strategies, stimuli[1]responsive composites, peptide-polymer hybrids, fiber-reinforced hydrogels, and renewable materials derived from biomass.