Kenneth R. Shull MS, PhD

Ken Shull is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University. His research interests involve the interfacial properties of polymers, with a particular emphasis on adhesion, fracture, and the behavior of thin films and coatings. Recent interests include the large-strain deformation and fracture behavior of ‘soft’ materials including polymer nanocomposites, the mechanical properties and phase behavior of polyelectrolyte complexes, and advanced uses of the quartz crystal microbalance.

He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Materials Science from MIT, followed by a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Cornell University in 1990 under the supervision of Ed Kramer. He worked as a research staff member at the IBM Almaden Research Center for 3 years before joining Northwestern University in 1993. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and of the Adhesion Society.

He is a past president of the Adhesion Society, served as chair of the Adhesion Gordon Research Conference for 2013, and is the 2016 recipient of the Adhesion Society Award for Excellence in Adhesion Science.