Karen L. Wooley PhD

Dr. Karen L. Wooley, Ph.D. is the W. T. Doherty-Welch Chair in Chemistry and a University Distinguished Professor at Texas A and M University. 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, 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 for the marine environment, as materials for microelectronics device applications, and as pollutant 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 as a James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences in 2006, and in 2009, Karen relocated to Texas A&M University. Recent awards include the American Chemical Society Award in Polymer Chemistry (2014), the 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), and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2015). 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.